When the numbers didn't add up

You'd expect the team with the top three wicket-takers, six of the seven highest run-scorers, and eight out of 10 centuries scored in a series to win the rubber. But Australia lost the Ashes. They lost though their best bowlers - Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson - took 18 more wickets between them than England's top three, though England's highest run-getters - Andrew Strauss (474) and Matt Prior (261) - were separated by six Australians, including the woefully out-of-form Michael Hussey (276), and though they had six centurions making eight hundreds to England's two. So this week we've looked at other series that have been lost by the team with the better stats.

Before the 2009 Ashes, no team had ever won a Test series after scoring six centuries fewer than their opponents. The widest gap overcame had been five, during the Frank Worrell Trophy of 1960-61. Gerry Alexander, Rohan Kanhai, Garry Sobers and Conrad Hunte hit six hundreds between them for West Indies while Australia's only century, by Norm O'Neill, came in the famous tied Test in Brisbane. Australia, however, eventually won the decider by two wickets at the MCG to take the series 2-1. The vanquished West Indians, however, had so captured the imagination of the Australian public that they were given "a send-off the like of which is normally reserved for Royalty and national heroes", according to Wisden.

Losing a Test series despite scoring more hundreds than the opposition

Team	100		Opposition	100	Diff			Won	Lost	Mat		Series
Australia	8		v England	2	6			1	2	5		2009
West Indies	6		v Australia	1	5			1	2	5		1960/61
India	5		v New Zealand	1	4			0	1	2		1998/99
Australia	7		v England	4	3			0	1	5		1926
South Africa	6		v England	3	3			2	3	5		1955
India	7		v England	4	3			1	2	5		1984/85
Pakistan	4		v West Indies	1	3			0	1	3		1999/00

During India's tour of Australia in 1977-78, the visiting bowlers took seven five-wicket hauls between them - Bishan Bedi and BS Chandrasekhar took three each, while Madan Lal took one. None of the bowlers in the Packer-weakened Australian team took any - Wayne Clark's 4 for 46 was their best - but the hosts still won the closely fought five-match series 3-2, taking the fifth and deciding Test by 47 runs.

Losing a Test series despite taking more five-wicket hauls than the opposition

Team	5		Opposition	5	Diff			Won	Lost	Mat		Series
India	7		v Australia	0	7			2	3	5		1977/78
Australia	7		v England	2	5			1	5	6		1978/79
South Africa	5		v England	1	4			0	2	5		1948/49
South Africa	7		v England	3	4			2	3	5		1955
Pakistan	5		v New Zealand	1	4			0	1	3		1969/70
Pakistan	7		v India	3	4			0	2	6		1979/80
Australia	8		v England	4	4			1	3	6		1981

Had Michael Clarke scored 26 runs in the second innings at The Oval, Australia would have had both the highest run-scorer and highest wicket-taker in the Ashes. Clarke, though, was run out for a duck by Andrew Strauss, who ensured his position at the top of the runs table with a swift direct hit. The table below contains all series in which the best batsman and bowler came from the losing team.

The 1981 Ashes, which England famously won, had two Australians on top of the runs and wickets lists. Allan Border collected 533 runs in the six Tests at an average of nearly 60, Terry Alderman took 42 wickets at 21 apiece, while Dennis Lillee took 39. But Ian Botham took 34 wickets and also scored 399 runs, and his performances were powerful enough to snatch the series away from Australia.

The most recent series in the table is South Africa's tour of England in 2008. Kevin Pietersen led the run charts with 421, but he was followed by three South Africans - AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie - before the next England batsman appeared on the list. James Anderson was the joint-highest wicket-taker along with Morne Morkel - they both had 15. South Africa won the series, taking a 2-0 lead after three Tests, but then lost the final game.

Highest run-scorer and wicket-taker being from the losing side in a series

Player	Mat	Runs	Bat Av			Player	Mat	Wkts	Bowl Av			Series	Season
AG Steel (Eng)	1	156	156.00			AG Steel (Eng)	1	6	13.83			v Australia	1882/83
WL Murdoch (Aus)	3	266	66.50			GE Palmer (Aus)	3	14	18.57			v England	1884
H Moses (Aus)	2	116	29.00			JJ Ferris (Aus)	2	18	13.50			v England	1886/87
JJ Lyons (Aus)	2	122	30.50			JJ Ferris (Aus)	2	13	13.15			v England	1890
G Giffen (Aus)	5	475	52.77			G Giffen (Aus)	5	34	24.11			v England	1894/95
H Sutcliffe (Eng)	5	734	81.55			MW Tate (Eng)	5	38	23.18			v Australia	1924/25
WR Hammond (Eng)	5	517	64.62			W Voce (Eng)	5	23	24.39			v South Africa	1930/31
GA Headley (WI)	3	277	55.40			EA Martindale (WI)	3	14	17.92			v England	1933
L Hutton (Eng)	5	533	88.83			AV Bedser (Eng)	5	30	16.06			v Australia	1950/51
GS Sobers (WI)	5	709	101.28			WW Hall (WI)	5	22	30.86			v England	1959/60
CG Borde (India)	3	345	57.50			BS Chandrasekhar (India)	3	18	28.50			v West Indies	1966/67
Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	3	386	96.50			Asif Masood (Pak)	3	13	26.46			v England	1971
GM Wood (Aus)	5	474	47.40			JR Thomson (Aus)	5	20	28.80			v West Indies	1977/78
AR Border (Aus)	6	533	59.22			TM Alderman (Aus)	6	42	21.26			v England	1981
S Wettimuny (SL)	3	316	52.66			DS de Silva (SL)	3	17	28.94			v Pakistan	1981/82
Mohsin Khan (Pak)	3	310	62.00			Imran Khan (Pak)	3	21	18.57			v England	1982
DW Randall (Eng)	3	293	73.25			RGD Willis (Eng)	3	12	25.50			v New Zealand	1983/84
DM Jones (Aus)	5	511	56.77			BA Reid (Aus)	5	20	26.35			v England	1986/87
DB Vengsarkar (India)	5	404	67.33			Maninder Singh (India)	4	20	23.90			v Pakistan	1986/87
MD Crowe (NZ)	3	396	66.00			RJ Hadlee (NZ)	3	18	19.61			v Australia	1987/88
AC Hudson (SA)	1	163	81.50			RP Snell (SA)	1	8	19.62			v West Indies	1991/92
MA Atherton (Eng)	5	390	55.71			DG Cork (Eng)	5	19	25.52			v South Africa	1995/96
SR Tendulkar (India)	3	428	85.60			BKV Prasad (India)	3	15	25.00			v England	1996
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	2	192	48.00			M Muralitharan (SL)	2	16	15.43			v West Indies	1997
R Dravid (India)	1	162	81.00			A Kumble (India)	1	7	18.42			v Zimbabwe	1998/99
AJ Stewart (Eng)	4	215	30.71			AR Caddick (Eng)	4	20	20.60			v New Zealand	1999
A Flower (Zim)	2	194	64.66			HH Streak (Zim)	2	9	8.00			v West Indies	1999/00
MS Atapattu (SL)	3	380	95.00			M Muralitharan (SL)	3	12	25.50			v Pakistan	2000
GJ Whittall (Zim)	1	197	197.00			PA Strang (Zim)	2	12	19.83			v New Zealand	2000/01
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)	3	342	85.50			Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak)	3	18	23.94			v England	2000/01
Habibul Bashar (Ban)	2	249	62.25			Mashrafe Mortaza (Ban)	2	8	27.12			v Zimbabwe	2001/02
CH Gayle (WI)	2	280	93.33			PT Collins (WI)	2	12	21.00			v New Zealand	2002
MP Vaughan (Eng)	5	633	63.30			AR Caddick (Eng)	4	20	34.50			v Australia	2002/03
Habibul Bashar (Ban)	3	379	63.16			Mohammad Rafique (Ban)	3	17	23.82			v Pakistan	2003
KP Pietersen (Eng)	4	421	60.14			JM Anderson (Eng)	4	15	33.93			v South Africa	2008

In the next table we've looked at series in which the top run-scorer finished on the losing side; it has been ordered in descending order of the difference between the highest run-scorer and the second highest. Brian Lara's effort in Sri Lanka in 2001-02 is No. 1. He was immense on that tour, scoring 688 runs (178, 40, 74, 45, 221, 130), a record aggregate in a losing cause in a three-Test series. However, there was only one West Indian in the next seven highest aggregates, and the visitors were crushed in every Test - twice by 10 wickets and once by 131 runs.

Another Lara effort, against England at home in 2003-04, is at No. 2. Lara was having a poor series, having scored only 100 runs in six innings, before he filled his boots with 400 not out in the fourth Test in Antigua. He finished with 500 runs, 204 more than England's highest run-scorer, Mark Butcher, but England had already taken the series 3-0 before Lara's record-breaking innings.

Highest run-scorer being from the losing team in a Test series

Player	Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50		Next	Diff			Series	Season
BC Lara (WI)	3	6	688	221	114.66	3	1		403	285			v Sri Lanka	2001/02
BC Lara (WI)	4	7	500	400*	83.33	1	0		296	204			v England	2003/04
M Amarnath (India)	5	9	598	117	66.44	2	4		407	191			v West Indies	1982/83
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)	4	7	631	202	90.14	3	0		444	187			v England	2006
GS Sobers (WI)	5	8	709	226	101.28	3	1		526	183			v England	1959/60
CL Walcott (WI)	5	10	827	155	82.70	5	2		650	177			v Australia	1954/55
L Hutton (Eng)	5	10	533	156*	88.83	1	4		366	167			v Australia	1950/51
SM Gavaskar (India)	4	7	542	221	77.42	1	4		378	164			v England	1979
H Sutcliffe (Eng)	5	9	734	176	81.55	4	2		573	161			v Australia	1924/25
HW Taylor (SA)	5	9	582	176	64.66	3	2		436	146			v England	1922/23

Shane Warne took 40 wickets in the 2005 Ashes, 16 more than Andrew Flintoff, who was England's highest wicket-taker, but Australia lost the series 2-1. Alderman's 42 in 1981 doesn't appear in the table because Lillee was close behind on 39. In the 1978-79 Ashes, Rodney Hogg picked up 41 wickets in six Tests - 18 more than Geoff Miller, who led the wickets list for England - but Australia were thrashed in that series 1-5.

Highest wicket-taker being from the losing team in a Test series

Player	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	5		Next	Diff			Series	Season
RM Hogg (Aus)	6	1740	527	41	6/74	12.85	5		25	16			v England	1978/79
SK Warne (Aus)	5	1517	797	40	6/46	19.92	3		24	16			v England	2005
MW Tate (Eng)	5	2528	881	38	6/99	23.18	5		24	14			v Australia	1924/25
J Cowie (NZ)	3	839	395	19	6/67	20.78	1		8	11			v England	1937
CB Llewellyn (SA)	3	796	448	25	6/92	17.92	4		15	10			v Australia	1902/03
EAS Prasanna (India)	4	1581	686	25	6/104	27.44	2		15	10			v Australia	1967/68
RW Price (Zim)	2	836	396	19	6/73	20.84	2		9	10			v West Indies	2003/04
L Sivaramakrishnan (India)	5	1647	723	23	6/64	31.43	3		14	9			v England	1984/85
HH Streak (Zim)	3	708	298	22	6/90	13.54	2		13	9			v Pakistan	1994/95
AA Donald (SA)	5	1460	653	33	6/88	19.78	4		24	9			v England	1998