Also: who is the youngest man to captain in a T20I?
Steven Lynch12-May-2020Is it true that Brian Bolus, who died last week, holds the record for the most Test innings without being out in single figures? asked Graham Sinclair from England
The former England batsman Brian Bolus, who passed away last week aged 86, had 12 innings in his seven Tests in the early 1960s, and his lowest score was 14. That’s the record for the most innings in a complete career without being out in single figures: next come the 19th-century England player Frank Druce, with nine, and New Zealand’s Gary Stead – now their coach – with eight. The Indian opener Prithvi Shaw has so far had seven Test innings, all of them in double figures.I asked Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team which batsman has most consistently made it out of double figures. We imposed a minimum of 50 Test innings, and decided to ignore any cases where the player made a single-figure score but was not out. Clear at the top was England’s Jack Hobbs, who made it out of double figures on 88 of 101 occasions, or 87.13%. Second was his long-time opening partner, Herbert Sutcliffe, with 85.54% (71 out of 83). A slight surprise at No. 3 was the West Indian opener Jeff Stollmeyer, with 83.93%, not far in front of the inevitable Don Bradman (82.50). Just behind the Don were a bunch of big names, including Wally Hammond and Len Hutton (both 82.48%) and Eddie Barlow (82.46).I was surprised to realise that someone was closely involved in the match with the lowest Test total, and also the highest – do you know who it is? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England
The lowest total in Tests remains New Zealand’s 26 all out in Auckland in 1954-55, when England – who had a slender lead of 46 – were rather surprised to end up winning by an innings. And the highest Test total is 952 for 6 declared, by Sri Lanka against India in Colombo in August 1997.On the face of it there’s no obvious connection (the umpires for the Colombo game were not around in Auckland). But that match in Sri Lanka was one of the earliest to have an ICC match referee – and in Colombo it was John Reid, the great New Zealand batsman who had been their top scorer in the first innings in Auckland, with 73.It’s another of those coincidences that cricket seems to specialise in – like Bob Simpson being a player in the first tied Test, and Australia’s coach in the second, or Bob Woolmer being taken as a boy to the match in which Hanif Mohammad scored 499, and later being Warwickshire’s coach when Brian Lara beat Hanif’s record with 501 not out.I was watching some highlights of old matches and saw Jason Holder making a double-century on his home ground in Barbados. Was this a record? asked V Kartik from the United States
The match you must have been watching was West Indies’ first Test against England in January 2019, in which Jason Holder made 202 not out at home in Bridgetown. But the record in this regard is 374, by Mahela Jayawardene, for Sri Lanka against South Africa in Colombo in 2006 – that match was played on his home club ground at the Sinhalese Sports Club. Jayawardene clearly likes his home comforts: in all, he scored 2921 Test runs at the SSC, the record for a player on a single ground.Shai Hope made twin centuries at Headingley and Kraigg Brathwaite almost did too in the same Test, but was out for 95 in the second innings•Getty ImagesWhen Shai Hope scored two centuries in the same Test, in 2017, Kraigg Brathwaite came agonisingly close too, scoring 134 and 95. How often have two batsmen from the same team scored twin centuries in the same Test match? asked Gerhard Jonker from South Africa
There have now been five instances of two players scoring twin centuries in the same Test, but only two of them have been for the same side. The Chappell brothers did it for Australia against New Zealand in Wellington in 1973-74 – Greg made 247 not out and 133, while Ian made 145 and 121. Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq followed suit for Pakistan against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014-15.The first of the three instances for opposite sides came in Adelaide in 1946-47, when Arthur Morris made 122 and 124 not out for Australia and Denis Compton replied with 147 and 103 not out for England. Andrew Jones and Asanka Gurusinha traded twin tons for New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Hamilton in 1990-91, as did David Warner and Virat Kohli for Australia and India in Adelaide in 2014-15.Shai Hope made 147 and 118 not out as West Indies clinched a superb victory in that match in Leeds in 2017. The most remarkable aspect of his double was probably that Hope was the first batsman ever to score two centuries in the same first-class match at Headingley – in 533 previous games, the feat had proved beyond the likes of Geoff Boycott, Len Hutton and Herbert Sutcliffe. It meant that Clarence Park in Weston-super-Mare became the ground with the most first-class matches (191) without a player scoring two hundreds in the same match.I believe that Rashid Khan is the youngest man to captain in a Test match and a one-day international. But does he also hold the record for T20Is? asked Kishore Bharat from India
Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan does indeed hold the first two records – he was only 19 when he first captained in a one-day international, against Scotland in March 2018, and two weeks short of his 21st birthday when he first skippered in a Test, undercutting Tatenda Taibu of Zimbabwe by just eight days. But although he was still under 21 when he first led in a T20 international, he now lies fifth on that particular list, which is headed by Virandeep Singh, who was about five months younger when he captained Malaysia against Vanuatu in Kuala Lumpur last September.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions
