Also, scoring a hundred and opening the bowling, the youngest Australian player, and scoreless in three Tests
Steven Lynch18-Nov-2014Was Rohit Sharma’s 264 the highest score in any one-day game? asked Vasant Mukund from Delhi
If the last ball of India’s innings in Kolkata last week had carried about ten yards further – over the boundary instead of into the hands of the fielder at long-off – then Rohit Sharma would have finished with the highest individual innings in all List A (senior one-day) cricket. As it is, that record still stands (just) to Surrey’s Alistair Brown, who smashed 268 against Glamorgan in a C&G Trophy match at The Oval in 2002. It almost wasn’t enough: even though Surrey amassed 438 for 5 in their 50 overs, despite the famously long boundaries at The Oval, Glamorgan were all out in the final over for 429, only ten short of victory. Rohit Sharma had to be content with shattering the previous-best score in a one-day international, leaving Virender Sehwag’s 219 against West Indies in Indore in December 2011 some 45 runs adrift.Angelo Mathews scored a hundred and opened the bowling in the fifth ODI against India. How often this happened? asked Hemil Maniar from the United States
Angelo Mathews’ feat in that match in Ranchi last week was actually the 22nd instance of someone scoring a century and opening the bowling in the same one-day international. Four of those were by Jacques Kallis for South Africa, while Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Neil Johnson (Zimbabwe), Mohammad Hafez (Pakistan) and Manoj Prabhakar (India) all did it twice. Mathews was the third person to achieve the feat it in 2014, after Dwayne Bravo (West Indies v New Zealand in Hamilton in January) and Joe Root (England v West Indies in North Sound in March, despite a broken finger). Both of the performances by Dilshan, Johnson and Prabhakar came when they opened both the batting and bowling, as did one of Hafeez’s and an instance by Darron Reekers for the Netherlands against Ireland in Nairobi in February 2007.In the final ODI between India and Sri Lanka, both captains scored 139 not out. Has this happened before? asked Nadine Tiefenbach from Switzerland
It’s true that in the final one-day international in Ranchi, Virat Kohli exactly matched Angelo Mathews’ score of 139 not out. This is the highest individual score to be made twice in the same ODI. The previous highest came in South Africa’s innings against Sri Lanka in Johannesburg in January 2012, when Graeme Smith made 125 and AB de Villiers 125 not out. The best for opposing sides is 116 not out, by Shane Watson for Australia and Kamran Akmal for Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in May 2009.I was sorry to learn of the death of Ian Craig. I know he was Australia’s youngest Test player, but has anyone younger appeared for them in the other formats? asked Christopher French from Australia
Ian Craig, who died last weekend, was only 17 years 239 days old when he made his Test debut, against South Africa in Melbourne in 1952-53, when he scored 53 and 47. He remains Australia’s youngest male Test player (and, five years later, their youngest Test captain). Next comes Pat Cummins, who was 18 years 193 days old when he won his first cap, against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2011-12. On that same tour, Cummins became Australia’s youngest player in T20 internationals (18 years 158 days) and, six days later, in ODIs. Craig thus remains the youngest man to appear for Australia in any type of international cricket – but Ellyse Perry was only 17 tears 104 days old when she made her debut for Australia’s women’s team against England in Bowral in February 2008.Who has taken the most ODI wickets for England in a calendar year? asked Kevin Harrison from England
England’s leading bowler is some way down this particular list, which is headed by Saqlain Mushtaq, who took 69 wickets in one-day internationals in 1997 (he’s also second, with 65 in 1996; Saeed Ajmal lies third, with 62 in 2013). Quite a few notches below them comes John Emburey, who claimed 43 wickets in ODIs in 1987, a World Cup year. Jimmy Anderson has had a couple of near-misses for that England record: he took 41 wickets in 2003, and 39 in 2007.Imran Khan has now played three Test matches but has yet to score a run. Has anyone taken longer to score their first run? asked Zaheer Ahmed from Pakistan
Pakistan’s new fast bowler Imran Khan is only the fourth man to fail to score a run in his first three Tests. The first was the controversial Lancashire paceman Arthur Mold, whose three Tests – all against Australia at home in 1893 – produced innings of 0, 0 not out, and 0. The Worcestershire medium-pacer Fred Root was even more unlucky: he played three Tests in the 1926 Ashes series, and never batted at all. More recently South Africa’s Mfuneko Ngam – who rejoiced in the nickname “Chewing” – played three Tests but only batted once, making 0 not out against New Zealand in his second match, in Durban in 2000-01. None of these three ever played another Test, so Imran Khan – the bearer of a famous name – will be hoping for better luck. Three men had scored just one run after four Test matches: the South African fast bowler Norman Gordon, the Indian legspinner Subhash Gupte, and the Pakistan paceman Aizaz Cheema, whose seven Tests to date have produced just one run, from five not-out innings. Gupte’s first run came in the second innings of his fourth Test (only his third innings overall).
