And was Bangladesh’s 159 in Chattogram the lowest innings total to include a century partnership?
Steven Lynch12-Nov-2024Ajaz Patel has played two Tests at the Wankhede Stadium, and taken at least ten wickets in both. How many other bowlers have multiple ten-fors on a single ground away from home? asked Ahmedul Kabir from Bangladesh
The New Zealand slow left-armer Ajaz Patel has played two Tests against India in Mumbai – the city of his birth – and taken 25 wickets there: 14 for 225 (including all ten in the first innings) in a defeat in December 2021, and 11 for 160 as New Zealand completed their unprecedented 3-0 whitewash at the Wankhede Stadium last week.Only seven other bowlers have taken two ten-fors in Tests on the same ground away from home. The first was England’s George Lohmann in Sydney, and he was followed by the Australian Hugh Trumble at The Oval, a pair of Englishmen in Colin Blythe (Cape Town) and Sydney Barnes (Durban), Lance Gibbs of West Indies (Old Trafford), and the Australians Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne at The Oval. Barnes did it twice in the same 1913-14 series, with 10 for 105 in the first Test and 14 for 144 in the fourth at the old Lord’s ground in Durban.Was Bangladesh’s 159 at Chattogram the lowest Test total for an innings that included a century partnership? asked Tarif Sherhan Shuvo from Bangladesh via Facebook
Bangladesh were bowled out for 159 in the first innings of their second Test against South Africa in Chattogram last week despite a ninth-wicket stand of 103 between Mominul Haque and Taijul Islam, which rescued them somewhat from 48 for 8.It’s not quite the lowest all-out Test total to include a hundred partnership: New Zealand’s 158 against Australia in Auckland in March 1974 began with an opening stand of 107 between Glenn Turner and John Parker. West Indies were all out for 160 against Sri Lanka in Galle in November 2021 despite an seventh-wicket stand of exactly 100 between Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua Da Silva.When South Africa were all out for 140 at Lord’s in July 1907, Dave Nourse and Aubrey Faulkner put on 98 for the fourth wicket (no one else scored more than six).The lowest completed innings in a one-day international to include a century stand is Pakistan’s 161 against Sri Lanka in Karachi in January 2009, when Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik put on 108 for the fourth wicket.Mominul Haque was out twice in a session during the Chattogram Test. Was this unique? asked Neville Flood via Facebook
After top-scoring with 82 in Bangladesh’s first innings in the second Test against South Africa in Chattogram last week, Mominul Haque was out for a two-ball duck in the follow-on. There were only 14.3 overs between the two dismissals, which both came in the middle session of the third day.The Australian statistician Charles Davis, the king of the ball-by-ball scorecards, says of being out twice in a session: “It happens occasionally in Tests, but is not common. The previous one was Lorcan Tucker of Ireland, against Sri Lanka in Galle in April 2023 – he was out twice in the first session of the third day.”A related statistic is the fastest pair bagged in a Test. For years I thought this was by Pakistan’s MEZ “Ebbu” Ghazali, against England at Old Trafford in July 1954 – he was out twice in the space of about two hours – but actually it seems the record is held by the South African wicketkeeper Tommy Ward, who marked his Test debut in May 1912 by becoming the final victim in both Jimmy Matthews’ hat-tricks for Australia at Old Trafford. Ward collected a king pair within the space of 110 minutes’ playing time.Clem Hill got within touching distance of a hundred in three successive Tests, only to fall for 99, 98 and 97•Getty ImagesApparently someone once had successive Test scores of 99, 98 and 97. Who was this? asked Pete Spencer from England
This unlucky batter was the Australian left-hander Clem Hill, who would have improved on his career total of seven centuries in 49 Tests with a little more luck. In the second Test of the 1901-02 Ashes series, in Melbourne, he was caught by Arthur Jones off the bowling of Sydney Barnes for 99. Then in the next Test, on his home ground in Adelaide, Hill was caught by JohnnyTyldesley off Len Braund for 98, and bowled by Gilbert Jessop for 97.In Hill’s reminiscences, which appeared in an Adelaide newspaper in the 1930s and were later published in book form, he claimed it wasn’t really a case of the nervous nineties. “In the first of them I was in with [Reggie] Duff. He and I had not been partners before, and did not know each other’s ways in running between the wickets. When I was 99, I asked him to be on the move to run a short one. Barnes sent up a short-pitched ball, which I could have square-cut to the boundary – but uppermost in my mind was the thought that I had told Duff to be ready for a single. I attempted to pat it down to third man, but instead touched it into the slips.”The second dismissal was on the Adelaide Oval. I hit a ball from Braund to the north-eastern boundary, where Tyldesley stepped on to the asphalt cycling track, threw out his left hand, and caught the ball. He did not know that he had brought about my dismissal. The arrangement used to be that if a fieldsman took a catch with his foot on the asphalt the batsman was not out. As, however, the umpire could not always tell if a fieldsman’s foot was on the paved track, it was decided by the captains that a catch anywhere on it was out. I knew this, but nobody had told Tyldesley about it.”I was dismissed the third time when facing Jessop, a fairly fast bowler. He bowled one just outside my leg stump. I went to glance it fine but played it onto my pads. The ball rolled between my legs and I watched it go slowly towards my wicket. It was some seconds before the bails fell off.”During New Zealand’s recent historic 3-0 win in India, there were only two centuries scored. Is this a record low for a Test series of three or more matches? asked Matthew Walsham from New Zealand
The only three-figure scores in the recent series in India both came in the first Test in Bengaluru – Rachin Ravindra’s 134 for New Zealand, and Sarfaraz Khan’s 150 for India.But this isn’t very close to the record: there were no individual centuries at all in the three-Test series between Australia and England in 1882-83 and 1888, India vs New Zealand in 1969-70 and 1995-96, Pakistan vs West Indies in 1986-87, and Pakistan vs Zimbabwe in 1993-94. There are 13 series that featured only one century, and 27 others with two (that includes four series of four matches: West Indies vs England in 1934-35, England v Pakistan in 1954, Pakistan vs West Indies in 1980-81, and India vs South Africa in 2015-16).Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions
