5 longest losing streaks of major cricketing nations in ODIs

#3 South Africa (10 losses)

This is a great example of how victory evades you despite having a plethora of talent and skill. The team possessing the likes of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Makhaya Ntini could not register a single win in 10 consecutive matches.

South Africa started their 6-match ODI series against New Zealand with a comfortable win at Auckland in February 2004. New Zealand then came back strong in the 2nd ODI and from there onwards, gave no chance to South Africa.

South Africa lost all the remaining ODIs. However, these were not one-sided defeats. They came close but were unable to cross the line against Kiwis. The series ended with New Zealand being victorious 5-1.

South Africa then had the challenge of facing Sri Lanka, in Sri Lanka. Their traditional weakness against spin was always going to be in the back of their mind, and it showed.

Even without the magic of Muralitharan, Sri Lankan bowling team dominated South Africa. Dilshan and Upul Chandana took 8 wickets in the series; all four Sri Lankan bowlers were more successful than their South African counterparts as the travellers succumbed to 0-5 loss.