And what is the lowest first-class score to include a double-hundred?
Steven Lynch13-Aug-2024Before Jomel Warrican the other day, had anyone ever taken caught and bowled dismissals with consecutive balls in Test cricket? asked Sirish from Poland
The West Indian slow left-armer Jomel Warrican caught and bowled Kyle Verreynne and Keshav Maharaj from successive deliveries in the first Test against South Africa in Port-of-Spain last week.I couldn’t remember a similar occurrence, and it soon became apparent why. I asked Charles Davis, the Melbourne statistician who has studied all the available old scorebooks, and he could produce only two previous instances – both from 19th century Ashes Tests! In Sydney in 1892, Australia’s George Giffen caught and bowled Gregor MacGregor and William Attewell with successive balls, then in Adelaide in 1895 another Australian, Albert Trott, snapped up return catches from Bill Brockwell and Bobby Peel on his way to record debut figures of 8 for 43. And Charles points out: “Curiously, caught and bowled has become an unusual dismissal, even though the number of catches per Test in general has increased. There have been only 56 c&bs in the last 100 Tests, about one per every 3000 balls. In the first 100 Tests, there were 166 caught and bowleds.”Has anyone scored a century in the women’s Hundred competition? asked Fran Harrison from England
There’s only been one century in the women’s Hundred competition so far: England’s Tammy Beaumont hit 118 from 61 balls for Welsh Fire against Trent Rockets in Cardiff in August 2023. Beaumont broke the previous record of 97 not out by the Australian Beth Mooney, for London Spirit against Southern Brave in Southampton in 2022.As I write there have been three individual centuries in the men’s competition: 108 not out by Will Jacks for Oval Invincibles against Southern Brave at The Oval in 2022, 105 not out by Harry Brook for Northern Superchargers vs Welsh Fire at Headingley in 2023, and 101 not out by Will Smeed for Birmingham Phoenix vs Southern Brave at Edgbaston in 2022. Smeed’s ton came four days before Jacks’, so he had the honour of making the Hundred’s first hundred.Was Kavem Hodge the first Dominican to score a Test hundred? And how often has someone made a century and a duck in the same Test? asked Madhav Gokhale from Canada
The perky right-hander Kavem Hodge, 31, made 120 – his maiden century – for West Indies in the second Test against England at Trent Bridge last month. He was actually the second batter from Dominica to make a Test century: Irvine Shillingford also made 120 against Pakistan in Georgetown in 1977.Hodge provided the 180th instance of a batter collecting a century and a duck in the same Test. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Andrew Strauss both did it three times.Kavem Hodge is only the second Dominican batter to score a Test hundred•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesWhat’s the lowest first-class total to include a hundred, and a double-century? asked Ahmet Ahluwalia from India
The lowest first-class total in a completed (all-out) innings to include an individual century is 143, which has happened twice. The first instance came in Bournemouth in 1981, when the South African Clive Rice made 105 not out in Nottinghamshire’s modest total against Hampshire. This was equalled by Gujranwala’s Rizwan Malik in Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 2002, when he scored an unbeaten 100 in Bahawalpur.The lowest first-class total to include a double-century is 282, by Namibia against Kenya in an ICC Intercontinental Cup match in Sharjah in 2008, when Gerrie Snyman smashed a remarkable 230 while his ten colleagues mustered just 43 runs between them. The lowest to include a triple-century was almost as remarkable: when the Rest made 387 against Hindus in Bombay in 1943, Vijay Hazare scored 309.Has any side ever come from 2-0 down to win a Test series 3-2? asked Chris Broadbent from South Africa
A comeback like this has still only happened once in Tests: back in 1936-37, Australia were 2-0 down in the Ashes series at home after defeats in Brisbane and in Sydney, but bounced back to triumph 3-2 by winning the last three Tests to take the series. Regular readers won’t be too surprised at the identity of the main man behind the comeback: Don Bradman, in his first series as Australia’s captain, scored 270 in the third Test in Melbourne, 212 in the fourth in Adelaide, and 169 in the fifth and final match back at the MCG.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions
