List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Fred Trueman

Fred Trueman was an English cricketer, an "aggressive"^[1] fast bowler widely known as "Fiery Fred".^[1] He is generally acknowledged to have been one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history.^[1][2] He represented England in 67 Test matches, and was the first bowler to take 300 wickets in a Test career, taking twelve years and 65 Tests to reach the landmark.^[3]

Statue of Trueman, who took seventeen five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.

Trueman's wicket tally included seventeen five-wicket hauls (also known as "five-fors" or "fifers")^[4][5] which refer to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement,^[4] as of October 2024^[update], only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers.^[6][7] Trueman's seventeen five-wicket hauls places him joint-third in a list of most five-wicket hauls by England Test players, behind Ian Botham and Sydney Barnes.^[8] It includes three instances of him taking five or more wickets in each innings of the same Test match, and only one of the Tests in which he took a five-for ended in defeat for England.

His first five-for came in July 1952 against India in only his third Test match.^[9] It was also his career-best performance, eight wickets while conceding 31 runs, which remains the ninth most successful bowling figures by an England player.^[10] Five of his five-wicket hauls were taken against Australia, and six came against the West Indies. Four of the latter came during the 1963 West Indies tour of England, across which he took a career-best 34 wickets.^[11] He is joint-third in a tally of most five-fors taken against the West Indies in Test matches.^[12] He did not get the opportunity to play in One Day International cricket as it was not introduced until the 1970–1971 cricket season, several years after his retirement.^[13]

Key

Date – Date the match was held, starting date of the match for Test matches. Overs – Number of overs bowled in that innings Runs – Runs conceded Wkts – Number of wickets taken Batsmen – The batsmen whose wickets were taken in the five wicket haul. Econ – Bowling economy rate (average runs per over). Inn – The innings of the match in which the five wicket haul was taken. Result – The result for the England team in that match ♠ – 10 wickets or more taken in the match.

Note: Regular Man of the match awards did not enter Test cricket until the 1980s, after Trueman had retired.^[14]

Tests

No.	Date	Ground	Against	Inn.	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ.	Batsmen	Result
1	17 July 1952	Old Trafford, Manchester	India	2	8.4	31	8	3.57	P Roy HR Adhikari PR Umrigar DG Phadkar VL Manjrekar RV Divecha GS Ramchand PK Sen	Won[15]
2	14 August 1952	The Oval, London	India	2	16	48	5	3.00	P Roy HR Adhikari MH Mankad DG Phadkar PK Sen	Draw[16]
3	21 June 1956	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	Australia	3	28	90	5	3.21	RN Harvey JW Burke PJP Burge KR Miller R Benaud	Lost[17]
4	4 July 1957	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	West Indies	2	30	63	5	2.10	ED Weekes OG Smith DS Atkinson JDC Goddard AL Valentine	Draw[18]
5	5 June 1958	Edgbaston, Birmingham	New Zealand	2	21	31	5	1.47	LSM Miller JW D'Arcy WR Playle T Meale JC Alabaster	Won[19]
6	28 January 1960	Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain	West Indies	2	21	35	5	1.66	RB Kanhai GS Sobers FMM Worrell FCM Alexander S Ramadhin	Won[20]
7	7 July 1960	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	South Africa	2	14.3	27	5	1.86	DJ McGlew S O'Linn HJ Tayfield JE Pothecary NAT Adcock	Won[21]
8	6 July 1961	Headingley, Leeds	Australia	1	22	58	5♠	2.63	NC O'Neill RN Harvey RB Simpson R Benaud ATW Grout	Won[22]
9	6 July 1961	Headingley, Leeds	Australia	3	15.5	30	6♠	1.89	RN Harvey NC O'Neill RB Simpson R Benaud ATW Grout AK Davidson	Won[22]
10	21 June 1962	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	Pakistan	1	17.4	31	6	1.75	Hanif Mohammad Javed Burki Mushtaq Mohammad W Mathias Nasim-ul-Ghani Mohammad Farooq	Won[23]
11	29 December 1962	Melbourne, Melbourne	Australia	3	20	62	5	2.32	RB Simpson NC O'Neill KD Mackay R Benaud GD McKenzie	Won[24]
12	15 March 1963	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	New Zealand	1	30.2	75	7	2.47	WR Playle BW Sinclair MJF Shrimpton AE Dick RW Blair RC Motz FJ Cameron	Won[25]
13	20 June 1963	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	West Indies	1	44	100	6♠	2.27	EDAS McMorris CC Hunte BF Butcher RB Kanhai FMM Worrell DL Murray	Draw[26]
14	20 June 1963	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	West Indies	3	26	52	5♠	2.00	EDAS McMorris GS Sobers FMM Worrell DL Murray WW Hall	Draw[26]
15	4 July 1963	Edgbaston, Birmingham	West Indies	2	26	75	5♠	2.88	CC Hunte MC Carew GS Sobers CC Griffith LR Gibbs	Won[27]
16	4 July 1963	Edgbaston, Birmingham	West Indies	4	14.3	44	7♠	3.03	CC Hunte RB Kanhai FMM Worrell DL Murray WW Hall CC Griffith JS Solomon	Won[27]
17	18 June 1964	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	Australia	1	25	48	5	1.92	WM Lawry BC Booth RB Simpson GD McKenzie GE Corling	Draw[28]