Sachin Tendulkar was never dismissed or left unbeaten on which number?
Steven Lynch26-Jun-2017I recently worked out that in my lengthy playing career I managed to register every score from 0 (quite enough of those) to 73. Who holds the Test record for the highest unbroken range of scores from a duck upwards? asked David Stoddart from Surrey
It seems that you have been channelling your inner WG Grace – the Grand Old Man reputedly once declared his side’s innings closed when he had 93, and when asked why said it was the only number between 0 and 100 that he had never scored. I started looking at some of the obvious suspects in Tests: Sachin Tendulkar, in his record 329 innings in 200 matches, scored everything from 0 to 29, but was never out (or left not out) for 30.It soon became obvious that I needed to call in the heavy artillery for this one, as looking at one player at a time was very long-winded – and luckily ‘s statistician Philip Bailey wanted a diversion from the soaring temperatures outside. Some nifty number-crunching soon established that Tendulkar was well down this particular list, which is headed by England’s Andrew Strauss, who made every score from 0 to 40 in Tests. Desmond Haynes managed everything from 0 to 36, and Graham Gooch and Steve Waugh every score up to 34. David Boon and Godfrey Evans made all from 0 to 32, while Alistair Campbell, Alastair Cook and Colin Cowdrey made everything up to 30. Cook, of course, has power to add: if he can manage scores of 31, 33 and 49 then he’ll have a complete set from 0 to 52.Flushed with success, Philip extended his query to first-class cricket, and discovered that the prolific Hampshire left-hander Phil Mead recorded every score from 0 to 123. The others to have made every single- and double-figure score are Tom Graveney (everything up to 120), John Edrich (115), Dennis Amiss (112), Frank Woolley (111), Patsy Hendren (107), MJK Smith (106) and – showing he knew what he was talking about when he declared in that match in 1898 – WG Grace (104).England opener Peter Richardson made 126 on his 26th birthday•Getty ImagesIs it true that Pakistan had never beaten India in a global event before the recent Champions Trophy final? asked Mohammad Iqbal from Dubai
Although Pakistan have never beaten India in six encounters at the 50-over World Cup, or in five at the World T20, they have won three of the sides’ five meetings in the Champions Trophy. Before that stunning win at The Oval last week, Pakistan had also emerged victorious at Edgbaston in 2004, and Centurion in 2009-10. India won at Edgbaston in 2013, and again in the group match in 2017. Overall, in the three global competitions, India lead 13-3, one of those wins courtesy of a bowl-out after a tie in the World T20 in Durban in 2007-08.Which Test cricketer won an Olympic gold medal for football? asked Debapriya Chakraborty from India
This long-ago sporting allrounder was Claude Buckenham, who was part of the Upton Park side that won the football tournament at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. Buckenham was also a nippy fast bowler, who took more than 900 wickets for Essex: he also claimed 21 in four Test matches for England, all in South Africa in 1909-10, including 5 for 115 in a narrow victory in the third Test in Johannesburg.How many people have played just one Test match for England? asked Michael Corcoran from Scotland
At the moment 94 men have won just one cap for England, although this includes current players like Liam Dawson (the most recent addition to the club, last winter) and Scott Borthwick, who might yet add to their tally. Perhaps the unluckiest not to win further honours was the Kent legspinner Charles “Father” Marriott, who took 11 wickets on his debut, against West Indies at The Oval in 1933, but never played again. One of their number, Essex’s John Stephenson, started up a “one-cap wonders” club a few years ago.In connection with the recent question about the highest ODI score by a player on his birthday, what’s the highest birthday score in a Test match? asked Michael Andrews from England
As far as I can see, the highest Test score by a batsman made entirely on his birthday is 126, by the England opener Peter Richardson against West Indies at Trent Bridge on July 4, 1957, the day he turned 26. Patsy Hendren (205 not out for England against West Indies in Port-of-Spain on February 5, 1930) and Jason Gillespie (201 not out for Australia v Bangladesh in Chittagong on April 19, 2006) both reached double-centuries on their birthdays, but had reached three figures the day before. Hendren scored 282 runs in that Port-of-Spain match, the most by anyone who celebrated their birthday during the Test in question.No-ball no-no: are there bowlers who have never crossed the line?•Getty ImagesAnd there’s an update on last week’s question about people who didn’t deliver many no-balls and wides, from Sreeram on Facebook
“The newspaper report on the ODI between Australia and West Indies in Melbourne in February 1985 gives Michael Holding five no-balls and one wide, and Joel Garner five wides and three no-balls.” It seems the database I used didn’t have full information for many older matches (to be fair, it was not standard practice to detail them), so many apologies for the misleading information – until some brave soul undertakes much more research, we won’t know the most accurate man. Charles Davis, the Melbourne statistician, believes the leader in Test matches is probably the Australian legspinner Clarrie Grimmett (14,513 deliveries in 37 Tests), who never bowled a no-ball or a wide, and adds: “England’s Maurice Tate bowled just one no-ball and that was scored from, and he bowled only two wides.”