In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") ^[1] refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, ^[2] and as of December 2015 only 45 bowlers have taken at least 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. ^[3] Richie Benaud, a leg spinner and former captain of the Australia cricket team, played 63 Tests for his country between 1952 and 1964. ^[4] He took 248 wickets at an average of 27.03, including 16 five-wicket hauls. ^{[4] [5]} The cricket almanack Wisden named him one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1962. ^[6] He was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2007, ^[7] and into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the inaugural members in January 2009. ^{[8] [9]} Leo McKinstry, a cricket writer, in 1998 described Benaud as "one of cricket's greatest legends" and "one of the great all-rounders", and further noted him being the first to take 200 wickets and make 2,000 runs in Tests. ^[10]

Benaud made his Test debut in January 1952 against the West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a match Australia won by 202 runs. ^[11] His first Test five-wicket haul came in the first match of the 1956–57 series against India at the Corporation Stadium. ^{[n 1]} He took 7 wickets for 72 runs in the first innings of the match, his best bowling figures for an innings. ^[12] Benaud took his solitary pair of five-wicket hauls in the third Test of the series at the Eden Gardens. He accumulated 11 wickets for 105 runs in the match, his career-best performance in Test cricket. ^{[12] [13]} Benaud claimed his 16 five-wicket hauls against five different opponents, and Australia never lost any of the games on such instances. He was most successful against India and South Africa, taking 5 five-wicket hauls against each side. ^[12] Benaud took his five-wicket hauls at 12 cricket grounds, including 11 at venues outside Australia. ^[12] As of August 2014, he is thirty-first among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers. ^{[n 2]}

Key

Test five-wicket hauls

Five-wicket hauls in Test cricket by Richie Benaud

No.	Date	Ground	Against	Inn	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ	Batsmen	Result
1	19 October 1956	Corporation Stadium, Madras [n 3]	India	1	29.3	72	7	2.44	Vinoo Mankad Pankaj Roy Polly Umrigar Vijay Manjrekar Jasu Patel Ghulam Ahmed Subhash Gupte	Won [15]
2	2 November 1956*†	Eden Gardens, Calcutta [n 4]	India	2	29	52	6	1.79	Nari Contractor Vijay Manjrekar Vinoo Mankad Gulabrai Ramchand A. G. Kripal Singh Naren Tamhane	Won [13]
3	2 November 1956*†	Eden Gardens, Calcutta [n 4]	India	4	24.2	53	5	2.17	Polly Umrigar Vijay Manjrekar Vinoo Mankad AG Kripal Singh Naren Tamhane	Won [13]
4	31 December 1957	Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town	South Africa	3	21 [n 5]	49	5	1.75	Dick Westcott Roy McLean Russell Endean Ken Funston Clive van Ryneveld	Won [16]
5	24 January 1958	Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban	South Africa	2	50.7 [n 5]	114	5	1.68	Russell Endean Roy McLean Hugh Tayfield Peter Heine Neil Adcock	Drawn [17]
6	7 February 1958	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	South Africa	3	41 [n 5]	84	5	1.53	Jackie McGlew Russell Endean Trevor Goddard John Waite Peter Heine	Won [18]
7	28 February 1958	Crusaders Ground St George's Park, Port Elizabeth	South Africa	3	33 [n 5]	82	5	1.86	Trevor Goddard Clive van Ryneveld Jackie McGlew Peter Carlstein Peter Heine	Won [19]
8	9 January 1959‡	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	England	1	33.4 [n 5]	83	5	1.85	Tom Graveney Colin Cowdrey Roy Swetman Fred Trueman Jim Laker	Drawn [20]
9	30 January 1959‡	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	England	2	27 [n 5]	91	5	2.52	Peter May Fred Trueman Tony Lock Frank Tyson Godfrey Evans	Won [21]
10	4 December 1959‡	National Stadium, Karachi	Pakistan	1	49.5	93	5	1.86	Shujauddin Butt Duncan Sharpe Ijaz Butt Fazal Mahmood Munir Malik	Drawn [22]
11	12 December 1959‡	Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi	India	3	46	76	5	1.65	Nari Contractor Chandu Borde Bapu Nadkarni Surendranath Ramakant Desai	Won [23]
12	13 January 1960‡	Corporation Stadium, Madras [n 3]	India	2	32.1	43	5	1.33	Budhi Kunderan Nari Contractor Gulabrai Ramchand Bapu Nadkarni Ramakant Desai	Won [24]
13	27 January 1961‡	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	West Indies	1	27 [n 5]	96	5	2.66	Cammie Smith Rohan Kanhai Garfield Sobers Joe Solomon Wes Hall	Drawn [25]
14	27 July 1961‡	Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester	England	4	32	70	6	2.18	Raman Subba Row Ted Dexter Peter May Brian Close John Murray David Allen	Won [26]
15	23 November 1962‡	The Gabba, Brisbane	England	2	42 [n 5]	115	6	2.05	Geoff Pullar David Sheppard Ted Dexter Ken Barrington Peter Parfitt Fred Titmus	Drawn [27]
16	6 December 1963‡	The Gabba, Brisbane	South Africa	2	33 [n 5]	68	5	1.54	Trevor Goddard Eddie Barlow Peter Carlstein Denis Lindsay Peter Pollock	Drawn [28]

Notes

References

External links

• "Profile of Richie Benaud". CricketArchive.
• "Profile of Richie Benaud". Yahoo! Cricket.