Ask Bearders #167
Welcome to Ask Bearders, where Test Match Special statistician 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. 主播大秀 Sport staff will choose a selection of them and send them to Bearders for him to answer.
Q. I would guess that Andrew Strauss's position may still be in jeopardy, given Andrew Flintoff's impending return and the fact that his footwork still looked quite poor even though he did make 177. What is the highest score made by a player who was dropped for the next Test Match (not due to injury or retirement)? If Strauss was dropped, would his 177 be the highest score? Brendan
Bearders' Answer: No, he would be well short of that record. Andy Sandham scored 325 and 50 for England against West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica, in April 1930 and was never selected again.
Q. In the recent Wellington and Napier Tests, England had six left-handed batsmen: Cook, Strauss, Broad, Sidebottom, Panesar and Anderson. Have we ever had more lefties in the Test team? Matthew
Bearders' Answer: No. These were the first two instances of England playing six batting cack-handers. The record for all Test cricket is seven by Sri Lanka. Their two instances were against Zimbabwe in the Third Test at Harare in October 1994, and against Pakistan in the Second Test at Colombo (Sinhalese Sports Club) in April 1997.
Q. When was the last time a debutant took five wickets and scored a 50? How old were they? Is Tim Southee the youngest? Hannah Collins
Bearders' Answer: Southee is the eighth player to take five wickets and score a fifty in his first Test match. Tony Dodemaide (24) was the most recent to achieve this feat before Southee, with 6 for 58 and 50 for Australia v New Zealand at Melbourne in 1987-88. The other six were Albert Trott (Australia), Len Braund, Frank Foster, Wally Hammond and John Lever (England) and Bruce Taylor (New Zealand). Southee (19 years, 3 months) is the youngest, surpassing Bruce Taylor (21 years, 7 months).
Q. Many, many years ago I read or heard about a fielder who displayed his prowess during an interval with a demonstration whereby he fielded three balls in succession and threw down each stump in turn. Any idea who this was? Tom, Sweden
Bearders' Answer: The fielder was Colin Bland, a Rhodesian-born right-handed batsman who represented South Africa in 21 Tests. The outstanding ground fielder and thrower of his era, he achieved exceptional accuracy through hours of practice. During an interval when the touring team was playing Kent at Canterbury in 1965, Bland demonstrated his skill for the 主播大秀 television cameras. Three stumps were arranged as a wicket in front of netting. Within a minute, he fielded three balls thrown a distance from him, swivelled and threw down the stumps in turn from about 20 yards. It is that black and white TV film which you will have seen.
Q. With New Zealand's 431 not enough to win the Third Test in Napier, what are the highest fourth innings totals made in a losing cause? Nick Lee
Bearders' Answer: The Kiwi's score in Napier was the fourth-highest fourth innings losing total in Test cricket and they also registered the highest (451 at Christchurch in 2001-02) and third-highest (440 at Trent Bridge in 1973), both against England. The second-highest losing total is 445 by India against Australia at Adelaide in 1977-78.
Q. Which contemporary batsman has scored the highest number of runs in limited-overs and Test cricket against Australia? Ashish
Bearders' Answer: If by 'contemporary batsmen' you mean those still currently playing, the answer is Sachin Tendulkar with a combined aggregate of 5,082 runs. To date (1 April), he has scored 2,352, including nine hundreds, in 25 Tests, and 2,730, with eight hundreds, in 60 limited-overs internationals.
Q. I have a bet that a batsman playing against Kent (for Nottinghamshire?) in a four-day County Championship match scored a double century in each innings but was on the losing side. John Pepper
Bearders' Answer: You lose your bet, John! Only one batsman in the entire history of first-class cricket has scored double centuries in both innings of a match. Playing for Kent against Essex at Castle Park, Colchester, in 1938, Arthur Fagg contributed 244 and 202 not out to a drawn contest.
Q. While researching 18th century cricketers, I discovered a player named John Sherman (whom I am led to believe played for Surrey), which was of particular interest as this is also my name! I have discovered that he had the joint longest first-class career with WG Grace but could find no more information about him. Is this true and, if so, what were his averages? John Sherman
Bearders' Answer: Your namesake and possible ancestor, John Sherman, was a right-handed batsman and slow underarm bowler. Born in Kent at Crayford on 17 October 1788, he died in Manchester on 31 August 1861. His 43-year span of Great Matches (1809 to 1852) does indeed equal that of WG Grace (1865 to 1908) but the career records bear no comparison. WG scored 54,896 runs, including 126 hundreds and took 2,876 wickets, whereas Sherman's tallies, from a mere 27 matches, were 470 runs at 12.05, highest score 88, and 38 wickets at 9.94.
His career preceded the generally accepted start of 'first-class' cricket and involved matches which only recent debate by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) has elevated to that status. Sherman never appeared in more than three such games in a season and played none in the years 1824 to 1843 inclusive. His teams included Surrey (two pre-county matches in 1910 and 1917), England (eight matches), Gentlemen (three), Epsom and Manchester (his final six matches 1844-52) and the private XIs of Lord Frederick Beauclerk, Colonel Byng and D.J.W.Kinnaird.
Q. How many times has Harbhajan Singh claimed Ricky Ponting's wicket? He seems to have been got out by Singh regularly since the 2001 series. G Rizvi
Bearders' Answer: The answer is eight times in 16 Test innings. Harbhajan dismissed Ponting in each of his five innings in India in 2001, for 0, 6, 0, 0 and 11. India's off-spinner played in only the First Test of the 2003-04 series and failed to dismiss Ponting in either innings. Ponting's only appearance in the 2004 series in India occurred in the Fourth Test and he fell to other bowlers in both innings. In the recent series in Australia, Harbhajan dismissed him three times in seven innings (for 3, 55 and 1).
Q. Say a team needs one run to win, and the batsman hits the ball towards the boundary, but run the required single before the ball reaches the rope; only one run is awarded as the match is said to have been completed once that run has been completed, correct? What then, would happen should one run be required to win, the ball is hit very high in the air, the batsmen complete a run, but the ball is caught by a fielder? When does the match end? Tom Hicks, Herefordshire
Bearders' Answer: One run is indeed the correct answer to your first example. In your second one, the dismissal ends the match (with a win for the fielding team) regardless of how many runs have been taken before the catch was completed. Law 32 (2): 'Runs completed by the batsmen before the completion of the catch will not be scored.'
Q. I believe Andrew Symonds is the only member of the current Australian team to born outside Australia (Birmingham, England). Who is the last person to represent Australia (other than Symonds) who was born outside Australia? Chin Ratnayake
Bearders' Answer: Prior to Symonds, the last overseas-born player to represent Australia in Test cricket was Brendon Julian. A left-handed fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman, he gained the last of his seven caps in December 1995, having been born on 10 August 1970 in Hamilton, New Zealand (where I happen to be at this moment).
Q. Parthiv Patel is the only Indian cricketer to debut in international cricket without playing a single first-class match. Is there any other wicket-keeper who shares this record? Shriram
Bearders' Answer: Nice try at a trick question, Shriram! The term international cricket is used to refer to Test matches or limited-overs internationals. Patel made his first-class debut for India A against a South African Board President's XI - hardly a fully-fledged international.
A total of 33 cricketers have made their first-class debuts in a Test match - none of them Indian, 28 of them in the 19th Century and two were wicket-keepers representing South Africa (Frederick William Smith in 1888-89 and Ernest Austin Halliwell in 1891-92).
Patel's bonafide international debut occurred in the 2002 Trent Bridge Test in his tenth first-class match.
The Playfair Cricket Annual, Edited by Bill Frindall, and published by Headline, RRP 拢6.99, is available now.
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Hi Bill,
I have long been bemused by the number of test batsman who score 100 and then are out before scoring much more. Please tell me the percentage of batsmen who score say between 110 and 100 runs, and then the percentages of those who kick on a wee bit more.
thanks and glad to see you were out here for the England tour,
Marty.
Auckland, NZ.
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Re John Sherman -
His first-class career was slightly longer than WG Grace's - 20/9/1809 to 27/7/1852 versus 22/6/1865 to 22/4/1908 - beat him by a whisker, one might say!
I believe the Indian, CK Nayudu, whose career spanned from 7/9/1916 to 4/11/1963 is the world record holder.
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In tea during Tests do international players sit down together with the umpires and a plate of cucumber sandwiches like my husband's vilage team; or do they eat in their own changing rooms grumpily ignoring the other team, and what do they eat? I've alwyas wanted to know! My husband says this is s stupid question but i don't care!
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One to win, big hit, they run one, fielder catches the ball on the boundary. But wait! As he takes the catch he oversteps the rope. When does the game end and how many runs are scored?
(apologies if this arrives twice)
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In the first test against South Africa, India scored 627 in their only innings. In the second test they were all out for just 76, a difference of 551 runs.
Is this a record for the difference between two consecutive completed innings scores by the same team?
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In the first test against South Africa, India scored 627 in their only innings. In the second test they were all out for just 76, a difference of 551 runs.
Is this a record for the difference between two consecutive completed innings scores by the same team?
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joe- the runs will be counted as a six, and the batting side will therefore win. the batsman who performed the hit will be listed as not out
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question 5 - Simon
this is an identical question to one asked in the last blog, the answer, by Nick, posted then was
"Where the team was all out both times: West Indies scored 166 vs South Africa in their second innings in Bridgetown 2005. In their first innings of the next test at St John's they scored 747 - difference 581.
Where there was a declaration: in the Headingley test vs Australia in 1938, England scored 123 in their second innings. In their first (only) innings of the next test at the Oval, England scored 903/7 dec - difference 780."
to which i'd like to add that Pakistan maanged a difference of 551 exactly in ONE match against the West Indies in 1958, they scored 106 in the first innings and 657 for 8 dec in the second for a draw
question 4 - Joe
if fielder walks or falls over the rope in the same movement as when he takes the catch (ie a running catch is only "taken" when the fielder stops motion) then it is counted as six, and in your case the batting team would win and the game finishes as soon as the fielder crosses the rope
from law 32
part 3 (a)
...The act of making the catch shall start from the time when a fielder first handles the ball and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control both over the ball and over his own movement.
and part 4
...(b) 6 runs shall be scored if a fielder
(i) has any part of his person touching, or grounded beyond, the boundary when he catches the ball.
(ii) catches the ball and subsequently touches the boundary or grounds some part of his person over the boundary while carrying the ball but before completing the catch.
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Hi Bill,
I wanted to know what is the highest test innings by a player who did not hit a boundary.
Has there ever been a test hundred without fours/sixes?
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In the first test between India and South Africa 1,498 runs were scored, I was wondering what is the highest run aggragate for a test that has ended in a result (not drawn)?
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During the second Test between India and South Africa, AB de Villiers came close to scoring three times the number of runs all the Indians put together could manage in their first innings. Has anyone managed this feat, or gone better - four or five times their opponents' total?
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question 11 - david
okay, if my previous post is every posted then i misread your comment and this is the correct answer (of course if it never gets through then forget that)
for Eng vs SA in 1924 Catterall scored 120 when in one innings SA only managed 30, making his score 4 times the opposition, but the best i've found is
in 1974 Eng scored 629 in their first innings against India, who following on in the 3rd innings could only rack up 42. in England's 1st innings 5 players scored more than India's 3rd, 4 of them scoring at least double and one, Amiss, scoring 4.5 times India's innings score (188).
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When was the last time that extras were the highest contribution in a Test innings total?
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Cack-handed? That's a pretty old-fashioned attitude. I for one am offended, cheers Bill.
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Cack-handed? That's a pretty old-fashioned attitude. I for one am offended, cheers Bill.
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Points 4 and 7
If the catch was negated by the fielder stepping over the boundary, the one run already completed would have been sufficient to win the match for the batting side.
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Has a player every been sent off by an umpire? Martin in Kyoto.
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question 10 - Nick
India and SA's result falls well short in this record
the top 3 are:
1753 runs were scored in Aus victory over Eng at Adelaide in 1921
1723 for the Aus win at Headingley vs Eng in 1948
1646 again at Adelaide for the Aus vs SA 1911
question 13 - Max
the last time was 11th march 2004 in a game between Eng and WI at Kingston. In Engs 2nd innings they scored 339 with extras at 60 being the highest scorer, the next best were Hussain and Butcher both scoring 58
there have been 16 other cases in tests of extras being the highest scorer
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Hi Bill
I recently attended the SA v India Test in Chennai (the 'Sehwag' test). But the pitch was a killer, and the first batsman bowled was only in the 2nd session of the 4th day. Is this a record. Also, has a team not won a game before if one of their batsmen scored 300?
Regards
Lance / South Africa
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Bill,I was wondering if anyone has ever played over 100 tests without scoring a half-century with an average of 30?
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Hi Bill,
During a recent net session, we had another inane cricket related debate that brought up the question:
If a ball is hit straight back by a batsman, and it hits the stumps at the non-striker's end on the full, and the ball is then caught by a fielder, would this be out?
I reckon it would be, but someone ventured that it may become a dead ball. I fail to see why this would be?
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question 19 - Lance
actually not winning is (nearly) twice as likely when you have a batsman scoring 300+ as winning is
in all tests 22 times an innings of 300+ by one player has been scored, only 8 of these resulted in a win, 14 resulted in drawn tests (none lost)
the highest ever score in tests, 400 by lara, resulted in a drawn game vs Eng
only one player (Mohammed in the Ind vs Pak test) has managed 300+ in the 3rd innings, all the others occured in the first 2 innings
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Sam - Post Number 9
Bill answered this question in one of the previous blogs. There has never been a century scored without a player hitting at least one 4 or 6.
Geoff Boycott holds the highest score without reaching the boundary which is 77. He did score a four, but it was all ran.
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Doesn't it rather defeat the point of this blog if people go through and answer questions that have been left for Bill?
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Re Points 23 & 9 - I am sure I remember Graham Thorpe scoring a test century without a boundary a few years back(possibly in SA though I'd have to look it up to confirm)
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i was watching west indies v's sri lanka. listening to colin croft and seeing him i wondered could you tell me if colin has a vertical scar on his forehead above his nose?
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Bill,
Thank you for all your knowledge and humour. I have 2 Questions (Greedy I know)
I have seen all run 4 (the ball not crossing the boundary) in a test match, has there ever been an all run 6 in either tests or first class matches.
As I understand things in the 50 overs and 20/20 games, a player can be given out from a NO-BALL provided it is a legitimate run-out. If the no ball was given because of the front foot rule a free hit is given. So the question is, has it ever happened where a player has been given out (run out) from a the no-ball and on the subsequent free hit has a second player been given out (run-out)
Thanks again
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Re #17 - the umpires do not have power under the Laws to send a player off. Their disciplinary power extends only to the award of 5 penalty runs for defined instances of illegal behaviour, and reporting to higher authority for more general offences.
#21 - Provided the ball has not touched the ground since being hit, it can ricochet off stumps, umpires, batsmen etc and a catch will still be valid. Interestingly, even if the ball was deflected onto the non-striker's stumps, in such a way that a run-out would be valid, if the abll goes on to be caught, it is the striker who is out, even though chronologically, the run-out occurred first.
#24 - Bill obviously doesn't have the space or the time to answer every question that's posted here - if people choose to ignore posted answers and wait for Bill's response, or non-response, that's their choice.
Tom, Edinburgh
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Re all-run sixes: one instance of this springs to mind in the fourth test between england and Pakistan at Headingley in 1992. As I remember, Gooch and Atherton were batting at the time. Atherton struck the ball towards the boundary and it was fielded by Wasim Akram in the outfield not far short of the boundary. During that time the batsmen completed three. Akram then sent a very wild throw back towards the keeper's end and the effect was exacerbated by some sloppy backing up. Before order was restored the batsmen were able to take three overthrows taking Atherton's score from twelve to eighteen. This was as close as I got to see atherton hitting a six in test cricket, incidentally. No other instances stick in the memory.
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Hi Bill
In your reply to Tom Hicks' about scenarios with a teanm needing one run to win,you stated
"... the dismissal ends the match (with a win for the fielding team) regardless of how many runs have been taken before the catch was completed...
Without wishing to appear overly pedantic, the question did not say the batsman hitting the ball in the air was one of the last pair, in which case the dismissal would not end the match. However, even if the batsman was one of the last pair, surely if a team needs one run to win, the scores must, by definition, already be be level and therefore the fielding side cannot posibly win, only tie?
Regards
Phil
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Hi Bill
In your reply to Tom Hicks' question about scenarios with a teanm needing one run to win, you stated:
"... the dismissal ends the match (with a win for the fielding team) regardless of how many runs have been taken before the catch was completed...
Without wishing to appear overly pedantic, the question did not say the batsman hitting the ball in the air was one of the last pair, in which case the dismissal would not end the match, but in any case, even if the batsman was one of the last pair, surely if a team needs one run to win, the scores must, by definition, already be be level and therefore the fielding side cannot possibly win, only tie.
Regards
Phil
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Last year whilst playing social cricket I bowled an over which resulted in 5 wickets (3 bowled, 2 run out).
Has an over been bowled in a Test match or first-class match in which 5, or indeed 6 wickets have fallen?
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Hi Bill,
Can you tell me what was the highest ever first innings deficit in Test cricket? Also what is the highest first innings deficit conceded by a team that then went on to win the match?
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In the recent game between WI and SL, the innings scores were 278, 294, 268 and 254.
As far as Tests go, would this be the narrowest range of innings scores in a complete test (ie 40 runs between the highest and lowest innnings scores within the game)?
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Re #32 - this certainly isn't the closest convergence of innings scores. In the 4th Ashes Test of 1982-83, at Melbourne, England scored 284 & 294, and beat Australia (287 & 288) by 3 runs.
Tom, Edinburgh
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Hi Bill
I was wondering if anyone has ever taken more than a hat trick in a single over in Test cricket?
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In a completed innings (which for the purpose of this question I am defining to be one in which all ten wickets fall) one of the eleven scores accrued by the batsmen is larger (or equal to) all the others, and on is smaller (or equal to) all the others. What is the record in a Test match of the smallest such largest total, and the largest such smallest total?
(As in response 12 an innings of 30 was mentioned this is an upper bound for the former, and I recall from a previous Ask Bearders that there has been at least one innings in which every batsman scored double figures, making 10 a lower bound for the latter.)
How do these records change if one allows declared innings and/or successful run chases to count?
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What is the record for the longest period of time a player has spent actually spent on the field? Has anyone spent a full five days out in the middle - for example, an opener who carries his bat through both innings and is present fielding for the remainder of the match?
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I just bought my cricket-mad son, Sam, a new Wisden, and he has just emailed me a selection of his favourite stats.
One that he was particularly impressed with was that Sangakkara scored 968 runs @ 138.28 in 2007.
What is the highest ever Test batting average for a calendar year?
Chris Ziesler
(Nottinghamshire & Houston, TX)
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Imagine this situation. A bowler comes in to bowl. The batsmen at the non-striking end starts to move down the pitch. Instead of bowling the ball, the bowler throws it at the stumps next to him in an attempt to run out the non-striking batsmen. However, he misses the stumps and so the non-striking batsmen is not out. However, there is noone backing up so the batsmen run one. Is this one run a valid run and if so, is it classed as a bye, a no-ball, a wide or something else?
Thanks. Gareth in Tokyo.
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#39
It depends on whether you impose a cut off of a minimum number of runs or minimum number of innings.
In 1932, Don Bradman had 3 innings, 2 not outs and scored 402 - average 402.00.
If the minimum number of runs is 500, Zaheer Abbas in 1979 scored 583 runs off 5 innings (2 n.o.) - average 194.33. Sangakkara would be 4th on the list.
For a minimum of 100 runs, Gary Sobers in 1958 scored 1299 runs at 144.33.
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#40 - the run would count, and would be scored as a no-ball extra. However, there would be no automatic 1-run penalty, as there would be in other instances of no-balls.
Tom, Edinburgh
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Imagine the following situation: a team needs one run to win and has only one wicket left. The last batsman is now stumped off a wide. I guess the batting team has won but what do you say? Won by 0 wickets?
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Ref #39 / 41
Sorry my earlier comment (41) was a bit simplistic. I was using a methodology which assumed that an innings occurred in a particular calendar year if the match STARTED in that year.
The problems that can arise with looking at calendar years can be seen from the example of Bradman in 1932 in my previous comment. The three innings which I included were 299* vs SA in Adelaide in January and 0 and 103* vs Eng in Melbourne in Dec. However the England match actually started on 30 Dec (when Bradman got his duck) and his 103* was not scored until 2nd Jan 1933. However an earlier match against SA started in Melbourne on 31 Dec 1931. Bradman scored 2 on the 31st and then 167 in his second innings on the 2nd and 4th of Jan 1932. So I suppose the three innings I should have been looking at were 167, 299* and 0 - average 233.00.
But how would you then cope if a batsman were not out at close of play on the 31st Dec and then coninued his innings the next day? That one's beyond me!
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Re #43 - In the situation you describe, the game is over as soon as "wide" is called, and therefore the stumping does not count. The batting side wins by 1 wicket.
Tom, Edinburgh
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Hello Bill,
Re Arthur Fagg's 2 centries in the match against Essex, 1938, Ask Bearders #167, am I right in saying that the entire Essex first choice bowling attack was absent playing in the Gentlemen vs Players match at the time?
Thanks and regards,
Chris Grant
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Dear Bill,
The 19 extra runs scored by India represented 25% of total runs scored. Is this the highest in test cricket history.
How many instances have there been of extras having scored the most in a test innings?
Regards
Andrew
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Given that you can be stumped if your foot is not grounded behind the crease at the point where the bails are removed, is the same true for a run out? Say for example your first foot has crossed the line, your bat isn't grounded and as is common while you are running, both feet are off the ground as the bails come off, are you out?
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Hi Bearders, when I was a lad I watched part of Graeme Hick's 405 innings vs Somerset. I never did get hold of the bat Duncan Fearnley named in honour of that innings, despite it being an object of lust for some years, but anyhow, my question is: how common is it to have an innings commemorated with a bat, and when did the practice start? I'm fairly sure I once saw a Stuart Surridge 333 in honour of Gooch but apart from those they seem to be in honour of the batsman generally (or more perhaps more accurately all in honour of the gods of marketing). Cheers, Carino (Uxbridge UK).
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Dear Bill
In my book Fauna Britannica, I wrote (accurately I think) that Percy Chapman "played one of the great innings of between the wars cricket when in 1927, he went in to bat with Kent on 70 for 5 and hit the Lancashire bowling for 260 in 3 hours". I also quote that "he once ate 208 oysters at a sitting 'before witnesses'" I have however been unable to trace the circumstances of the latter event. Any ideas?
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#4 鈥揑 assume that one run is scored, since this was completed and is sufficient to win the match. But noone has answered the question of when the match ends. If the match ends after one run is completed, this is illogical, since the result is still in the balance at that moment. But if the match ends (with one run scored) after the 鈥渃atch鈥 becomes a boundary, this is also illogical, since the fact of the boundary is necessary to establish the result in favour of the batting side.
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question 51 - Joe
yes we did...it's a six, the match ends the instant the fielder takes the ball over the rope and 6 runs count, the batsman who struck the ball is credited with six and not out
question 47 - andrew
the second part of your question is answered in post 18, there have been 17 instances of extras being the highest scorer in an innings
as to the first part the answer is no, at least 2 of the cases of extras being the highest scorer resulted in more than 25% of the runs
SA 58 extras 17 = 29% (vs Eng 1912)
SA 30 extras 11 = 37% (vs Eng 1924)
however these may not be highest %, an innings may exist where extras are not the highest scorer but have more than 37% of runs, but your question was "is it a record" so the answer is "no"
question 48 - G Galloway
yes you are out
both for runs outs and stumping the important point is "out of his ground", from law 38
"1. Out Run out
(a) Either batsman is out Run out, ..., if at any time while the ball is in play
(i) he is out of his ground and
(ii) the wicket is fairly put down..."
and this is defined as (from law 29)
"1. When out of his ground
A batsman shall be considered to be out of his ground unless his bat or some part of his person is grounded behind the popping crease at that end."
which clearly states "grounded" so if you are running and not touching the ground you are out (it would take a very eagle eyed umpire to spot this, or a video replay)
question 49 - Carino
i'm fairly sure Brian Lara marketed a 501 and a 375 bat in the 1990s
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Reply # 27, I remember when Pakistan went to West Indies in the summer of 2000, Shervin Campbell hit a shot to long-off and for some weird reason (probably there was no fielder at mid-off and covers fielder thought that bowler would run, while the bowler thought otherwise), nobody went to fetch the ball, and by the time somebody picked the ball, Campbell had already run six runs. This is the only instance I remember of a batsman scoring six runs by running without overthrows.
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Re: Question 4 and subsequent...
Law 21, paragraph 6 b) "The side batting last will have scored enough runs to win only if its total of runs is sufficient without including any runs completed before the dismissal of the striker by the completion of a catch or by the obstruction of a catch."
The runs were run and no catch was completed (and there was no obstruction of the field), therefore the run runs complete the match.
A question for Bill follows from this:
According to the Laws of the Game (specifically Law 21, paragraph 7) there are a number of possible ways the result of a match can be stated; win by wickets, win by runs, draw etc. A win by an innings and runs isn't included in the list. Is such a staement of the results contained in the Laws of the game, or is it just a scorers convention?
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Quick question for Bill - I was wondering who was unlucky enough to be the batsman in the highest position in a scorecard to be not out at the end of an innings without having faced a ball having likely witnessed a calamitous collapse at the other end of the pitch?
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#47/52
Porto Ian is right. The 11 extras in South Africa's innings of 30 (36.7%) is the highest percentage for a completed innings. The Indian innings is 5th on the list after the two mentioned and England's 19 extras out of 71 vs WI in 1976 and England's 43 out of 170 ws WI in 1986.
There are 6 instances of higher percentages than 36.7%in uncompleted fourth innings of drawn matches or 10 wicket wins (including 3 instances of 100% where the innings were 1 over or less), but the highest score involved was 40/3 with 15 extras.
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Hi Bill,
Following on from the third NZ vs England test, I have a question for you.
In the NZ first innings, Sidebottom and Broad shared all 10 wickets. For England, have there been any other occasions when all ten wickets were taken by players from the same county?
Following on from this, again for England, has there even been an instance where all 20 wickets, or all the wickets to fall, were taken by bowlers from the same county?
Andy/Earl Shilton/England
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#40/42
The bowler is entitled to attempt to run out the non-striker before entering his delivery stride. If the bowler fails in his run out attempt, the umpire will call and signal dead-ball as soon as possible. The dead ball call will mean that the run does not count. The attempt is not a no-ball and therefore there is no one run penalty. The ball does not count as one of the over. (Law 42.15)
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hi bill what is the average between shane warne's wicket's economy and muttiah murilitharan's wicket economy please respond to me
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Sorry to say it, but I think Bill is wrong about the most left-handers to play in a Test innings. Sri Lanka may have had seven, but the West Indies twice had EIGHT in matches in 2000. Oddly, in the first one, against Pakistan, Brian Lara wasn't playing.
The eight were Adrian Griffith, Wavell Hinds, Jimmy Adams, Shiv Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ridley Jacobs, Nixon McLean and Curtley Ambrose - an uninterrupted sequence of lefties from No 2 to 9. McLean and Ambrose were right-hand bowlers who batted left-handed.
In the second match, later that year against England, Lara and Mahendra Nagamootoo replaced Gayle and Chanderpaul, with Ramnaresh Sarwan breaking the eight-man leftie sequence at No 6.
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Sorry to say it, but I think Bill is wrong about the most left-handers to play in a Test innings. Sri Lanka may have had seven, but the West Indies twice had EIGHT in matches in 2000. Oddly, in the first one, against Pakistan, Brian Lara wasn't playing.
The eight were Adrian Griffith, Wavell Hinds, Jimmy Adams, Shiv Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ridley Jacobs, Nixon McLean and Curtley Ambrose - an uninterrupted sequence of lefties from No 2 to 9. McLean and Ambrose were right-hand bowlers who batted left-handed.
In the second match, later that year against England, Lara and Mahendra Nagamootoo replaced Gayle and Chanderpaul, with Ramnaresh Sarwan breaking the eight-man leftie sequence at No 6.
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Sorry to say it, but I think Bill is wrong about the most left-handers to play in a Test innings. Sri Lanka may have had seven, but the West Indies twice had EIGHT in matches in 2000. Oddly, in the first one, against Pakistan, Brian Lara wasn't playing.
The eight were Adrian Griffith, Wavell Hinds, Jimmy Adams, Shiv Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ridley Jacobs, Nixon McLean and Curtley Ambrose - an uninterrupted sequence of lefties from No 2 to 9. McLean and Ambrose were right-hand bowlers who batted left-handed.
In the second match, later that year against England, Lara and Mahendra Nagamootoo replaced Gayle and Chanderpaul, with Ramnaresh Sarwan breaking the eight-man leftie sequence at No 6.
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RE: #17 & 28
Whilst it may well be true that the umpires do not have the power to send players off the field, I was once umpiring in a league game in Surrey where the two captains mutually agreed to dismiss one player on each side for fighting on the pitch. It certainly "wasn't cricket"!
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Again, apologies if this repeats - I've tried a couple of times to send it.
#48 - or supposing a batsman makes his ground (with both feet and a bat) to reach 111, and then does a dance like Umpire Shepherd; and while he is in mid-air the ball is thrown back and knocks the bails off. Is he out?
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Re 57 there is one obvious answer. In 1956 at Old Trafford v. Australia Laker and Lock of Surrey took all 20 Australian wickets (19 and 1 respectively and by simple arithmetic 10 together in each innings.
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I do believe that some bloggers are over simplifying Joe's question(point 4). If a team needs one to win and run one before the ball crosses the boundary then one run is awarded. In Joe's scenario, would it not be the case that one run would be awarded since one run was completed before the ball crossed the boundary. As others have said no catch was completed as the fielder stepped over the rope, thus making the example the same as Tom's question answered by Bill.
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Dear Bill,
I must agree with Phil - the best result any fielding side can wish for if the opposition need 1 to win is a tie - been there too many times. If any batsman is out caught going for one run to win on the last ball, the result is a tie.
The Essex bowling when Arthur Fagg made his two double centuries was opened by Ray Smith - He took 5 wickets in the match before Kent and took 5-38 against Sussex on the 16th July, 1938 - both opening the bowling. The GvP game was going on when Kent played Essex, but only Nicholls and Peter Smith played for Players.
I have a question for you. I have the first edition of "Cricket World" - 1972 - you were editor. How many years "Cricket Worlds " were issued? I take the magazine out quite often - I like Alan Davidson's comments on Bob Massie - "... at times he is [inclined] to swing too far" - The England batsmen thought that at Lords
I enjoy your writing.
Regards,
Brian Little, Ireland.
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Here's a slightly different question: Bearders, I would like to know your personal theory on the origins of cricket. I understand it existed at the time of the Tudors who thought it unrefined and encouraged archery instead. What do you think is the root sport that cricket is derived from?
Prashant from New York
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Dear Bill,
The recent series of dropped catches in slips by the Aussies vs India drew comments on the decline in their once famous catching prowess.Did they drop an unusual number for a 3 test series. Is it my imagination or have they been dropping more sitters than they used to under Taylor and Waugh?
Many thanks
Dave
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Hi Bill,
If a batsmen hits a ball and it hits a helmet and goes over the boundary, how many runs are scored and how are they recorded on the scorecard?
Cheers
Kevin Holland from Runcorn in England
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Bill,
Though it's always nice to see our players recognised (Durham fan here - County Champions 2008), this years Wisden Cricketers Of The Year is a pretty uninspiring list.
It got me to thinking. Are there any notable players who haven't been Cricketer Of The Year?
Cheers!
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I would like to point out that the answer to question 23 is wrong. WG Grace amongst many others scored 100s before boundaries where even invented, therefore even when he ran four it was not a boundary. This was in the 19th century though.
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question 4 - joe and 66 - Dave
if the umpire can confirm the one run before the ball crosses the boundary then yes, one run is scored
BUT as the ball is in the fielder's hands in this case the umpire CAN'T do this, only after the fielder crosses the boundary can the ONE run be confirmed, however the boundary is crossed before the one run is confirmed so its a SIX
from law 21/6
"(c) If a boundary is scored BEFORE the batsmen have COMPLETED sufficient runs to win the match, then the whole of the boundary allowance shall be credited to the side's total and, in the case of a hit by the bat, to the striker's score"
and in my understanding when a fielder catches the ball the runs are not completed, and until the fielder crosses the boundary he has caught the ball, so no runs
from law 32/5
"dismissed Caught, runs from that delivery completed by the batsmen BEFORE THE COMPLETION OF THE CATCH shall not be scored"
(my CAPS)
however it is a tricky question (but as it only affects the strikers average probably not going to cause too much real trouble, as the fielding team lost they probably won't mind if the batters average is higher or lower)
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Ray Smith certainly became a major bowler for Essex, but I'm not sure that he was considered so in 1938. Also Ken Farnes and Col. Stephenson were playing for the Gentlemen in the G v P match, so 4 of their top 5 bowlers appear to have missed the Kent match.
How many other great perfomances have been helped along by fortunate circumstances? Lara's 501 after being dropped a sitter on 18 comes to mind.
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hi bill.
in the recent one day game between the west indes and sri lanka, there was a bit of a strange moment after the 1st over. Upul Thranga was asked to change his bat because it had a carbon fibre handle and aparantly these are illegal??, what are the rules on bats like this?
its all abit puzzling because over the last few years, carbon fibre bats have been sold as well as titanium bats??
many thanks
ciaron
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question 72 - charles
you are joking? right?
the law that changed in the 20th century about boundaries in international cricket was for sixes, they no longer needed to be hit out of the ground, just over the rope, which had been in use for fours since the before the very first test in 1876 (where bannerman on his way to the first test 100 hit 18 fours over the boundary)
in WGs first test, in 1880, he scored 152 in the first innings, with 12 boundary fours. he only scored one test 6, as in his day you needed to hit the ball out of the ground, so some of his 4's would today have been sixes
in 1900 exactly a trial game (not international) between MCC and Notts tested a new boundary net (rather than the old rope) for which you scored only 2 but could keep running, getting just 3 for clearing the net in an attempt to encourage more ground strokes, as batsmen had taken to the air to score quick boundaries in the past decades! (although the trial continued in a few more games it was eventually abandoned, BUT it did create the most runs ever scored in first class cricket off 1 ball....TEN by Wood of Burnup in a later Derby vs MCC game)
also as an extra to all this the 1884 Code states the umpires duties as
尝补飞听44
They shall pitch fair wickets, arrange boundaries where necessary, and the allowances to be made for them, and change ends after each side has had one innings.
which rather makes a point that boundaries existed and were used!
if you want to see all the previous laws
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Probably unanswerable but are there any stats for the batsman who has hit the WINNING RUN(s) in a Test / LOI / T20 match the most times?
Also, in the above three forms of the game how many times has a match ended with the winning run(s) been won with an extra?
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Bill,
Have there been any instances in post WW2 cricket where all batsmen, in a completed team innings, have scored more than their career average?
Rich
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As a follow up to Chris Grant's comment - [74] - Stephenson played in 4 out of 26 county matches - Farnes in 8 out of 26 - hardly part of the normal Essex bowling attack for 1938. Against this, Ray Smith played in 21, Eastman in 19, Daer in 7, Taylor and Lavers in 6 each. These formed the Essex bowling against Kent in the match when Arthur Fagg made the two double centuries. He scored 60% of Kent's runs. If the Essex attack was so weak, why did only one other batsman make 50 in the first innings [61]?
Any feat which is only attained once has to be extraordinary - (Wisden's word) - rather than fortunate.
Regards,
Brian Little, Ireland
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#1 Marty, I've been doing a little bit of analysis for you, which is summarised in the table below. (I hope the table comes out OK on the final posting, but it looks OK on the screen as I'm typing).
The first column shows a batsman's score (x).
The second column is the percentage of all batsmen who have reached x in an test innings who have then gone on to add a further 10 runs in that innings. For instance, of all batsmen who got to 40, 75.8% went on to reach 50.
The third column is the percentage of batsmen who reached x who then got out before scoring another 10 runs.
The fourth column is the percentage who were left not out on a score less than x+10 - either through a declaration, running out of partners or running out of time at the end of a match.
10 69.6% 26.6% 3.8%
20 73.2% 23.6% 3.2%
30 74.7% 22.3% 3.1%
40 75.8% 21.7% 2.5%
50 76.2% 20.9% 2.8%
60 76.1% 20.8% 3.1%
70 77.1% 20.2% 2.7%
80 79.7% 18.1% 2.2%
90 80.9% 17.3% 1.9%
100 74.3% 19.3% 6.4%
110 76.0% 20.9% 3.1%
120 76.9% 19.2% 4.0%
130 78.9% 17.2% 3.8%
140 79.3% 17.3% 3.4%
150 77.4% 16.4% 6.3%
160 77.8% 18.0% 4.2%
170 79.8% 17.1% 3.1%
180 81.4% 14.3% 4.3%
190 82.8% 15.1% 2.1%
200 67.0% 21.5% 11.5%
210 75.9% 19.3% 4.8%
220 76.8% 21.1% 2.1%
You can see that the rate of batsmen getting out between 100 and 110 (19.3%) is not particularly high - even allowing for the fact that the not out rate between 100 and 110 is very high (presumably due to declarations). In fact it seems that there is slightly more problem with batsmen getting out between 110 and 120.
At after 200, however, the rate of batsmen getting out seems to go up significantly from the lead up to 200.
Incidentally, the survival rates in the 90's and 190's seem especially high, and not just from the lack of declarations. So much for the nervous nineties!
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Thank you Brian for your comments about my posting, but I stand by my point. Both Stephenson and Farnes were amateurs, and were only available at certain times. Farnes being a school master was only available during school holidays for instance. (different days then!!). He was also England's opening bowler in 4 of the test matches against Australia that season, and Stephenson one of the fastest bowlers around at the time. Both would have been first choices for Essex ahead of those you mentioned subject to availability. Daer was in his first season with Essex, and Eastman just about his last. Lavers 13 wickets in 26 career matches, Taylor 92 wickets in 206 career matches, were not part of the first choice bowling attack.
There is no doubt that Fagg's was a great achievement, but it certainly was made at an opportune time.
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I see in Kent's first innings (481/5 declared) against Leeds/Bradford, every batsman has scored more than the man batting immediately lower in the order him. Has this ever happened in a completed (10 down) first class innings?
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Hi Bill
What is the highest number of runs scored by a batman in an innings without hitting a boundary?
Amit, London
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Re 27 douglas
I seem to recall Robin Jackman completing an all run six with no overthrows for Surrey at the Oval in a one day match in the 1970s. As I recall the wicket was very much to one side of the square and the boundary on the opposite side was colossal. I can't remember anything else about it. Sorry.
Chris
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In a limited overs match the team batting second has exactly the same score (or has exactly the par score of a recalculated score) with one ball remaining in their innings and 9 wickets down.
The spinner sending down the last over with the keeper standing up bowls a wide which the batsman tries to get hold of to score the winning run(s) but misses comfortably and is stumped by a mile.
Would the wide be scored first (as it is mentioned in the laws it is considered wide as soon as it is delivered) and therefore any stumping would not count as the match ends as soon as the run is scored or would something else happen?
Could the wide and the wicket both count and if so how would the result be recorded (i.e. scores with overs remaining?)
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Hi Bill,
I was looking at some bowling statistics of the likes of Ishant Sharma and Makhaya N'tini and i saw their test figures are better than ODI figures. Has their been an instance when a bowlers ODI figures have been betther than their test ones?
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Hi Bill,
Following on from the third NZ vs England test, I have a question for you.
In the NZ first innings, Sidebottom and Broad shared all 10 wickets. For England, have there been any other occasions when all ten wickets were taken by players from the same county?
Following on from this, again for England, has there even been an instance where all 20 wickets were taken by bowlers from the same county?
Andy/Earl Shilton/England
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Re #85 - as mentioned before, once the wide is scored, the match is over. Anything that happens after that, such as the 'keeper taking the bails off for a stumping is irrelevant. The batting side wins by 1 wicket.
#87 - Against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956, Jim laker took 19 wickets, and his county colleague, Tony Lock, tokk the remaining one.
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Just been looking Wasim Akram's record - 356 ODIs - and it got me wondering: Which cricketer has played the most number of days of international cricket? (tests and one-dayers). Quite topical in the days of player burnout etc etc
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Much is made of The Don's batting average of 99.94 but did he ever bowl in first class/test cricket and if so, what were his stats? Also, how many catches did he pouch in first class/test cricket?
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#89
Quite difficult to establish how many days of cricket each player has actually played. But assuming one Test equals 5 days play, then the five top players would be: S Waugh (168 tests + 325 ODIs = 1165 days), Tendulkar (147 tests + 417 ODIs = 1152 days), Border (156 tests + 273 ODIs = 1053 days), Inzamam (120 tests + 378 ODIs = 978 days) and Jayasuriya (110 tests + 411 ODIs = 961 days). However, because of rain/early finishes I suspect many of the test "days" actually got no play. My hunch is therefore that Tendulkar would be top of the list.
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If a team batting last had been reduced to 10 players due to illness or injury, what would be the result of a game in which the 9th wicket fell on the last ball?
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Question for Bearders:
I see that Chris Cairns made his test debut a whisker under four years after Lance鈥檚 final test.
Do they hold the record for the closest in time that father and son have ever played test cricket? If not, have any father and son played simultaneously at test level? Which other father and son pairs have played tests?
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question 93 - steve
there have been more than 25 father/son pairs in Tests
SOME of the pairs are:
Ron Headly (last test 70s WI) & Dean (first test 90s Eng)
Peter Pollock (last 70s) & Shaun (first 90s) SA
Lance Cairns (last 80s) & Chris (first 90s) NZ
Colin Cowdrey (last 70s) & Chris (first 80s) Eng
Alan Butcher (last 70s) & Mark (first 90s) Eng
the Cairns are indeed the closest, no father and son have PLAYED in the same test but it has happened in 1st class cricket including the rather remarkable feat of a father and son batting against a father and son bowling
"Father and son William and Bernard Quaife played alongside each other for Warwickshire. For 10 remarkable minutes, in 1922, they batted together against the bowling of Billy Bestwick and his son in a match against Derbyshire"
for a full list of father and son test cricketers see
question 90 - clive
bradman bowled in 9 test innings bowling a total of 160 balls for 2 wkts and 72 runs giving an average of 36
in 1st class he bowled 2114 balls picking up 36 wkts for 1367 runs (37.97 ave)
he took 32 catches in his 52 tests and 131 in his 234 1st class games and rather surprisingly one stumping
now for a gripe.....
why oh why does the admin of this blog not form a board with threads (like tests/ODI/1st class/etc.. and divided into batting/bowling/etc..)?
this would then be searchable, multiple replies to questions would be kept together and repeated questions (like 93 87 85 and 83 to name but a few recent examples) would be easy to search for answers to etc...
it might even make posting quicker!
just a thought
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#92 - if the 9th wicket falls on the last scheduled ball of a match, the result is a draw. Only if there would be an opportunity for the last batsman to come in, and he is unable to do so is the batting side deemed to have been bowled out.
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Given that you can be stumped if your foot is not grounded behind the crease at the point where the bails are removed, is the same true for a run out? Say for example your first foot has crossed the line, your bat isn鈥檛 grounded and as is common while you are running, both feet are off the ground as the bails come off, are you out?
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I will correct my own question here. I of course mean that the first foot has already landed beyond the crease, and when the 2nd foot comes across, both feet are across the line and in the air
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Bearders,
Not sure about Sri Lanka holding the record for 7 cack handers in one test. I'm sure I recall a similar number displayed by the West Indies in late 90s or early noughties which probably included
Lara
Adams
Hinds (Wavel and possibly Ryan)
Chanderpaul
Jacobs
Ambrose
McClean
Arthurton
I bow of course to your greater expertise on these matters but worth a second look
Wayne
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Hi Bill,
Hope you are keeping well.
The point I wanted to raise was regarding run out dismissals,particuarly direct hits not being included in official statistics.To me a direct run out hit from say coverpoint to dismiss a star batsman is just as important as a fantastic slip catch or a jaffa of a ball from the opening bowler.Is there any reason why run outs are not incuded in official statistics--I am sure it would have given a fielder such as Jonty Rhodes far mor credibility when looking at final averages!
All the best to Debbie and Alice.
Regards
Martin Greenway
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