Ask Bearders # 159
Welcome to Ask Bearders, where statistician Bill "" Frindall answers your questions on all things cricket.
Below are Bill's responses to some of your questions posed at the end of his last column and if you have a question for Bill, leave it at the end of this blog entry. Please do include your country of residence - Bill loves to hear where all his correspondents are posting from.
Bill isn’t able to answer all of your questions, however. ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport staff will choose a selection of them and send them to Bearders for him to answer.
Q. This question concerns the highest ever recorded score in a "proper" cricket match. I have been reading a book about World War I, which claims that Captain A.E.J. Collins, who was killed in 1914 aged 29, scored 628 not out in a house match at Clifton College in 1899. Do you know of a larger, authenticated score?
Interestingly, Sir Henry Newbolt, who wrote the definitive cricketing poem: "There's a breathless hush in the close tonight..." was also a pupil at Clifton College. Mike Richardson
Bearders' Answer: As far as I am aware, there is no score higher than 628 not out. I visited Clifton College last year and saw the little ground where 13-year-old Arthur Edward Jeune ‘Boy’ Collins made his record score in 6 hours 50 minutes spread over five afternoons on 22, 23, 26, 27, 28 June 1899.
Opening the innings, he carried his bat throughout a total of 836 all out and hit a six, 4 fives, 31 fours, 33 threes, 146 twos and 87 singles. The scorebook gives his total as ‘628 – plus or minus 20, shall we say.’ Collins completed the match double by taking seven wickets in the first innings and four in the second as Clarke’s House romped to victory by an innings and 688 runs.
Q. Dale Steyn has just completed two successive 10-wicket hauls in Test matches. Can you tell me the other members of this illustrious club, please? Pete Roberts, Cape Town
Bearders' Answer: I had no idea of the answer to this and only by researching the Test careers of every bowler who has taken 10 or more wickets in a Test more than once did I find the answer.
Muthiah Muralitharan has an illustrious club of his own. His bag of 20 10-wicket hauls in Test cricket is twice as many as his nearest rival – Shane Warne. On two occasions he has taken 10 or more in FOUR consecutive matches.
Steyn has become the 23rd member of the Double 10 Wicket Club: S.F. Barnes, A.V.Bedser, J.Briggs, A.P.Freeman, J.C.Laker, G.A.Lohmann, T.Richardson, F.S.Trueman (England); C.V.Grimmett, R.M.Hogg, D.K.Lillee, H.Trumble, C.T.B.Turner, S.K.Warne (Australia); M.Ntini, D.W.Steyn (South Africa); Harbhajan Singh, A.Kumble (India); Abdul Qadir, Imran Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis (Pakistan); M.Muralitharan (Sri Lanka).
Q. The chances are that Ravi Bopara will make his Test debut sooner rather than later. When this happens, will he be the first player born in the London Borough of Newham to represent England in Test cricket? Thomas Halley
Bearders' Answer: If and when he is selected, Bopara will become the first Test cricketer to have been born in Newham but it will not the first time that Newham has featured in Test cricket! William (Billy) Newham played for England in the one-off Test at Sydney in February 1888. Shrewsbury born, he served Sussex for 63 years (1881-1944) as a player, captain, secretary and assistant-secretary.
Q. What is the highest team total where no individual batsman has scored a century? Nick Hatton
Bearders' Answer: India hold that ‘record’ with their 524-9 declared against New Zealand at Kanpur in November 1976. The highest of six half-centuries was 70 by Mohinder Amarnath.
Q. The subject of the correction of scoring mistakes came up in discussion with colleagues recently, and we wondered if anyone can recall an instance of the scores as recorded by the scorers on the ground scoreboard at a Test match being updated overnight for an error? Stephen Donohoe
Bearders' Answer: It has happened several times in my experience and I have been responsible for two of them. Both occurred when no-balls signalled by an umpire and recorded by me, were missed by the official scorers.
Inevitably ‘Dickie’ Bird was involved in the first one. After consulting with his fellow umpire, he took me into the England dressing room and told the captain, Mike Brearley, that their total had been increased by one. Mike then announced ‘Bill Frindall has just scored his first run for England’ and led a round of applause.
Q. Could you tell me how many double hundreds Graeme Hick has scored? Has he ever scored a triple hundred – I know his highest is 405? Where does he stand in the all-time list of double century-makers? Peter Booth
Bearders' Answer: Hick has scored 16 double hundreds, including the quadruple you mentioned (405* v Somerset at Taunton in 1988), and two triples (303* v Hampshire at Southampton in 1997 and 315* v Durham at Worcester in 2002).
All but two of his doubles (the first - 230 for Zimbabweans v Oxford University in 1985, and the sixth – 211* for Northern Districts v Auckland in 1988-89) have been scored for Worcestershire.
Most double hundreds in first-class cricket? Hick is joint fifth: 37 – D.G. Bradman; 36 – W.R.Hammond; 22 – E.H.Hendren; 17 – H.Sutcliffe; 16 – C.B.Fry, G.A.Hick and J.B.Hobbs. Mark Ramprakash has hit 13 first-class double hundreds – so far.
Q. Why are the numbers of English players now in the 600's when other countries are much lower? Surely there haven't been so many more English players, have there? J Hayes
Bearders' Answer: The reason is simply because England have played considerably more Tests (864) than any other country, the next highest being 688 matches by Australia, followed by 440 by West Indies.
Q. With regard to the question about the ball hitting a helmet you state: "The ball becomes dead as soon as it hits a helmet belonging to the fielding side." Surely this does not include one being worn by a close fielder? Bob Mills
Bearders' Answer: Correct. Law 23 (a) (vii) stipulates what happens if the ball strikes a helmet worn by a fielder. If it lodges in that helmet the ball is automatically dead. If the ball is deflected off that helmet it remains in play but the batsman cannot be caught via that deflection or run out if the ball rebounds on to his stumps.
Q. A "cricket in literature" question for you! In "Flashman's Lady" (by George MacDonald Fraser), Flashman plays cricket for Rugby Old Boys against a team including Fuller Pilch at Lord's (some time in 1842) and takes a hat-trick.
The Flashman series is outstandingly researched so, given that Flashy is a fictional character but many of the events he takes part in are real, did this match actually occur and did anyone take a hat-trick in the game? Dan, Monaco
Bearders' Answer: How strange to find this question. I read this and several other ‘Flashman’ titles earlier this year and it never occurred to me that the author had based that Lord’s feat on a real match. Indeed, research confirms that G.M.Fraser’s match between Rugby Past & Present and Kent is purely fictional. Rugby School did play Marylebone (without professionals) at Lord’s on 16 June 1842 (and included a player named Fraser!) but there is no record of a hat-trick.
Kent played no school teams at Lord’s, although their XI against England there, on 11-12 July, did include Nicholas Felix, Alfred Mynn and Fuller Pilch, who featured in Flashman’s hat-trick.
Fraser’s description of the crowd and facilities at Lord’s in 1842 is spot on. Gambling for huge stakes was rife. He has used three of the foremost cricketers of that season for his graphic account of the match.
Q. When was the last time Australia faced a whitewash in a home Test series? Graeham Cook
Bearders' Answer: If you are asking about men’s Test cricket, Australia have never been ‘whitewashed’ (lost every Test) in a home series. They have always won at least one match in each of the home series they have lost.
Q. What is the highest 50-over international individual player score, and who holds it? Lloyd
Bearders' Answer: Pakistan’s opening batsman, Saeed Anwar, holds that record with 194 off 146 balls against India in the Independence Cup tournament at Chepauk, Madras, on 21 May 1997.
Q. Parthiv Patel and Mushfiqur Rahim are two of the shortest cricketers from the modern times and are possible candidates for the shortest Test cricketers of all time (Tich Freeman was 5'2" and there are one or two others at 5'3"). How tall were they when they made their Test debut in 2002 and 2005 respectively? Vidhya Subramaniam
Bearders' Answer: Parthiv Patel, who became the youngest Test wicket-keeper at 17 years 152 days when he made his debut at Trent Bridge in 2002, gave his height as 5 feet 3 inches when he completed my questionnaire. Mushfiqur Rahim did not bother to return his form but, from memory, he was no shorter than Patel, possibly an inch or two taller.
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In his playing days, former England coach Duncan Fletcher made 4095 runs, and scored 20 50s, without ever reaching a first-class century. Are these record totals for a player who never reached three figures?
Tom, Edinburgh
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Q: many people (myself included) get a bit excited when the score is on 111 in a cricket match, saying that 'the Nelson' is an unlucky score. I am told that it is called 'the Nelson' because the man himself had one eye, one arm and one leg, but anyone who knows his port from his starboard will tell you that Nelson still had the luxury of both his legs when he was killed. Why this historical discrepancy?
Trevor Fowler
Nelson country (Norfolk)
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What is the highest percentage of the total runs scored by one batsman as a total of his teams total runs in a match / an innings?
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There is no historical discrepancy, it is simply the fact that Nelson had one eye, one arm and (supposedly) one testicle - although this has never been proven.
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Hi Bill!!
Last year, whilst playing for my local club, Whittington CC (Shropshire), our wicket keeper, Neil Dermody (he'd be pleased to see his name mentioned!) took a stumping off the first ball of the match.
I was wondering whether this has happened much in many test or first class matches?
Jason Whitley,
Oswestry
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Which batsman can claim the record for hitting the winning runs most often in Test cricket?
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Has a Test side ever lost a series and yet scored more runs in aggregate over the series?
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who has the highest individual score in first class and test cricket on debut?
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Many say Sachin Tendulkar, only scores centuries in a losing cause. What percentage of his test match and one day centuries have been in victory for India
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I once played in a club game where a bowler had three sixes hit off him followed by a hat trick in the last three balls of the over (1-0-18-3). Has this ever happened in 1st class cricket ? (Needless to say, the bowler was taken off after that over).
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I once played in a match where a bowler had three sixes hit off the first three balls of the over followed by three wickets. Has this ever happened in 1st class cricket ?
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Every time the 628* scored by AEJ Collins comes up I wonder why he dominated the opposing bowlers so completely yet only scored a solitary 6, especially a BF refers to the ground Collins scored the runs on as "little!" Arguably there must be few, if any, scores over 300 that don't contain a smattering (battering??) of 6's.
Excuse the change of subject, but am I the only one who feels sad that when people eulogise about the "greats" in Test cricket, the name of Ken Barrington is invariably left out? Only one other English cicketer in history scoring more than 5000 Test runs can beat his average of over 58.
The 'Establishment' didn't rush to load him with honours either, unlike today's underachieving (by comparison)performers.
End of moan: thanks!
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Hi
Is Graeme Hick the only player to have scored first class triple centuries in 3 different decades?
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Dear Bearders,
Why is Ashley Giles known as the 'King of Spain'? My friend has a theory about incorrectly spelt mugs but I am not so sure(if this is the case it would be the best story EVER!).
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Re 2 & 4: The version of the "Nelson" used by ´óÏó´«Ã½ commentators is normally "One eye, one arm, one vision" but this may be a sanitised version!
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During the second test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Hobart earlier this month Sri lanka briefly looked capable of causing a sensation and scoring the 500 or so required for victory. The Australians had declared both innings (losing only 7 wickets in the process) and a work colleague posed the question - "what is the fewest number of wickets lost by a side who has gone on to lose a test match?"
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Can you tell me who is trh oldest cricket player to make a Test match debut and what country, and the oldest for each country on their debut
Thank you.
Sturgeon MARTIN
Toronto
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Is Gerrie Snyman's 196 against the UAE in the World Cricket League Division 2 the highest score for a player in a 50 overs match?
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1. Tom - no. Tony Lock (best known for taking one wicket in the Old Trafford Test of 1956 in which Jim Laker took all the other 19) scored 10,342 runs in first-class matches, with 27 50s - but a highest score of only 89. I'm not sure if Lock holds the record in either category, he was just the first player who came to mind.
2/4/15 - the version I've heard is "one eye, one arm, one posterior" [or synonym for that part of the anatomy]; another theory why 111 is considered unlucky is that it looks like a set of stumps with the bails missing.
3. Ben - this is the oldest of all Test records: in the first innings of the first Test, Charles Bannerman scored 160 out of Australia's total of 245 (65.31%), which has never been broken. The first-class record is held by Glenn Turner, who scored an incredible 141* out of 169 (83.43%) in a County Championship match for Worcestershire against Glamorgan. Dunno what the record for a match is.
7. Tom - there may be more, but I can give you one for starters: the 1894-95 Ashes series, in which England scored 2,399 runs to Australia's 2,822 but still won the series 3-2.
8. Gary - the first-class record is 260 by Amol Muzumdar in 1993-94, the Test record 287 by Reg Foster in 1903-04.
9. P Shah - Tendulkar has scored 37 Test centuries, of which 13 (35.14%) have come in Indian victories, 16 (43.24%) in draws and 8 (21.62%) in losses. Of his 41 ODI centuries, 29 have come in wins (70.73%), 11 (26.83%) in losses and one in a no result.
12. Tony - there's a simple reason for this: since the boundary was so short(the ground was enclosed by walls on three sides), hits to it only scored two (hence Collins's tally of 146 twos). On the fourth side of the ground there was no boundary at all, so all hits in that direction had to be run. Incidentally, Brian Lara's first Test record of 375 included 45 fours but no sixes. I agree with you about Ken Barrington: his record overseas (average 69, including 96 in India and 101 in South Africa) is one most players could only dream of. The latter fact, though, probably had more to do with the fact that the Establishment in his day was less inclined to jump on bandwagons and hand out gongs left, right and centre than its modern counterpart, than due to any failing of Barrington's in particular.
13. Paul - yes... although he doesn't hold the record for the longest gap between his first and last! Of those who have made three or more FC triple centuries, one of Don Bradman's six came in the 1920s and all the rest in the 1930s; all of Bill Ponsford's four in the 1920s; all of Wally Hammond's four in the 1930s; two of Brian Lara's three in the 1990s and one in the 2000s. WG Grace scored two in 1876 and a third in 1896.
14. Dave - your friend's theory is correct: for Giles's benefit year Warwickshire produced mugs which were intended to read "Ashley Giles: King of Spin" but instead came as "Ashley Giles: King of Spain". They had intended to send them back and ask for replacement, but changed their minds when they saw how popular the misspelt ones were - and even produced a new mug with Giles on one side and Juan Carlos on the other!
16. David - this record is held by the Centurion Test between South Africa and England in January 2000, which later gained infamy as the match in which Hansie Cronje agreed to contrive a result (since three and a half days' play had been lost, large amounts had been bet on the match being drawn) in return for £5000 and a leather jacket. South Africa declared their first innings at 248/8, forfeited the second and lost by two wickets. If you exclude this match the record is held by West Indies against England at Trinidad in 1968 - they declared their first innings at 526/7, to which England replied with 404. Garry Sobers then gambled on another declaration at 92/2 in the second innings, which quickly backfired as England chased down the target of 215 in 52.4 overs, to win by 7 wickets.
17. Sturgeon Martin - this record also dates back to the first Test ever, in which James Southerton made his debut for England at the age of 49. Can't be bothered to dig out the record for each country...
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Bearders,
Which batsman has scored the most fives in an innings in first-class cricket?
Trapper John
Washington, DC, USA
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Hi Bill,
I have 2 questions:
1. In a match that I watched recently, a batsman was caught while he was running the second run (i.e.) he and his batting partner had completed the first run when the ball was in the air. In spite of this, the score was not increased by one run. Is this correct? Can you provide the law that is relevant to this?
2. In an effort to retain strike, can a batsman deliberately run his first run short and hence, take the second run that may not have been possible had the first run been completed fully? If a batsman does this, can the umpire penalise him? If yes, how?
Thanks,
Shankar,
Chennai, India.
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Of the great all rounders (Botham, Sobers, Kapil Dev, Imran, etc) who produced the most all round performances in tests. By this I mean how many times did they each score a 50 or 100 in an innings and also take 5 wickets or more in an innings in the same match? My money would be on Botham.
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Hello Bill,
What do u think the ICC should do with Zimbabwe regarding Test status?
Regards,
Nigel Tomkins
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What is the smallest lead taken by a team and still won by an innings in a test & first class game ?
Vasu
U.S.A.
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Hello Bill
Me again!This time its about most runs scored off One Ball.I heard somewhere the most runs scored off 1 ball was 12 is this true? if so how so surely the fielders could`nt keep throwing overthrows!!
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Hello Bill
Me again!This time its about most runs scored off One Ball.I heard somewhere the most runs scored off 1 ball was 12 is this true? if so how so surely the fielders could`nt keep throwing overthrows!!
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I think you're mistaken about Nelson - the Leg does not come into it! I believe the saying is " one eye, one arm, one aspiration"
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Q 21 Hi, Shankar
1. Yes, the decision was correct - "Law 32.2 : .. Runs completed by the batsmen before the completion of the catch will not be scored."
2. This is covered by Law 18.5, which in summary says that the umpire shall warn the batsmen that this is unfair and order them to return to their original ends. The "run" does not count. If they (or any later batsmen) do it again it is a five run penalty to the fielding side and they will reported to the authorities for "appropriate action" !
Hope this helps
Richard
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Re Number 7), a more recent example than number 19 is the 2000 England-West Indies series. West Indies scored 104 more runs than England but lost the series 3-1.
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Q 21 Hi, Shankar
1. Yes, the decision was correct - "Law 32.2 : .. Runs completed by the batsmen before the completion of the catch will not be scored."
2. This is covered by Law 18.5, which in summary says that the umpire shall warn the batsmen that this is unfair and order them to return to their original ends. The "run" does not count. If they (or any later batsmen) do it again it is a five run penalty to the fielding side and they will reported to the authorities for "appropriate action" !
Hope this helps
Richard
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In a recent 20/20 match with the ICL involving the Delhi Jets and the Chandigarh Lions, there were three bowlers with identical figures - A. Murtaza and A. Sharma for the Jets and D.R. Tuffey for the Lions all had figures of 4-0-16-3. How often have THREE (I assume having TWO bowlers in one match may be frequent) bowlers in any match (20/20. 50-over, test or first-class) achieved the same figures in a match?
Thank you,
Ramey (USA)
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Regarding the question of whether the Australian test team has ever been whitewashed at home, it is correct that they have not. However, they did lose 2-0 to Ray Illingworth's England team in 1970-71, so they have, in fact, experienced losing a home series without winning a single test.
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I would have thought that Richard Hadlee would have made it to the double ten wicket takers list. Obviously I am missing something!!!
John Smith (Upper Hutt, NZ)
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re: stumping first ball of a match
Playing club cricket for (Birmingham) Old Edwardians in the early 1960s Ellis Shortt opened the bowing - first ball called a wide three feet outside the leg stump was gathered by Terry Podesta, wicket keeper, who stumped the bemused opening batter who had overbalanced!!!
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I have watched cricket for many a year and never seen an umpire give a back foot no ball when the back foot cuts the return crease. Can you let me know if the law still exists and if so when was the last time it was enforced in test cricket? I am sure there are a number of bowlers who take advantage of the full width of the crease and more.
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35. I have no balled several bowlers in club cricket for a back foot no ball. I am sure I have seen one called in first class cricket, but can't remember the occasion.
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Australia has dominated world cricket for last decade . Can you tell me when did Australia last lose a test match by an innings? Was it against India in 1998 at Calcutta? Who holds the record of least number of test matches lost by an innings?
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Being a cricket fan in Scotland, its fairly rare I get exposure to a national team which I can support. As a result, I tend to support the England team. However, I still follow the occasional sottish cricket game it occurs. Being an avid amateur leg spinner, I was wondering if you could tell me who the most successful one day leg spinner born in or having played for the Scottish national ODI team is in terms of best bowling figures and total wickets.
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which test captain NOT a bowler has taken the most test wickets for each test playing country
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Re: comment no. 17, check out John Traicos's career on CricInfo. He made his debut at 22 for South Africa in their last test before they were shunned, then reappeared at the age of 45 for Zimbabwe in 1992.
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What is the highest fourth innings score in a lost test and drawn test
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What is the highest fourth innings score in a lost test and drawn test
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I always believed the Nelson thing was "one eye, one arm, one ambition", but I may be wrong.
Andy Spall
Norfolk
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Nice to read about Ken Barrington who was not only an outstanding batsman but also a very nice man.
When I was 17 and working for Stuart Surridge, Barrington was playing in his first Test against South Africa at the Oval(1955).
When a call came in for a new pair of batting gloves for Ken - asap - I volunteered to deliver them.
I rushed to the Oval, was ushered in to the pavilion and knocking on the England dressing room door, was greeted by the great man himself who promptly led me to an empty seat in front of the England balcony to watch for the next hour ! "Don't worry, I won't tell Stuart" said Ken.
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Dear Bearders,
Can you please let us know which batsman has the best second innings record in terms of average, total runs and number of centuries? Is it the Don again?
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If a batsmen is run out without ever facing a ball, he is out for a duck. I don't think, you can call it a golden duck, since he hasn't faced any balls. But what kind of duck is it then? Is there a term for it, or is it just 'a duck'?
Cheers
-Jeppe Lisdorf
Aalborg, Denmark
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In August 2005, Kent played Glamorgan, and HT Waters, the Glamorgan number 11 faced 192 balls.
Is this a record number of balls faced by a number 11 batsman?
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Murali has just equalled Warne for the most number of wickets. I would like to know who is truly the best bowler by comparing the wickets taken by warne, murali, kumble against which teams and how many were top order batsmen.
I think that would be a very intersting stat as it will show who wipes out the tail and who takes out the specialised bastmen.
Ronnie
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18. Sumantro - no. The highest score in a 50 over List A match is 268 by Ally Brown for Surrey against Glamorgan in the NatWest Trophy in 2002. There have been seven double centuries in List A one day matches, of which four came in innings of 60 overs, two in 50 and one (also by Brown) in 40.
22. Stuart - Botham took five wickets in an innings and scored a century in the same Test five times, Sobers twice, Imran once and Kapil never. The only players other than Botham and Sobers to achieve the feat on more than one occasion are Mushtaq Mohammad and Jacques Kallis (twice each).
24. Vasu - the Test record is 46, by England (246) against New Zealand (200 and 26) at Auckland in 1954-55; the first-class record 30, by Yorkshire (125) against Sussex (95 and 20) at Hull in 1922.
25/26. Peter - the first-class record for most runs off one ball is 10, achieved in the 19th century during the netting boundary experiment (2ft high netting was erected all the way round the boundary; a hit over the netting only scored three, but one into it scored two in addition to however many the batsmen ran - designed to reward placement over big hitting). Even so the batsmen would have needed to run 8, so there must have been some fairly sloppy fielding. There's a story of 286 being scored from one ball in a club match - the ball was hit into a tree and lodged in the branches; the fielding team claimed "lost ball" (which would have limited the runs scored to six), but the umpire rejected this on the grounds that they could still see it, so the batsmen kept running while someone went to find a ladder. That's probably apocryphal though!
32. Michael - Australia have never been whitewashed in a home series of three or more matches, but they have been twice in a two match series, by England in 1886-87 and 1894-95.
37. Chetan - you're correct, Australia's last innings defeat in a Test was at Kolkata/Calcutta in 1998, by an innings and 219 runs. The record for fewest matches lost by an innings is probably held by either Australia or England, since they were fairly evenly matched for the first 20-30 years or so of Test cricket, whereas most other countries lost by an innings quite often in their early days of Test cricket.
41/42. Arun - the highest fourth innings total to lose a Test is 451 by New Zealand vs England at Christchurch in 2001-02 (chasing 550 to win - the innings in which Nathan Astle obliterated the record for the fastest Test double century, reaching his off 153 balls); the highest to draw is 654/5 by England vs South Africa at Durban in 1938-39 (chasing 696 to win - the ten day timeless Test which started when Bill was a few hours old and was abandoned as a draw nearly a fortnight later because the England players had to catch the boat home).
44. Paul - great story!
38. Craig - sorry to disappoint you, but of the 29 players who have represented Scotland in ODIs, none is classed as a legspinner: only two offspinners (Nick Dyer and Majid Haq) and two slow left armers (Ross Lyons and Glenn Rogers).
39. Terry - depends how you define "not a bowler". Would Sobers and Imran be classed as "not bowlers" because they were allrounders? If so, I'd guess each of them must have taken a few wickets as captain.
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Has India ever played a test match without at least one Bombay (Mumbai) player?
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Hi Bill!
I always follow ur Q & A columns & find them immensely enjoyable & informative... My query is about double internationals of 2 kinds:
1) Those who have represented 2 countries in cricket, like Kepler Wessels.
2) Those who have represented same country in 2 different sports (one of which, of course, is cricket) like C.B.Fry.
Do you have a list of such illustrious players? I would love to see it...
Thanks...
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In Test matches which is more common in victories by an innings - the side which batted first won, i.e. they enforced a follow-on, or the side which batted second won ?
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When was the last Test match played by Australia, in which Stuart MacGill or Shane Warne did not feature?
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I sent this question to the old Ask Bearders page, but it never appeared and it's been bugging me for a few years. A few years ago, I'm sure the ICC proposed only recording required winning scores in all matches. E.g. A team needs 120 to win a test. They reach 118, then score a boundary, to total 122 and win the game. I'm sure the proposal was to only officially record the 120 required. A ludicrous idea, but did it ever happen, even briefly, or was it just quietly dropped? Does anyone else remember this?
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51.
Here's a duel international sportsman anyway!
Jeff Wilson, the all black rugby winger scored 44 tries in 60 rugby internationals.
He played 6 ODI's with not as much success, scoring 103 runs at 20.6 and taking 4 wickets at 65.
He was also brought back to play a 2020 match against Australia
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45. M Pattabiraman - Bradman's average in the second innings was 104.50, which, if you take a cut-off of a reasonable number of innings, is the highest. Mike Hussey is second on this list, too: his second innings average (86.16) is almost exactly the same as his overall average (86.18). Bradman doesn't hold the second innings aggregate records for the same reason he doesn't hold the overall ones: he played fewer matches. The record holder for most runs in the second innings is Allan Border (4371), and he also holds the record for most centuries jointly with Sunil Gavaskar (11 each).
46. Jeppe - that question's come up before, I think the conclusion was that it's a "platinum duck".
47. Tony - there have been a dozen or so instances of a number 11 scoring a first-class century (163 being the highest), so I'd imagine that some of them faced more than 192 balls, although since some occurred in the era before it became common practice to record the number of balls faced it would be impossible to be certain of this.
48. Ronnie - if you take consistent performance against every other country as your criterion, Murali pips Warne: he has at least 50 wickets against every other Test country, fares less well against Australia (average 36 - although obviously Warne had the advantage of never having to play Australia) and India (32), but averages less than 24 against every other country. Warne was known for his appalling record against India (average 47) and, if Australia and Sri Lanka are excluded, has a worse average than Murali against everyone except Pakistan. Prior to his first Test against Bangladesh, Warne insinuated that Murali had picked up lots of cheap wickets due to having played large numbers of Tests against them and Zimbabwe. When he finally got his chance to "pick up lots of cheap wickets", his first innings figures were 0/112 off 20 overs, so maybe Bangladesh weren't quite as easy as he had thought.
51. Kishore - Kepler Wessels (Australia and South Africa) was the 14th player to play Test cricket for two countries, the others being WE Midwinter, WL Murdoch, JJ Ferris, SMJ Woods and AE Trott (England and Australia); F Hearne and F Mitchell (England and South Africa); the Nawab of Pataudi (England and India); Gul Mohammad, AH Kardar and Amir Elahi (India and Pakistan); SC Guillen (West Indies and New Zealand); AJ Traicos (South Africa and Zimbabwe). Four players have appeared in ODIs for two countries, although Wessels's case is the only one in which both were Test-playing nations - the other three turned out for Associate countries long after their days of playing for a full member team were over: CB Lambert (West Indies and USA), AC Cummins (West Indies and Canada) and DR Brown (England and Scotland). Gavin Hamilton played one Test for England and ODIs for Scotland; Robert Croft, Jacques Kallis and David Hemp have "pseudo-double international" status after playing for Wales against England in the NatWest warm-up matches which did not count as ODIs (despite the Wales team being much better than most Associate member teams - good enough to win the first match by 8 wickets).
There are numerous instances of players representing the same country at cricket and football; the most notable is RE Foster, who holds the record for the highest score on Test debut and is the only player to captain England at both sports. There are also plenty who played international cricket and rugby (including some who played cricket for England and rugby for Wales). The only player to have appeared in the World Cups of both sports is Rudi van Vuuren (for Namibia). JWHT Douglas is the only Test cricketer to have won an Olympic gold medal (for middleweight boxing, in 1908). I think there was one Indian Test player who also appeared in the Davis Cup, but I can't remember who. Everton Weekes is the only person to have played both cricket (for West Indies) and bridge (for Barbados) to international level.
53. Dave - it was at Mumbai in 2004-05, when Australia's bowling attack comprised Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz and Nathan Hauritz.
54. John - the ball becomes dead and the match is over as soon as the winning run(s) is/are scored, and all those runs count, so in the situation you describe it would depend on how many the batsmen had run before the ball crossed the boundary. If it was obvious that it was going for four and they didn't bother running, or if they had not completed the second run before the ball reached the boundary, then the match would still have been in progress at that point so four runs would have been scored. If the batsmen completed the second run while the ball was still in play, the match would be over immediately, so the final score would be 120 and whether or not the ball subsequently reached the boundary would be irrelevant, since it would not be part of the match.
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Some notable ones:
Reg Foster - only player to captain England at both cricket and football.
Rudi van Vuuren - only player to appear in the World Cups of both cricket and rugby (for Namibia, and without a great deal of success in either)
Johnny Douglas - only Test cricketer to win Olympic gold (in boxing).
Everton Weekes - only player to play international cricket and bridge (for Barbados).
There have been loads of people to play both international cricket and football, and quite a few who played cricket and rugby. I can't remember his name, but I think there was an Indian Test player who also played Davis Cup tennis. Jonty Rhodes was selected for South Africa's hockey team at the 1996 Olympics, but had to decline as it would have clashed with his cricketing commitments.
The lists of players to have played Tests or ODIs for two countries can be found in the records section on Cricinfo - Wessels is the only one to have played both, and the only one to have played ODIs for two Test-playing countries; the other three on that list all turned out for Associate countries long after their days of representing a Test country were over: Clayton Lambert (West Indies and USA), Anderson Cummins (West Indies and Canada) and Dougie Brown (England and Scotland). As well as those listed, Gavin Hamilton played one Test but no ODIs for England, and ODIs for Scotland; and Robert Croft, Steve James, Matthew Maynard, Jacques Kallis, Mike Kasprowicz and David Hemp have "pseudo-double international" status: Croft and Maynard played both Tests and ODIs for England, James played Tests, obviously Kallis played both for South Africa and Kasprowicz both for Australia, and Hemp later played ODIs for Bermuda - and they all played for Wales vs England (Kallis and Kasprowicz counting as "Welsh" on the grounds of playing for Glamorgan at the time) in the NatWest Challenge matches which were held as warm-ups for the triangular tournaments in 2002-04, but which were not counted as official ODIs (despite the Wales teams being considerably stronger than most Associate ODI teams - strong enough to thrash England by 8 wickets in the 2002 match).
54. John - it would depend on how many the batsmen ran. If they didn't bother running at all or had not completed the second run, the target would not have been reached and the match thus not over until the ball reached the boundary, so the four would count and the final score would be 122. If they had completed two runs while the ball was still in play, the match would be over immediately with the score on 120, and whether or not the ball subsequently crossed the boundary would be irrelevant.
53. Dave - it was at Mumbai in 2004-05, when Australia's attack comprised Glenn McGrath, Mike Kasprowicz, Jason Gillespie and Nathan Hauritz.
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My question is about the most overs the fielding had to bowl (suffer!) before breaking a partnership(s).
What is the most balls bowled or most overs bowled to break a partnership (in both ODI and tests)?
I guess the srilanka's 900 run accumulation against India and India's Laxman:Dravid massive partnership again Australia in India are among matches that helped the fielders/bowlers tire the most.
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My question crops up after seeing many massive partnerships making the bowlers and fielders v v unhappy in the recent IND-PAK kolkata test!
What is the most balls bowled or most overs bowled to break a partnership (both in ODI and tests) or get a wicket?
I guess the srilanka's 900 odd runs against India and India's Laxman:Dravid massive partnership again Australia in India are among matches that helped the fielders/bowlers tire the most.
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Hi Bill,
I have 2 questions:
1. In a match that I watched recently, a batsman was caught while he was running the second run (i.e.) he and his batting partner had completed the first run when the ball was in the air. In spite of this, the score was not increased by one run. Is this correct? Can you provide the law that is relevant to this?
2. In an effort to retain strike, can a batsman deliberately run his first run short and hence, take the second run that may not have been possible had the first run been completed fully? If a batsman does this, can the umpire penalise him? If yes, how?
Thanks,
Shankar,
Chennai, India.
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54 John Allison: I had asked a similar question in Ask Bearders # 158 and it was answered by Michael Jones. Here is my question (32) and Michael's answer (42) - hope this helps:
Question 32:
Is it true that the cricket laws will be changed to not count the excess runs scored in the winning shot?
For example, as of now, if a 4 is hit with a team needing only 1 run to win, all 4 runs are counted for the team and the batsman. Is this going to change in the near future to count only the 1 run? If yes, when will this take effect?
Answer 42 from Michael Jones:
The law which is in place at the moment, and which there are no plans to change, is that the match ends when the winning run(s) is/are scored. So if a team needs 1 to win, the striker hits the ball to the boundary and both batsmen stand still, the winning runs are scored only when the ball reaches the boundary, so all four count (or all six if it clears the boundary). If the striker hits the ball, the batsmen run and complete the first run before the ball reaches the boundary, the game is over immediately so whether or not the ball then crosses the boundary is irrelevant. If the ball is a no ball, then no runs scored off it count, since the game is over as soon as the umpire calls "no ball".
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Of the great all rounders (Botham, Sobers, Kapil Dev, Imran, etc) who produced the most all round performances in tests. By this I mean how many times did they each score a 50 or 100 in an innings and also take 5 wickets or more in an innings in the same match? My money would be on Botham.
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Hi Bill,
i was wandering, in test cricket, how often all 22 players bat in both innings
thanks!
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Following the question about fielders wearing helmets does this include the wicket keeper when standing up or any other piece of protective equipment (the short fielders shin pads etc)
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Is it possible for both batsmen to simultaneously get out? For example if they collide while running, can the other team remove the bails from both ends?
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Bill,
Paul Collingwood has today become Muralitharan's record-breaking 709th victim. Who are the other record-breaking victims of modern times?
Richard Hughes,
Sale, Cheshire
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Internationally, where do First-class statistics come from? Are they contributed by every nation having Test status, and by no others? What proportion of them are constituted by the English counties?
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How many times have Sri Lanka managed to bowl a side out without Murali taking any wickets?
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When Murali took his 709th test wicket on Monday he had scored 1144 runs in test cricket, meaning for every 5 runs he scores with the bat he takes more than three wickets.
Has anyone else ever had an even lower runs to wickets ratio?
Jerry, Cambridge
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My mate and I have been debating the eternal "Who is the better bowler debate - Murali or Warnie?"
The only way we can see to finally settle the debate is to calculate the average batting position of the wickets taken. My mate believes Murali tends to get more lower order batsmen out, while Warnie was more profilic against top orders.
Does anyone know the answer?
Whitters
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Dear Bill,
I think this definitely needs clearing up. I asked earlier (Q2) the exact derivation of 'the Nelson'. That it starts "one eye, one arm" meets with universal approval, but as for the last third, so far the following have been suggested: one leg; one testicle; one vision; one aspiration; one ambition. Considering the frequency of the expression's use, it is surprising to discover in fact that its actual meaning still seems unknown. So could you please enlighten us?
Curiouser and curiouser.
TF
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Re 65
No - the ball becomes dead when the first batsman is dismissed (Law 23.1(iii))
Richard
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Combining answers 28 & 61, if the team need one run to win and the batsmen complete a run before the ball has hit the ground, presumably the game is not over because the ball might still be caught, which would nullify the run.
If the ball then hits the ground inside the boundary, and bounces over it, presumably the team are credited with one run, because the game ended as soon as the ball hit the ground.
But if the ball clears the boundary without bouncing, presumably the team get 6.
Is this correct?
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As i understand it if a batsman hits the ball towards the boundry starts to run say 2 runs fielder knocks ball over boundry 4 runs scored not 6
Batsman hits ball runs 1 run Hoggard fields throws in the ball.The ball goes to boundry 5 runs scored
Could you please explain
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Dear Bill
Concerning the question posed about the highest score in 50 over cricket, what is the highest score posted by a number 11 in that form of the game? Following on from that, which number 11 in international 50 over cricket has the best strike rate from 20 matches or more?
C.Christmas, Belgium
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Dear Bill,
I was wondering if there has ever been an incident in test cricket of the same score being made in all four innings?
PDCK
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Dear Bill,
From what I understand a batsman is only given out on appeal. Therefore if there is a stronger and a weaker batsman in, and the weaker batsman strikes the ball then tries for a quick single but is caught, can the catcher decide not to appeal and instead throw the ball to wicketkeeper or bowler in order to run out the stronger batsman? In addition if this run out is not successful can the catch be appealed for as the ball has not touched the ground? Has this ever happened?
Paul, Hull.
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I was once fortunate enough to take 4 wickets in an over,the first three being a hat-trick(a mean feat considering the night before!) My question is has anybody taken 6 wickets in an over and who holds the most hatricks in first class cricket?
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Dear Bill,
With Kumar Sangakkara continuing an exceptional year with the bat, I wondered what the Test record is for the highest batting average in a calendar year, and if he could be in contention for breaking it. Sobers in 1958 must be near the top.
Thanks,
Ed, Oxford.
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I was once fortunate enough to take 4 wickets in an over,the first three being a hat-trick(a mean feat considering the night before!) My question is has anybody taken 6 wickets in an over and who holds the most hatricks in first class cricket?
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I've just had the pleasure of seeing England bat out 5 overs at the end of a day, losing a wicket immediately and sending in a night watchman. It's made me wonder: Why not open the batting with one or even two night watchmen?
Has a first-class team ever used two night watchmen at the start of an innings? Is there any reason why this can't be done?
Mark, Chester.
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who is the greatest all time opening bowlers and who have taken most wi ckets
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what are the highest innings without a six for sides and individuals in test cricket (Bradman as an individual?)
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I note that, during Sri Lanka's second innings of 130 overs, England's bowlers did not deliver any no balls. How unusual is this since the 'front foot' law was introduced?
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Hi Bill,
Regarding your answer to Lloyd's question about the leading scorer in a 50-over international, I feel I should point out that the right answer is in fact be Australia's Belinda Clark who scored 229* against the Denmark Women's side in 1997.
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A few for now - I'll look up some of the rest later...
83. Martin - the highest individual Test innings without a six is Brian Lara's 375; Garry Sobers's and Len Hutton's then-record innings didn't include any sixes either. The team record is England's 903/7 declared at the Oval in 1938.
82. Mohammad - the most Test wickets by someone who regularly opened the bowling (and indeed by any fast bowler) is Glenn McGrath's 563.
78/80. Bob - no-one has taken six or even five wickets in an over in first-class cricket; there has been one instance of five wickets falling in an over, but one of those was a run out. Doug Wright (7) holds the record for most first-class hat-tricks.
77. Paul - the fielding team can't appeal for a particular method of dismissal, since in response to an appeal the umpire is obliged to consider all possible methods. Where more than one form of dismissal is possible, caught takes precedence over every other except bowled (eg if the batsman edges the ball onto his stumps, from which the keeper catches it, he's out bowled not caught).
76. PDCK - no. There have been several instances of the scores being level after the first innings, but there have only been two tied Tests and in neither of those were all four innings identical.
75. C Christmas - the highest score by a number 11 in an ODI is 43 (off 16 balls!) by Shoaib Akhtar against England in the 2003 World Cup, I don't know what the overall 50 over record is.
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Nearly all test playing countries are 100% pedigree home grown players.Ausralia,New Zealand,India Pakistan, West Indies, South Africaa. Even the emerging countries of Zimbabwe,Kenya and Bangledesh. Yet England with a population far in excess of nearly all of the above mentioned countries have to field teams that look like the old Commonwealth teams. Is the standard of cricket in our schools so pathetic that we have to go running round the old Commonwealth trying to pick up players. we have 2 South Africans in the present team and plenty of South African Kolpack players who are welcomed with open arms as potential English players. Looks like Jacques Rudolph will be the next of South Africas discards.
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Hi Bill,
Can you please compare Shane Warnes record with Muttiah Muralitharans minus the wickets they have taken against the so called minnows. Stats such as strike rate, average, 5 fors, 10 fors etc. I think this will go some way in deciding who is better. Thank you
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I'm the worst cricketer i've ever seen, and i was wondering how i could explain my abilities.
Who are the worst bowlers and batsmen of all time? Test/First class.
i know Walsh and Glenn McGrath were close for the most ducks.
thought this might tickle your amusement.
as ever, much respect for the beard and work
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Dear Bill,
Sanath Jayasuriya's six boundaries off Jimmy Anderson this week in Kandy has got me wondering - while in test cricket there will be several instances of six fours in a (six ball) over, none of six sixes, and too many of six singles to mention, how many instances (if any) have there been of six twos and six threes, if this is recorded?
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Dear Mr Frindall
Kumar Sangkkara's Test century on his old school ground raises the question as to whether any batsmen have scored a century for their house, their school and their country all on the same ground?
How would you go about researching this?
Yours
James Gardener
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In the seventies there was a Ranji Trophy match played in Bombay between Hyderabad and Railways. Hyderabad batting first on a treacherous bowler friendly wicket batted first and lost half their side before lunch prompting captain Jaishima to declare and put opposition in. Railways were bowled out quickly.Hyderabad were batting again on the same day managed to carry on to the second day setting Railways with not too many runs for a win and yet winning the match. Please give me the score card of this match and tell us if such daring captaincy was shown in a test match.
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well Prasad your memory is a little off
the game was in Hyderabad
Hyderbad did indeed declare early (50 for 8) but Railways then batted well into the second day, racking up 279 all out
Hyderbad then batted the rest of day two and some of day three, scoring 376 for 8 dec, they then bowled Railways out for 76, winning the game by 71 runs
the full scorecard can be found here
i'm not sure a Test captain has ever decalared his first innings closed so early (ignoring the "odd" declarations of Cronje) however this summer Langer declared Somerset'sfirst innings against Middlesex closed on 50 for 8...he went on to lose the game!
also England declared on the first day against NZ in 1949, however this wasn't a low score as they had 316 (for 9) with still some bowling time left on the first day...the game eventually petered out in a draw
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Anil Kumble,who has scored a Test century has a Test batting average of 19. Jason Gillespe, who has scored a Test double century also has a Test batting average of 18. What is the lowest test average of players who have scored Test Centuries and double centuries??
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When Ifran
Pathan scored a century in the Bangalore test against Pakistan is it the first time a team had 9 century makers in test cricket?
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Irfan Pathan scored his maiden test century yesterday and, as a result of that achievement, India's current team is comprised of nine test match centurions and two lesser mortals. Is this a record? Careful, though not exhaustive, research conducted by a friend of mine uncovered an equivalent example for New Zealan in their 2nd test v england, 1990. line up:
TG Franklin, JG Wright, AH Jones, MD Crowe, MJ Greatbatch, KR Rutherford, RJ Hadlee, JG Bracewell, IDS Smith, (MC Snedden), (DK Morrison).
My friend also noted the example of: saeed anwar, abdul razzaq, faisal iqbal, inzamam ul-haq, yousuf youhana, younis khan, azhar mahmood, rashid latif, wasim akram, saqlain mushtaq, waqar younis. england v pakistan, 2001. In this case ten of the eleven have scored a test century, but not by the time of this match.
Have their been any occasions where a side is comprised of ten test match centurions, or is nine the record?
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alistair cook scored centuries against 4 separate countries before his 22nd birthday. Is this a record?
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misprint in my question about alistair cook- it was centuries against 3 different countries before reaching 22 years of age- please correct
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Regarding post 46, a score of zero without facing a (legitimate) delivery is usually referred to as a 'diamond' duck in Australia.
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Regarding post 46, a score of zero without facing a (legitimate) delivery is usually referred to as a 'diamond' duck in Australia.
Also re post 93, there is a well-known incident in County cricket from 1977 where Mike Brearley (with a little encouragement from Mike Selvey, one of his bowlers) declared their first innings (the 2nd of the match) at 0/0 and went on to win. There's a Cricinfo article about this at
I also know that Geoff Lawson forfeited his team's first innings when they were scheduled to bat 2nd in a number of Sheffield Shield matches (perhaps half a dozen times - that's a guess) when he was captaining New South Wales in the late 80s or early 90s. This was always done simply to save time, he backed his batsmen to score enough runs in one innings to win on relatively good pitches where his bowlers would need lots of time to take 20 wickets and he didn't want to 'waste time' by scoring unnecessary runs. I seem to recall that these tactics were both successful and otherwise on various occasions.
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Questions 21&60 regarding the completion of runs before a catch is held (thankfully already answered!) There was a debate in Wisden Cricket Monthly some time in the murky past concerning who had run the furthest before being caught (or who had hit the ball the highest to put it another way) I seem to remember that it was decided a Botham innings was the holder, with IT and his partner (maybe Lamb?) having crossed for the 3rd time before the catch was taken. I can't for the life of me remember the match though.
Nelson - According to the highly respected cricketing reference, "The Book of General Ignorance", Nelson never wore an eyepatch, although his right eye was slightly damaged at the siege of Calvi. The misconception that he only had one eye is mainly due to portraits after his death that had an added eye patch to add pathos to the good general
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Dear Bill,
Within the whole Murali vs. Warne debate it is often said that had Warne not been in the same teams as many other great bowlers he'd have bowled more overs and taken more wickets.
It would be interesting to know, per test match, what proportion of their sides total overs Warne and Murali bowled on average, and also what proportion of wickets they each took?
Many thanks,
Tom
London
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regarding nightwatchman,I heard a story that robin marlar at sussex was stumped second ball for 6; is this true or just apocryphal?
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Hi Bill,
I am confused by the spelling of the Sri Lankan captain and wicket-keeper's names. I thought the intials for Mahela's name was D P M de S Jayawardena, but it now appears to be D P M D. Sky television spell his name as Jayawardene. The wicket-keeper, I thought, was Jayawardene, but you spell it as Jayawardena.
I assume you are correct, but why do they change and vary?
Chrisy
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87. Tony - I think that question is best directed at the UK government which has been merrily selling off school playing fields for the last decade. I was lucky enough to go to one of the very few remaining state schools with a cricket pitch, quite probably many potentially very good cricketers (a group which certainly doesn't include me) never got the chance.
88. Robbin - absolutely everyone over the last two blogs has, it seems, been asking for some sort of statistical comparison of Warne and Murali. Certainly Murali has played Zimbabwe and Bangladesh far more often than Warne did, and hence taken more wickets against them, but I'll point out again that Warne insinuated before playing Bangladesh for the first time that Murali had picked up lots of "easy" wickets against the minnows - then, when he finally got his chance to pick up some "easy" wickets himself, he finished with first innings figures of 0/112 off 20 overs.
89. Martin - I'm sure you can't be as bad as me; I made 1 in my only innings this summer, which from my point of view was cause for celebration as it was the first run I'd made in a match this millennium (I haven't taken a wicket or catch in that time either). Chris Martin (48 Test innings, 52 runs, average 2, highest score 7) has a decent claim to being the worst Test batsman ever, Rawl Lewis (one wicket, average 388) probably the worst bowler.
91. James - I'd guess you'd start off by finding which Test grounds have also hosted school matches; the only one I can think of is Lord's with Eton vs Harrow, but I don't know of any centurions in that match who repeated the feat in a Test.
92. Prasad - there have been two notable instances in Tests of sides declaring early in order to force the opposition to face the dreadful batting conditions instead: West Indies vs England at Bridgetown in 1935 (https://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62624.html) and Australia vs England at Brisbane in 1950 (https://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62713.html). Also, in a County Championship match in 1954, after Surrey had bowled Worcestershire out for 25 in their first innings and reached 92/3 overnight, their captain Stuart Surridge heard that rain was forecast for the second afternoon and chose to declare at the overnight total in order to give his side the maximum possible time to bowl them out again - it worked, as Worcestershire were all out for 40 in the second innings and it began to rain soon after.
95. Arul/96. Jonathan - I've found one instance of a team that included ten players who made a Test century at some point in their career (although only seven had done so at the time) - and the unusual bit is that the only one who didn't was opening! Of South Africa's team at Adelaide in 1998, Adam Bacher never made more than 96 in a Test, but Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Hansie Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs, Dave Richardson, Jonty Rhodes, Brian McMillan, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Pat Symcox all made at least one century.
97/98. Martin - no. Sachin Tendulkar had made centuries against five different countries (England, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies) by his 22nd birthday.
101. Paul - I recall a tale of George Bonnor sometime in the 1880s hitting a ball so high that he and his partner had crossed for the third run before it was caught; again, can't remember the details of the match. And Nelson was an admiral - no generals in the navy.
Further to the recent debate on the shortest Test cricketer, I found this Cricinfo article on the long, the short and the fat:
I would question how comprehensive its research is though, since it omits Joel Garner (6' 8''), Curtly Ambrose (6' 7''), Jo Angel (6' 6'') and probably others (vague memories of a report in Wisden of a match on either the 94-95 or 98-99 Ashes tour - can't remember which - which mentioned Mark Ramprakash getting into an argument with a state player "face to face, or rather face to chest since [can't remember his name either], at 6' 10'', is believed to be the tallest first-class cricketer ever"). It hasn't been updated sufficiently recently to include Dwayne Leverock in the third category either.
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I wanted to know when was last
time that India Beat Australia
in Australia if at all this has happened in the past
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I wanted to know when was last
time that India Beat Australia
in Australia if at all this has happened in the past
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As i remember Pakistan has whitewashed Australia 3-0 in home test series. Who else has done this against Australia in min of 3 match series.
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How many overseas players can an English county register and how do Mssrs Bosman and Kolpak fit into the equation?
Michael Owen
Dulwich, England
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Dear Bill,
I was wondering how many overseas players an English county can register ? And where do Mssrs Bosman and Kolpak fit into the equation?
Many thanks,
Michael Owen
Dulwich, England
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My question is who is the tallest man ever to play cricket in the world. I vaguely recall that there was a man who played shefield shield cricket matches in Australia stood 6'10. Is it true? I recalled him because he appeared in the newspapers for having some hot comment exchange with England's Mark Ramparkash during some of the Ashes series.
Australia
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