List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Alec Bedser

Sir Alec Bedser was a medium-fast bowler for England in Test matches between 1946 and 1955. Across his career he played 51 Tests, and took 236 wickets at a bowling average of 24.89. Bedser's wicket talley is the tenth highest for England in Test cricket, and he took 15 five-wicket hauls. Also known as "five–fors" or "fifers",^[1][2] five-wicket hauls refer to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement,^[1] as of March 2014 only 41 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers.^[3][4] Bedser's fifteen lies joint fifth in most five-fors for England.

Bedser's 236 wickets was for a time a world-record, which he took from Australian Clarrie Grimmett in 1953 and in turn yielded to Brian Statham ten years later. Bedser took his first five-wicket haul in his debut Test: seven wickets at a cost of 49 runs against India in June 1946.^[5] His best bowling in an innings, 7/44, came in June 1953 against Australia at Trent Bridge.^[6] This was the first Test of the 1953 Ashes series, a match series during which he took 39 wickets including five of his five-wicket hauls,^[7] described as the "spearhead" of England's bowling attack.^[8]

Key

Note: Man of the match awards did not enter Test cricket until the 1980s, after Bedser had retired.^[9]

Tests

No.	Date	Ground	Against	Inn	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ	Batsmen	Result
1	000000001946-06-22-000022 June 1946	Lord's Cricket Ground, London,	India	7000100000000000000♠1	7001291000000000000♠29.1	7001490000000000000♠49	05132 !7	7000168000000000000♠1.68	VM Merchant L Amarnath VS Hazare Nawab of Pataudi snr DD Hindlekar CS Nayudu SG Shinde	Won[5]
2	000000001946-07-20-000020 July 1946	Old Trafford, Manchester,	India	7000400000000000000♠4	7001250000000000000♠25	7001520000000000000♠52	05132 !7*	7000208000000000000♠2.08	Nawab of Pataudi snr VS Hazare RS Modi L Amarnath MH Mankad Abdul Hafeez CT Sarwate	Drawn[10]
3	000000001950-07-20-000020 July 1950	Trent Bridge, Nottingham,	West Indies	7000200000000000000♠2	7001480000000000000♠48	7002127000000000000♠127	05132 !5	7000264000000000000♠2.64	FMM Worrell CL Walcott JDC Goddard HHH Johnson S Ramadhin	Lost[11]
4	000000001951-02-23-000023 February 1951	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne,	Australia	7000100000000000000♠1	7001220000000000000♠22	7001460000000000000♠46	05132 !5*	7000156000000000000♠1.56	JW Burke GB Hole IWG Johnson D Tallon RR Lindwall	Won[12]
5	000000001951-02-23-000023 February 1951	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne,	Australia	7000300000000000000♠3	7001203000000000000♠20.3	7001590000000000000♠59	05132 !5*	7000217000000000000♠2.17	AR Morris JW Burke RR Lindwall IWG Johnson JB Iverson	Won[12]
6	000000001951-06-07-00007 June 1951	Trent Bridge, Nottingham,	South Africa	7000300000000000000♠3	7001224000000000000♠22.4	7001370000000000000♠37	05132 !6	7000162990000000000♠1.63	EAB Rowan DJ McGlew JE Cheetham CB van Ryneveld AMB Rowan CN McCarthy	Lost[13]
7	000000001951-07-05-00005 July 1951	Old Trafford, Manchester,	South Africa	7000100000000000000♠1	7001322999999900000♠32.3	7001580000000000000♠58	05132 !7*	7000178000000000000♠1.78	EAB Rowan JHB Waite AD Nourse GM Fullerton JE Cheetham NBF Mann CN McCarthy	Won[14]
8	000000001951-07-05-00005 July 1951	Old Trafford, Manchester,	South Africa	7000300000000000000♠3	7001242000000000000♠24.2	7001540000000000000♠54	05132 !5*	7000221000000000000♠2.21	JE Cheetham AMB Rowan NBF Mann RA McLean GWA Chubb	Won[14]
9	000000001952-07-17-000017 July 1952	Old Trafford, Manchester,	India	7000300000000000000♠3	7001150000000000000♠15	7001270000000000000♠27	05132 !5	7000180000000000000♠1.80	MH Mankad PR Umrigar DG Phadkar VL Manjrekar RV Divecha	Won[15]
10	000000001952-08-14-000014 August 1952	The Oval, London,	India	7000200000000000000♠2	7001145000000000000♠14.5	7001410000000000000♠41	05132 !5	7000275990000099999♠2.76	HR Adhikari VL Manjrekar PR Umrigar GS Ramchand RV Divecha	Drawn[16]
11	000000001953-06-11-000011 June 1953	Trent Bridge, Nottingham,	Australia	7000100000000000000♠1	7001383009999900000♠38.3	7001550000000000000♠55	05132 !7*	7000142000000000000♠1.42	GB Hole AR Morris RN Harvey KR Miller AL Hassett D Tallon JC Hill	Drawn[6]
12	000000001953-06-11-000011 June 1953	Trent Bridge, Nottingham,	Australia	7000300000000000000♠3	7001172000000000000♠17.2	7001440000000000000♠44	05132 !7*	7000252990000099999♠2.53	GB Hole AL Hassett RN Harvey KR Miller R Benaud RR Lindwall JC Hill	Drawn[6]
13	000000001953-06-25-000025 June 1953	Lord's Cricket Ground, London,	Australia	7000100000000000000♠1	7001424000000000000♠42.4	7002105000000000000♠105	05132 !5	7000246000000000000♠2.46	AR Morris RN Harvey AL Hassett GRA Langley AK Davidson	Drawn[17]
14	000000001953-07-09-00009 July 1953	Old Trafford, Manchester,	Australia	7000100000000000000♠1	7001450000000000000♠45	7002115000000000000♠115	05132 !5	7000255000000099999♠2.55	AR Morris KR Miller GB Hole RN Harvey RG Archer	Drawn[18]
15	000000001953-07-23-000023 July 1953	Headingley, Leeds,	Australia	7000200000000000000♠2	7001285000000000000♠28.5	7001950000000000000♠95	05132 !6	7000329000000000000♠3.29	AR Morris AL Hassett GB Hole AK Davidson RR Lindwall GRA Langley	Drawn[19]

References

Notes

Sources

• Player profile: Alec Bedser from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Alec Bedser from CricketArchive