Also: has there ever been a Test innings where all 11 players have bowled?
Steven Lynch20-Jul-2021Gloucestershire leaked 81 extras in an innings at Cheltenham the other day – was this any kind of record? asked Charles Barr from England
The 81 extras conceded by Gloucestershire in Hampshire’s first innings at Cheltenham College last week – the unfortunate James Bracey let through 48 byes, and there were also 20 no-balls, 11 leg-byes and two wides – equalled the fourth-highest amount for any County Championship match (and indeed any first-class match in England). The most is 98, conceded by Essex against Northamptonshire in Northampton in 1999, Kent conceded 88 in Sussex’s first innings in Hove in 2004, and Surrey let slip 86 extras against Somerset at The Oval in 1997. Oddly, the match at Cheltenham provided the sixth instance of 81 extras in a Championship innings, four of them coming in 1994 and the other (by Derbyshire vs Durham) in 2018.The most extras in any first-class innings is a staggering 212, conceded by Bombay against Delhi, in Delhi in 1990-91 – but that included no fewer than 180 penalty runs for a (very) slow over rate under a regulation in use in India at the time. There are six other instances of more than 100 extras in an innings, all in India between 1987-88 and 1992-93, and containing varying amounts of penalty runs.The most extras in a first-class innings without over-rate penalties is 99, conceded by Gujranwala (whose attack included the future Test umpire Aleem Dar) against Lahore City in a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match in Gujranwala in 1997-98; Essex’s 98 at Northampton (mentioned above) comes next. The Test record is 76, conceded by India in Pakistan’s 537 in Bangalore in 2007-08.In a recent T20I in the West Indies, Pakistan women lost six wickets to run-outs – was this a record? asked Abdul Ahad from Pakistan
I can only see five run-outs in the match I think you’re talking about, in Coolidge, Antigua, a couple of weeks ago. It was the ninth instance of five run-outs in a women’s T20I innings – but there has been one case of six, pulled off by Myanmar’s fielders against Singapore, in Singapore in April 2019. There have also been four cases of six run-outs in an innings in women’s one-day internationals.The men’s record is five, which has happened in ten one-day internationals now, the first instance being Australia’s innings against West Indies in the first World Cup final, at Lord’s in 1975. There have been two men’s Test innings – and ten in T20Is – with four run-outs. The two in Tests were suffered by India against Pakistan in Peshawar in 1954-55, and by Australia vs West Indies in Adelaide in 1968-69.What’s the smallest Test innings total that included two hundreds? asked SM Nazmus Shakib from Bangladesh
The lowest Test total that included two individual centuries is Pakistan’s 230 for 3 against New Zealand in Hyderabad in 1984-85; Mudassar Nazar made 106 and Javed Miandad 103 not out as Pakistan won the match by seven wickets.I suspect you probably meant the lowest all-out Test innings to contain two, which is New Zealand’s 279 against India in Hamilton in 2008-09. Daniel Vettori made 118 from No. 8, and Jesse Ryder 102 – the next-highest score was Ross Taylor’s 18. This lies 13th on the overall list.The lowest in ODIs is Afghanistan’s 225 for 1 against Scotland in Ayr in 2010, when Karim Sadiq and Mohammad Shahzad both cracked unbeaten tons. And the lowest all-out ODI total to contain two is a lofty 323, by India against Australia in Canberra in 2015-16, with Shikhar Dhawan making 126 and Virat Kohli 106. Sri Lanka made 269 for 9, with centuries from Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene, against New Zealand in Sharjah in 2000-01.Every one in South Africa’s playing XI bowled in the final Test against West Indies in Antigua in 2005•AFPI noticed that in the fifth Test against India in 1981-82, everyone except England’s wicketkeeper got a chance to bowl. Has there ever been a Test innings where all 11 men have bowled? asked Vijay Roy from India
The match you’re talking about, in Madras (now Chennai) in 1981-82, is one of 14 Test innings to feature ten bowlers, most of those getting their chance to bowl as the games petered out to draws. But as this list shows, there have been four occasions when all 11 players turned their arms over. The first such instance was at The Oval in 1884, when WG Grace tried everything as Australia amassed 551. Grace’s secret weapon turned out to be his wicketkeeper, Alfred Lyttelton, who delivered underarm lobs without removing his pads, and claimed 4 for 19, including Billy Midwinter caught behind by Grace (from the first ball he kept to in a Test).The other teams to utilise all 11 bowling options in the same innings were Australia in Pakistan’s 382 for 2 in Faisalabad in 1979-80, India against West Indies in St John’s, Antigua, in 2001-02, and South Africa – also against West Indies in Antigua – in 2004-05 (Chris Gayle made 317 of West Indies’ 747).Regarding last week’s question about Shahid Afridi not making a hundred on his ODI debut, is there anybody who made one in his second Test match after not batting in his first? asked Muhammad Riaz via Facebook
There’s no one who falls into that category – if there had been, I’d have mentioned it last week. The highest score in their second Test by someone who didn’t bat in the first is 75, by the South African wicketkeeper Ronnie Grieveson against England in 1938-39. He made his debut in the fourth Test in Johannesburg but didn’t bat, and made 75 in the final Test in Durban – the so-called Timeless Test, which ended in a draw after ten days when the England team had to leave to catch the boat home. That was the end of Grieveson’s brief international career: because of the Second World War, South Africa didn’t have another Test for more than eight years.Of men who did bat in their first Test but didn’t make any runs, England’s Maurice Leyland followed a duck on debut, against West Indies at The Oval in 1928, with 137 (and 53 not out) in his next match, against Australia in Brisbane the following winter. Sri Lanka’s Chamara Silva went one better – or perhaps one worse – bagging a pair in his first match, against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2006-07, but hitting 152 not out (and 61) in the second, a week later in Wellington.And finally a fond farewell to a giant in the world of cricket statistics
It’s appropriate in a column like this to mention the passing of one of cricket’s greatest historians and statisticians, Peter-Wynne-Thomas, who died last week aged 86. Originally an architectural consultant, he established a superb library at Trent Bridge (it now bears his name). He wrote several books, and was an unending fund of facts and anecdotes about players from far and wide. He was a founder member of the Association of Statisticians, and ran its headquarters and homely shop – across the road from Nottinghamshire’s ground at Trent Bridge – for a long time. All this was achieved without the aid of a computer, or email – his books, and his voluminous research and correspondence, were usually banged out on an old Olivetti typewriter. And, despite a forbidding moustache, which gave him the look of a stern headmaster, he was the most genial and helpful of men, to keen researchers and casual visitors alike. I mentioned in last week’s column a title that had jokingly been bestowed on me – but actually, the man who quite possibly knew more about cricket than anybody who ever lived was the one and only “PWT”.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions