And what’s the record for most runs between dismissals in ODIs?
Steven Lynch07-Aug-2018In the recent T20 international in St Kitts, both Bangladesh openers were out first ball. How rare is this across all formats? asked Alan Alexander from the United States
That instance in Basseterre, with Bangladesh’s openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar both falling first ball to the West Indian offspinner Ashley Nurse, was a first for T20Is. It’s happened twice in ODIs: to Piet Rinke and Terry Duffin for Zimbabwe against West Indies in Georgetown in 2006 (Fidel Edwards dismissed them both), and to Lahiru Thirimanne and Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka against Afghanistan in Dunedin during the 2015 World Cup. And it’s happened six times in Tests now, most recently to Tom Latham and Martin Guptill of New Zealand during Dale Steyn’s first over for South Africa in Centurion in August 2016. For the full list, click here.Was Virat Kohli’s 149 at Edgbaston the highest score by an Indian captain in England? asked Savo Ceprnich from South Africa
Virat Kohli’s counter-punching 149 in the first Test at Edgbaston was the fifth century by an Indian captain in England. The only higher score remains – for the time being at least! – Mohammad Azharuddin’s 179 at Old Trafford in 1990.Kohli beat by Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi’s 148 at Headingley in 1967. The other captain-centurions were Sourav Ganguly, with 128 at Headingley in 2002, and Azharuddin again, with a memorable 121 at Lord’s in 1990, in the match in which England’s captain, Graham Gooch, made 333 and 123.What’s the highest partnership in the fourth innings of a Test? And what’s the highest individual score? asked Matt Gregory from England
The highest partnership in the fourth innings of any Test remains 301, by Arthur Morris and Don Bradman, for the second wicket as Australia chased down 404 to win the fourth Test of the 1948 Ashes series at Headingley. Next comes an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 287 between Gordon Greenidge and Larry Gomes as West Indies made similarly light work of a final-day target of 342 to beat England at Lord’s in 1984. There have been 14 other partnerships of 200 or more in the fourth innings of a Test.In 1999, Lance Klusener made 400 runs in ten innings between dismissals•Getty ImagesThe highest individual score in the fourth innings is George Headley’s 223 for West Indies against England in Kingston. That came under threat from Nathan Astle, with 222 for New Zealand against England in Christchurch in 2001-02, and Sunil Gavaskar, with 221 for India against England at The Oval in 1979. Bill Edrich (219 in the Timeless Test in Durban in 1938-39) and Gordon Greenidge (214 not out in the1984 match mentioned above) have also scored fourth-innings double-centuries.Sachin Tendulkar made the most runs in all in the fourth innings of Tests – 1625, just 14 ahead of Graeme Smith – while Younis Khan hit five centuries, one more than Smith, Gavaskar, Ricky Ponting and Ramnaresh Sarwan.Fakhar Zaman went 455 runs between dismissals in the recent ODI series in Zimbabwe. Was this a record? asked Iftikhar Mohammad from Pakistan
Fakhar Zaman reeled off scores of 117 not out, 43 not out, 210 not out and 85 (caught behind) in Pakistan’s recent whitewash of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. He beat the previous record of 405 runs between dismissals, set in 2002-03 by another Pakistani, Mohammad Yousuf, also against Zimbabwe: he had successive innings of 141 not out, 76 not out, 100 not out and 88. Next on the list comes a remarkable sequence by South Africa’s Lance Klusener during 1999. After falling for a duck against New Zealand in February, he scored 400 runs without being dismissed, beginning with 103, 35, 13 and 35 in New Zealand. “Zulu” then started the 1999 World Cup in England with 12 not out against India, 52 not out against Sri Lanka, 48 not out against England, 52 not out against Zimbabwe and 46 not out against Pakistan, before finally being bowled for 4 against New Zealand.Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Suranga Lakmal has won his first three Tests in charge. Is he the first Sri Lankan to do this? asked Tushar Mukherjee from the United States
My first thought was that Suranga Lakmal probably was the first Sri Lankan to win his first three Tests as captain – he has overseen victories over West Indies in Bridgetown, and South Africa in Galle and in Colombo – but actually Lakmal’s team-mate Rangana Herath also won his first three Tests in charge, two against Zimbabwe and one against Bangladesh in 2016-17, before a defeat by Bangladesh in Colombo (and another loss to India in Galle) spoiled his 100% record.In all, 17 captains have started by winning their first three Tests; only seven of them made it four, and just Warwick Armstrong of Australia and England’s Percy Chapman won their first five. Armstrong’s run, which was all against England in 1920-21 and 1921, was stopped by English rain after eight wins, but later in the 1920s, Chapman actually won his first nine Tests in charge. By contrast, Bangladesh’s Khaled Mashud uniquely lost his first ten Tests in charge (he finished with 12 defeats out of 12), while MJK Smith of England drew nine of his first ten (but won the other one).Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions
