One-man teams

[Uppercut]

On the back of the Vettori vs. Bangladesh game, where one man played the captain, star batsman, strike bowler and stock bowler all at once, i wondered if there's been another instance where a single player has contributed so much in so many ways to a team's victory. I can think of a few instances, but i can't think of anyone else in the past 20 years who has captained and both comprehensively outbatted and comprehensively outbowled their entire team for a match. Any ideas, people?

[Richard]

Allan Border certainly did both at one point - with the bat at Lord's in 1985 (more than 20 years ago now, but forgive me - I like to pretend it's not ) and with the ball at The SCG in 1988/89 - he took 11-96 in that match. He did also score 75, but David Boon rather ruined his one-man show by scoring 149.

Shaun Pollock, captaining SA in WI in 2001, scored 106* from number-nine but Daryll Cullinan had earlier slammed 134 and Pollock, extraordinarily, went wicketless in the match. So he hasn't managed it.

The relatively minimal amount of bowling that most captains do makes such a thing very, very rare.

[Precambrian]

Mushtaq Mohammad of Pakistan did a similar stuff in 1977 against the Windies at Port of Spain.

Mushtaq was the captain. He scored an invaluable 121 to elevate Pakistan from 4-159 to respectable 341. Then came as 4th bowler and sparked a collapse of Windies from 73-0 to 154 all out, and ended up with a fifer. In the second innings, again came in at a precarious 5-95 and scored 56 eventually getting Pakistan to 301. Chasing 489, Windies were all out for 222, Mohammad taking 3 wickets. Given the quality of the opposition, that is legendary stuff

[Precambrian]

Garfield Sobers. Vs England at Leeds, 1966. Captain. Smashed 174 in the first innings to take WI from 4-154 to 500. Took 5-41 in England's 1st innings to reduce them to 240. Following on, England were all out for 205, with Sobers picking 3 wickets.

The legendary Imran Khan. Captain. Vs India at Faisalabad in 1983. Took 6-98 in India's 1st innings total of 372. Smashed 117 from just 121 balls and became one of the 4 centurions in Pakistan's 1st innings total of 652. Took 5-82 in India's second innings total of 286 to win the match by 10 wickets.

[Burgey]

Shane Warne v England 2005 springs to mind.

[nightprowler10]

Imran's was hardly a one man team if there were three other centurions from Pakistan in the same inning. Excellent example of Mushtaq though, was about to look that up myself. Such an underrated player IMO.

[Craig]

Shane Warne v England 2005 springs to mind.

But was he captain?

[Xuhaib]

Mushtaq Mohammad of Pakistan did a similar stuff in 1977 against the Windies at Port of Spain.

Mushtaq was the captain. He scored an invaluable 121 to elevate Pakistan from 4-159 to respectable 341. Then came as 4th bowler and sparked a collapse of Windies from 73-0 to 154 all out, and ended up with a fifer. In the second innings, again came in at a precarious 5-95 and scored 56 eventually getting Pakistan to 301. Chasing 489, Windies were all out for 222, Mohammad taking 3 wickets. Given the quality of the opposition, that is legendary stuff

Yup I easily rate it as a best performance by a Pakistani in a test match. I also feel he was the best in the Mohammad family but most people regard Hanif as better.

[Athlai]

100 runs and 5 wickets in a match as captain

One Man Army

Sobers v England 28 March 1968
257 runs and 6/125
Atkinson v Australia 14 May 1955
219 runs and 7/164
Dexter v Pakistan 2 Feb 1962 (2 catches)
205 runs and 5/134
Mohammad v West Indies 1 Apr 1977
177 runs and 8/97
Sobers v England 4 Aug 1966
174 runs and 8/80
Vettori v Bangladesh 17 Oct 2008 (2 catches)
131 runs and 9/133
Khan v India 3 Jan 1983
117 runs and 11/180
Sobers v Australia 14 Feb 1969 (1 catch)
113 runs and 5/211
Giffen v England 1 Mar 1895 (2 catches)
108 and 5/236
Sobers v India 13 Dec 1966 (3 catches)
103 runs and 5/125

[andruid]

Surely Have you all forgotten Ian Botham's Ashes?

[Richard]

He'd just ceased to be captain as of the previous game though. And Bob Willis' contribution was pivotal in that game as well.

[Lillian Thomson]

Surely Have you all forgotten Ian Botham's Ashes?

Botham's one man show was the Jubilee Test against India..............and he wasn't captain then either.

[GIMH]

Flintoff at Mumbai was impressive, but he didn't exactly do it on his own, Udal took 4-14 (!) in the second dig

[Richard]

And far more significantly (Udal was simply finishing the game off - the result was already established by the time of his spell) Anderson took 6-79 which played a huge part in the match. With the ball, Anderson > Flintoff that game.

[GIMH]

Without doubt. But as an overall performance, twin fifties, a decent enough return of wickets (cbf looking it up) and some impressive captaincy and inspirational leadership, it was a good un.,