Plus, most World Cup runs without a duck, and Seb Coe’s brother-in-law
Steven Lynch07-Apr-2015What’s the highest any team has gone on to score in a Test after being five down for less than 100? And what’s the corresponding figure in ODIs? asked Dhanushka Edussuriya from Sri Lanka
The Test record was broken in February 2014, when New Zealand recovered from 94 for 5 in their second innings against India in Wellington to reach 680 for 8 – that’s 586 runs for the last five wickets, led by Brendon McCullum’s 302, New Zealand’s first Test triple-century. The previous record was 474, by Pakistan against New Zealand in Lahore in 1955-56 – they recovered from 87 for 5 (and 111 for 6) to rack up 561 in all. The one-day international also belongs to New Zealand: against Sri Lanka in Dunedin earlier this year they were 93 for 5 after 20 overs, but ended up scoring 360.Which England cricketer is the brother-in-law of the famous British Olympic runner Sebastian Coe? asked Mark Hanson from Australia
Sebastian Coe, the Olympic 1500m champion of 1980 and 1984, is now married to Carole, the daughter of the former England captain Mike “MJK” Smith. His son Neil, who also captained Warwickshire, played seven one-day internationals for England early in 1996, three of them in that year’s World Cup. Neil Smith and Lord Coe are therefore brothers-in-law.Is Sanath Jayasuriya the only batsman to score over 1000 World Cup runs without making a duck? asked Oscar D’Souza from the UAE
Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya scored 1165 runs in the World Cup, without ever being dismissed for a duck in his 37 innings (three of them not out). He does hold the record for the most runs in the World Cup without a duck, but there is another man who reached 1000 without one: Viv Richards ended up with 1013 runs in 21 innings without ever being out for nought. Matthew Hayden made 987, and Steve Waugh 978. The most by current players is 888 by Michael Clarke, and 809 by Martin Guptill. The overall record is held by Kepler Wessels, who scored 3367 runs in 109 ODIs for Australia and South Africa without ever bagging a duck.Nathan Bracken played ten World Cup games and didn’t get to bat even once•Getty ImagesWhat’s the highest score in a losing cause in a World Cup match? asked Debapriya Chakraborty from India
There have now been 31 individual centuries in vain in the World Cup, with Herschelle Gibbs, Ricky Ponting, Scott Styris, Brendan Taylor, Ryan ten Doeschate and Sachin Tendulkar having made two each. Up to this year, the record for the highest score was Gibbs’ 143 for South Africa against New Zealand at Johannesburg in 2003, but that was broken in 2015 by Scotland’s Kyle Coetzer, who hit 156 against Bangladesh in Nelson but still ended up on the losing side. In all one-day internationals there have now been 360 centuries in a losing cause, the highest among them Charles Coventry’s 194 not out for Zimbabwe against Bangladesh in Bulawayo in August 2009.I noticed that Glenn McGrath played 39 World Cup matches but scored only three runs. Who has played the most matches without ever scoring a run? asked Lucy Agbai from Malaysia
It’s true that Glenn McGrath’s 39 World Cup matches brought him just three runs, although the strength of the Australian side he played in – they won in 1999, 2003 and 2007 – meant he only had to bat four times, and was not out on three of those occasions. One of his team-mates, Shaun Tait, played in 18 World Cup matches in 2007 and 2011, but only batted once … and made 0 not out. Another Australian seamer, Nathan Bracken, played ten matches in the World Cup (all in 2007) and never batted at all. Trent Boult, one of New Zealand’s 2015 heroes, got to the crease just twice in his nine matches this year – both times against Australia, in the group stage and the final – and made 0 not out each time.With a Wisden Trophy series about to start in the Caribbean, I was wondering whether Shivnarine Chanderpaul has played in more West Indies-England Tests than anyone else? asked Ricky Cameron from Jamaica
Shivnarine Chanderpaul has so far played 33 Tests against England since his debut back in 1993-94. Six players have appeared in more, all from West Indies: Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers and Courtney Walsh all played 36, and Curtly Ambrose and Clive Lloyd 34. Rohan Kanhai also played 33. The England record is Geoff Boycott’s 29. Chanderpaul therefore needs to play in all three Tests of the upcoming series to equal the overall record. He has so far scored 2359 runs against England, a number exceeded for West Indies only by Sobers (3214), Brian Lara (2983 from 30 matches), Richards (2869) and Haynes (2392). The England record against West Indies is also held by Boycott, with 2205 runs. The leading bowlers are also all West Indians: Ambrose took 164 England wickets, Walsh 145, Malcolm Marshall 127, Sobers 102 and Lance Gibbs 100. Fred Trueman leads the way for England with 86.
