The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket
Steven Lynch26-Jun-2006The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:
Bazid Khan – the latest addition to the exclusive club of generation cricketers © AFP
Has there been a third-generation Test cricketer? I mean, Mr X was a Test player, his son Mr XX was too, and his son Mr XXX was as well? asked Paddy Ponnada from India
There are two of them – perhaps not surprisingly, both recent players. The first was England’s Dean Headley, who in 1997 followed his father Ron and grandfather George (who both played for West Indies) into Test cricket. In May 2005 Pakistan’s Bazid Khan joined this very exclusive club, when he made his Test debut against West Indies at Bridgetown. Bazid’s father is Majid Khan, who played 63 Tests for Pakistan, and his grandfather was Jahangir Khan, who played for India in pre-Partition days.Can you confirm that the stand between Chris Read and Andrew Harris for Nottinghamshire against Durham a few weeks ago is a world record for the ninth wicket in limited-overs cricket? Incidentally Harris batted for the whole of the partnership with a runner! asked Richard Lane from England
Yes, that stand of 155 at Trent Bridge – Read made 135 and Harris 34 – was indeed a ninth-wicket record for senior one-day cricket (or “List A”, as statisticians call limited-overs matches between first-class teams). It wasn’t quite enough: Durham still beat Nottinghamshire by 28 runs. The previous record was 130, by Chris Schofield and Gregor Maiden for Lancashire against the India A tourists at Blackpool in 2003.Who has scored the most runs in all World Cup matches so far? asked Dhaval Brahmbhatt from the United States
Five men have so far scored more than 1000 runs solely in World Cup matches. Mark Waugh made 1004 runs, Viv Richards 1013, Aravinda de Silva 1064, and Javed Miandad – the only man to play in six different tournaments – 1083. But way clear at the top of the list is Sachin Tendulkar, who has so far scored 1732 runs in the World Cup, at the healthy average of 59.72, with four centuries. Ricky Ponting, who currently has 998 runs, and Brian Lara (956) are likely to sail past four figures during next year’s World Cup. For a full list of the highest runscorers in the World Cup, click here.Playing for Leicestershire against Surrey recently Claude Henderson had bowling figures of 54.2-5-235-3. Is this the most expensive set of figures in county cricket? asked David Musgrave from England
Claude Henderson’s 3 for 235 in that match at The Oval were indeed the most expensive set of bowling figures in the history of the County Championship. Henderson shaded the previous record-holder, Charlie Parker – another slow left-armer – by four runs: he took 6 for 231 for Gloucestershire against Somerset at Bristol in 1923.In a recent Cricinfo XI column there was a reference to New Zealand’s first Test in 1929-30, against England. A stronger England XI was apparently also playing a Test in Barbados at the same time. Is this the only instance of a country playing two Tests simultaneously? asked Nick Hunt from Australia
Yes, that was the only time one country has been engaged in two separate Test matches at the same time. Both England’s opponents were new to Test cricket – West Indies had played only three Tests (and lost them all by an innings) in 1928, and New Zealand hadn’t played any at all – so MCC, who organised England’s tours then, probably felt that such an arrangement was feasible, even though several first-choice selections weren’t picked for either tour. The team for New Zealand, led by Sussex’s Harold Gilligan, left first, while the other set of tourists, captained by The Honourable Freddie Gough-Calthorpe of Warwickshire, left shortly afterwards for the West Indies. The first Test at Christchurch (which England won) started on January 10, 1930, and the first one at Bridgetown (drawn) began the next day. The third Test at Georgetown started on the same day as the fourth Test at Auckland. England won the series in New Zealand 1-0, and drew 1-1 in the Caribbean. Plans to play the final Test in the West Indies out to a finish, at Kingston, were scuppered by rain and the need for the England team to catch their boat home – the match was left drawn after nine days.During last year’s famous Ashes series, England used the same eleven players for all five matches. Is this the only time that a team has used an unchanged team for a five-Test series? asked Mohammed Ifticardeen from Sri Lanka
Well, first of all England didn’t quite maintain the same eleven players throughout last year’s momentous Ashes series – Simon Jones missed the final Test at The Oval with an ankle injury, and Paul Collingwood played instead. If Jones had played it would have been only the fourth time that a team had gone unchanged through a five-match series. England did it in Australia in 1884-85, South Africa did it at home against England in 1905-06, then there was a long gap until 1990-91, when the same 11 West Indians played in all five Tests at home against Australia.