And how often has a opener carried his bat in the fourth innings, only to see his side lose?
Steven Lynch30-Jan-2024England won the first Test against India despite a first-innings deficit of 190. How many Tests have been won from a worse position? asked Robert James from England
England came out on top in Hyderabad despite trailing on first innings by 190. They have won only three Tests from a worse position, and one of those was the controversial game The Oval in 2006, when Pakistan forfeited the match despite a first-innings lead of 331.The other big England comebacks were the two Tests they won against Australia after following on – with deficits of 261 at Sydney in 1894, and 227 at Headingley in 1981. This ignores another controversial game, the contrived “leather jacket” win over South Africa in Centurion in 2000, where the official scorecard shows that England were 248 behind on first innings, after declaring at 0 for 0.In all, there have been nine higher leads than 190 overturned to win a Test, including the Oval 331, which is technically the highest, and the Centurion 248: next comes 291, the advantage overcome by Australia (256 and 471) in beating Sri Lanka (547 for 8 and 164) in Colombo in August 1992.India are next, after beating Australia in Kolkata in 2001 despite following on 274 behind. The biggest first-innings lead overturned to beat India at home before this week was just 65, by Australia in Madras in 1964.The first ball Tom Hartley bowled in a Test was hit for six – and then he finished up with a seven-for on debut. How many people have done these things? asked David Carter from England
It certainly looked ominous for Lancashire’s Tom Hartley when his first delivery in that absorbing Test match in Hyderabad was hit for six by India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal. There was another six a few balls later, and Hartley’s first spell of nine overs cost 63.Hartley was the fourth bowler whose first ball in Test cricket is known to have been hit for six. The first was India’s WV Raman, whose first ball against West Indies in Madras (now Chennai) in 1988 was hit for six by Winston Davis.The other two came in the space of a few days in November 2012: first Bangladesh’s Sohag Gazi was hit over the ropes by West Indies’ Chris Gayle in Mirpur (uniquely, this was also the first ball of the Test), then Faf du Plessis of South Africa saw his first delivery to Australia’s David Warner soar out of the ground in Adelaide. Note that there are a few Tests, mostly early ones, for which we do not have full ball-by-ball details, so this list may not be complete.Hartley recovered to take 7 for 62, the second-best by any England spinner on Test debut behind the 7 for 56 of James Langridge, another slow left-armer, against West Indies at Old Trafford in 1933. Hartley’s match figures of 9 for 193 are the best on debut by any England slow bowler since Bob Berry – yet another left-arm spinner, and also from Lancashire – took 9 for 116 against West Indies at Old Trafford in 1950.Pat Cummins declared behind in Brisbane – and lost! How rare is this? asked Mik Kochinsky from Australia
Pat Cummins’s declaration in Brisbane – 22 runs behind, in a match ultimately lost by eight – was the seventh time a captain has declared his first innings when behind the opposition’s total and lost the Test. Leaving aside the “leather jacket” win in the South Africa-England Test in Centurion in 2000, there have been only two occasions when declaring behind paid off with a win: by England against West Indies on a rain-affected pitch in Bridgetown in 1935, and by Australia against West Indies in Bridgetown in 2012. There have also been 22 draws.Steven Smith is the eighth opener to carry his bat in the fourth innings a losing cause•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesSteve Smith carried his bat through the fourth innings of the Brisbane Test, but ended up losing. How rare is this? asked Davey Harrison from Australia
During his valiant innings in Brisbane, Australia’s Steve Smith provided only the ninth instance of an opener ending up on the losing side despite carrying his bat through the final innings of a Test.It’s something of an Australian specialty. Bill Woodfull did it twice – against England in Brisbane in 1928, and again in Adelaide during the Bodyline series in 1933. Bill Lawry did it in an Ashes Test in Sydney in 1971, and David Warner carried his bat in vain against New Zealand in Hobart in 2011 (Australia lost that one by seven runs).The non-Aussies are Glenn Turner, for New Zealand against England at Lord’s in 1969; Geoff Boycott, for England vs Australia in Perth in 1979 (he finished with 99 not out); Mark Dekker, for Zimbabwe vs Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 1993; and Dean Elgar, for South Africa vs India in Johannesburg in 2018. For the list of those who carried their bat in a men’s Test, click here. That shows all of them: to find the fourth-innings instances, look down the third column of figures.Has anyone had a higher first-class batting average after eight matches than the Belgian-born Zimbabwean Antum Naqvi? asked Nick Gordon from England
An undefeated triple-century in his eighth match, for MidWest Rhinos against Matabeleland Tuskers in Harare earlier this month, meant that Antum Naqvi – who was indeed born in Brussels – had a first-class average of 102.14 after eight matches (715 runs, nine innings, two not-outs).I had to mobilise the twinkling fingers (and bulging first-class database) of Andrew Samson for this one, and he kindly informed me that no fewer than seven players have had higher averages after eight matches. The most famous of them is Bill Ponsford, who went on to average close to 50 in 29 Tests for Australia: after eight first-class games he had piled up 1,360 runs at 113.33, including innings of 429, 248 and 162; in his ninth match he made 110 and 110 not out. There’s also a recent Test player in Bahir Shah of Afghanistan (103.27). Top of the pile is the Indian Shantanu Sugwekar, whose eight-match average of 164.40 included 299 not out for Maharashtra against Madhya Pradesh in Pune in 1989. Six of his 11 innings were not-outs.Naqvi came down to earth somewhat in his ninth match, scoring 41 and 1, which meant his average dropped to 84.11.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
