The column where we answer your questions
22-Aug-2005The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:
Glenn McGrath: current holder of the record for the most runs scored by a No. 11 batsman © Getty Images
I heard that Glenn McGrath was close to the record for Test runsscored from No. 11. Has he got there yet? asked David Sims fromAustralia
Glenn McGrath passedthe record, which not surprisingly went unnoticed, towards the end ofthe pulsating drawn third Test at Old Trafford. McGrath, who was playing in his 111th Test, took his total of runs at No. 11 to 556, with innings of 1 and 5, both not out. He has also scored 36 runs from higher in the order. The previous record-holder was Courtney Walsh, with 553 runs from No. 11 for West Indies. Muttiah Muralitharan is coming up on the rails with 526. Bob Willis is fourth with 452, with another former England fast bowler, Brian Statham, is next with348.I was wondering who the most successful batsman against Glenn McGrath in Tests is? Could it be Brian Lara? asked MD Masood from America
Brian Lara is indeed quite high on that particular list. In the 20 Tests he’s played against Glenn McGrath, Lara averages 45.97 – he scored 1655 runs in those games, but McGrath has got him out 13 times. Lara is a fraction ahead of Graham Thorpe, who averaged 45.82 when in opposition to Australia and McGrath. Only two batsmen who played more than twice in Tests against “Pigeon” have exceeded Lara’s average, and both are from Pakistan: Saeed Anwar made 796 runs inseven matches in which McGrath played, at an average of 61.23, and Ijaz Ahmed made 733 runs in eight Tests at 56.38.How many times has a batsman been stumped for a pair in a Test, ashappened in a Test in Zimbabwe recently? asked Mike McKenzie fromEngland
The unfortunate batsman at Harare earlier this month was Zimbabwe’s Christopher Mpofu, who wasstumped by New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum off Daniel Vettori for a duckin both innings. I couldn’t remember another instance at first, but it’salways dangerous to say “never” in Test cricket . and sure enough it hadhappened once before, way back in 1894-95, when Bobby Peel of England wasstumped by Australia’s wicketkeeper Affie Jarvis for 0 in both inningsof the fourth Test at Sydney. Peel had bagged another pair in the previous Test atAdelaide. Sixteen other players have been stumped in both innings of thesame Test, five of them in the 1950s and only three since. The mostrecent instance before Mpofu’s came at Cairns in 2004, when Sri Lanka’s Upul Chandana was stumped byAdam Gilchrist off Shane Warne for 19 and 14.After the amazing Edgbaston Test, I was wondering which Test matchproduced the most runs without an individual century by any batsman?asked Andrew Schilk from Australia
Some 1176 runs were scored in the second Test at Edgbaston without anindividual century, but that turns out to be only ninth on the alltimelist. The biggest aggregate without a hundred by a batsman is 1272, inthe match between South Africa (246 and 464 for 8 dec) and England (430and 132 for 2) atDurban in 1927-28, when the highest individual score was WallyHammond’s 90 – there were 13 half-centuries scored in the game. The 1997Ashes Test at Trent Bridge almost broke the record – there were 1262 runs inall in that game, but no hundreds, and the highest score was AlecStewart’s 87.Shane Warne took 10 wickets at Edgbaston, but Australia still lost -and I gather he had done the same somewhere else. Has anyone taken tenin a match more often for a losing side?? asked Ravi Jhansarifrom Hyderabad
Shane Warne’s other ten-forin a losing cause came atSydney in 1993-94, when his match figures of 12 for 128 weren’tquite enough to prevent South Africa winning by five runs. At Edgbaston he took 10 for 162, and England won by two runs. Twobowlers from the turn of the last century also took ten in a losingcause twice – England’s tireless fast bowler Tom Richardson and the tallAustralian spinner HughTrumble. But another modern great took ten wickets in a matchthree times yet ended up losing – Wasim Akram of Pakistan. Hetook 10 for 128 in only his second Test, at Dunedin in 1984-85, yet New Zealand won by two wickets; the nexttime he did it, with 11 for 162 at Melbourne in 1989-90, Australia won by 92 runs; and at St John’s in 1999-2000 his 11 for 110 couldn’t stop WestIndies winning by one wicket. Wasim’s two other ten-wicket hauls didbring Pakistan victory, though. Several other bowlers have taken ten wickets in a Test once but finished on the losing side.You talked last week about close Test matches . and we’ve just hadanother one. Have there been any Tests where the scores were level atthe end of the fourth innings but the match was drawn rather thantied? asked James Watson from Birmingham
There has only been one – the first Test ever played between Zimbabweand England, atBulawayo in 1996-97, when England needed 205 to win in 37 overs butfinished up at 204 for 6. It counts as a draw, not a tie, as Englandweren’t bowled out. At Old Trafford in 1998, England (183 and 369 for9) exactly matched South Africa’s total in their only innings (552) inanother drawn match.