Also: winning without losing a wicket, most wickets in a country away from home, and 3-2 series results
Steven Lynch15-Sep-2015How many one-day series have finished up at 3-2, like the one we’ve just had? asked Terry Carter from England
The one-day series that has just finished in England, won by Australia despite England’s stirring comeback from 2-0 down, was the 48th bilateral rubber containing five matches to end up at 3-2, the first being West Indies’ narrow victory in Pakistan in 1985-86. It’s only two months since the previous one: Pakistan won 3-2 in Sri Lanka in July, wrapping up the series in the fourth game. The last one to go down to a deciding fifth match wasn’t very long ago, either – in June, England beat New Zealand 3-2 by winning in Chester-le-Street, after squaring the series in the fourth match at Trent Bridge. And when you remember the Ashes you could say that 2015 in England was the year of 3-2!Who has taken the most Test wickets in a country away from home? asked Vineet Malani from India
There’s a clear leader here, the only man to take more than 100 Test wickets in a country not his own: Shane Warne claimed 129 in England, beating the old record of 96 by Dennis Lillee; Malcolm Marshall took 94 in England. Warne also leads the way in South Africa, with 61 (next comes Sydney Barnes, with 49 in just four Tests there), and Sri Lanka (48, ahead of Saeed Ajmal with 38); he also took 49 in New Zealand, one behind Wasim Akram. The most successful visitor to Australia is Curtly Ambrose, with 78 wickets, one more than Barnes and Richard Hadlee. In India it’s Derek Underwood (54) ahead of Richie Benaud (52), while Angus Fraser took 54 in the West Indies, with Glenn McGrath next on 50. Muttiah Muralitharan (50) leads the way in Pakistan, ahead of Kapil Dev (44). Daniel Vettori took 34 wickets in Bangladesh, and Chaminda Vaas 30 in Zimbabwe. Rangana Herath leads the way for visitors to the UAE with 24 wickets; Saeed Ajmal is top overall there with 67, almost twice as many as the next man, Abdur Rehman with 38.Jonny Bairstow took a catch off David Willey in a recent ODI, just as his father did from Willey’s dad. Is this unique? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England
That’s a good spot: it does indeed complete a unique family double. Peter Willey and David Bairstow played 14 ODIs together, with Bairstow taking a catch (Rod Marsh) and a stumping (Julien Wiener) from Willey’s offspin in Australia in 1979-80. Since making his debut earlier this year, David Willey has played four ODIs alongside Jonny Bairstow, who has already taken three catches off his bowling – New Zealand’s Ross Taylor, and the Australians Aaron Finch and Joe Burns. The nearest I can find is that Andy Waller played ten ODIs for Zimbabwe with Malcolm Jarvis, then their sons played together in 17 ODIs (and six Tests, and six Twenty20s). Malcolm Waller took a couple of catches off Kyle Jarvis – but their fathers never managed to combine in this way.Angus Fraser has 54 Test wickets in the West Indies, the most by a touring bowler•Getty ImagesI recall a Minor Counties match – maybe from the 1980s – in which the Lincolnshire opening pair put on undefeated double-century stands in both innings, and their team went on to win. Are there any first-class instances of a team winning without losing a wicket? asked John Clayton from England
The match you’re referring to was in the Minor Counties Championship at Grimsby in June 1994. Northumberland made 222 for 6 declared and 261, but couldn’t prevent Lincolnshire (279 for 0 dec and 205 for 0) winning by ten wickets: Jonathan Wileman made 142 and 102, and Russell Evans 115 and 92, all not out. There have been four first-class matches in which the winning side didn’t lose a wicket. The first one, and the only one in England, came in 1956, when Lancashire (166 for 0 dec and 66 for 0; Alan Wharton and Jack Dyson scored the runs) won their Championship match against Leicestershire (108 and 122) at Old Trafford. It happened again around 15 months later, when Karachi A (277 for 0 dec; Hanif Mohammad and Alim-ud-Din doing the scoring) beat Sind A (92 and 108) in Karachi. Then in 1960-61 Railways (236 for 0 dec and 16 for 0; Vijay Mehra and Budhi Kunderan sharing the runs) beat Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar. More recently Karnataka (451 for 0 dec) beat Kerala (141 and 124) by an innings and 186 runs in Chickmagalur in 1977-78; Sanjay Desai (218 not out) and Roger Binny (211 not out) did the damage with the bat.How often have both openers been run out in the same one-day international innings? asked Kazi Mohammad Firoze Hasan from Bangladesh
There have now been 32 occasions when both openers were run out in the same ODI innings, most recently when Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan both fell this way against Pakistan in Hambantota in July (mind you, they did put on 164 before being parted). The first instance was in Melbourne in 1982-83, when the Australians John Dyson and Allan Border were both run out for 54 against England. For the full list, click here.Who had taken the most Test wickets after 28 Tests? Is it R Ashwin? asked Hitesh Bhattacharya from India
R Ashwin currently has 145 wickets from 28 Tests, putting him equal sixth on this particular list with the South African offspinner Hugh Tayfield. The bowlers who had more wickets after 28 Tests are, not surprisingly, a distinguished bunch: Saeed Ajmal took 147, Ian Botham 149, Clarrie Grimmett 155 and Waqar Younis 159. But way out in front – despite the fact that he played only 27 Tests in all – is the legendary England bowler Sydney Barnes, with 189 wickets. No one gets ahead of Barnes until their 33rd Test, when Waqar claimed his 190th wicket.
