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Also, best figures on debut, and keeping records in three-Test series

Steven Lynch05-Jul-2016Mitch Marsh scored 32 and conceded 32 runs in the tri-series final in the West Indies. Is this the highest identical number in an ODI? asked Rory Sackville from Australia

Rather surprisingly perhaps, Mitchell Marsh’s performance for Australia against West Indies in the recent tri-series final in Bridgetown – he scored 32 then took 3 for 32 – isn’t close to the top of this particular list for one-day internationals. There are 26 higher such doubles, nine of them 50 or higher. The highest of all was by Khurram Khan of the UAE, with 78 and 2 for 78 against Bangladesh in Lahore in June 2008. The highest for Australia was by Kepler Wessels, who scored 50 against West Indies in Perth in 1983-84 then, bowling what someone once described as “nude seamers”, took 2 for 50. The only other one higher than Marsh’s double was Brett Lee’s 38 not out and 4 for 38 against West Indies in Adelaide in 2004-05. In that match Lee and Jason Gillespie added 73 for the tenth wicket – then shared six wickets as Australia won by 73 runs.Was Jason Roy’s 162 the highest score by an opener in ODIs? asked Qudrat Ullah Rahimi from Pakistan

Jason Roy’s 162 against Sri Lanka at The Oval last week was the highest score by an England opener in one-day internationals, beating Andrew Strauss’ 158 in the tie against India in Bangalore during the 2011 World Cup. Strauss occupies the next two places on England’s list, too, with 154 against Bangladesh at Edgbaston in 2010, and 152 against them at Trent Bridge in 2005 (England have only four of the 66 scores of 150-plus in ODIs). Overall, though, Roy is well down the list: there have been 31 higher scores by openers in one-day internationals, including all six of the format’s double-centuries. The biggest of all is Rohit Sharma’s 264, for India against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in November 2014.No, that’s not a tray for drinks•BCCIIn one of the recent ODIs between England and Sri Lanka, the umpire was wearing some contraption on his hand. What was it? asked Surendra Daya from South Africa

The thing you’re referring to was worn by the Australian umpire Bruce Oxenford on his left arm during the second match of the recent one-day series between England and Sri Lanka, at Edgbaston. It’s a plastic shield, designed to protect the umpire in the event of the ball being smashed back straight at him – he can try to parry the ball away with the shield. Oxenford wore it during a match in this year’s IPL, and also in one of the warm-up games for the World Twenty20 – but this was the first time it had been used in a full international match.Liam Plunkett took his 50th ODI wicket in the series against Sri Lanka, ten years after his debut. Is this the longest for anyone to achieve this feat? asked Durgesh Kulkarni from India

Liam Plunkett reached 50 wickets when he dismissed Kusal Perera in the third match of the recent series against Sri Lanka, in Bristol. It took him 37 matches, spread over more than 10½ years since his debut in December 2005. That’s the slowest in terms of time for England apart from Graeme Swann, who took about a month longer. Swann, though, went wicketless on his debut, against South Africa in Bloemfontein in January 2000, then didn’t play another ODI for more than seven years, taking 1 for 47 in his second game, against Sri Lanka in Dambulla in October 2007.
Overall 11 men took more time than Plunkett to reach 50 wickets in ODIs. Pakistan’s Saleem Malik, who needed 203 matches spread over almost 12 years, took the longest of all. Most of the players concerned were not frontline bowlers, although there is a rather surprising name just above Plunkett: Imran Khan, Pakistan’s World Cup-winning captain in 1992, took five days longer to make it to a half-century of wickets, finally doing so in March 1985 after making his debut in 1974. He got there in style, though, with 6 for 14 against India in Sharjah – and it should be borne in mind that far fewer ODIs were played back then.It took Imran Khan more than ten years to take 50 one-day wickets•Getty ImagesJonny Bairstow took 19 catches in the recent Test series against Sri Lanka. Was this a record for a three-Test series, or against Sri Lanka? asked Tushar Mukherjee from the United States

The only wicketkeeper to make more dismissals in a three-Test series than Jonny Bairstow’s 19 was, by coincidence, a Sri Lankan: Amal Silva made 22 (21 catches and a stumping) against India in 1985-86. The only other keeper to make 19 dismissals in a three-Test series is Australia’s Ian Healy, at home to Sri Lanka in 1995-96 (17 catches and two stumpings). Gil Langley (for Australia in the 1956 Ashes series) and Junior Murray (for West Indies in Australia in 1992-93) both made 19 dismissals in three Tests, but those were five-match series in which they did not play in two of the games. The previous England record for a three-Test series was 17 (one stumping) by Geraint Jones at home to Sri Lanka in 2006.Which bowlers have the best figures on debut in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s? asked Subas Karki from Nepal

The best innings figures on debut in Tests remain 8 for 43, by the Australian medium-pacer Albert Trott against England in Adelaide in 1894-95. Trott also scored 110 runs in that match without being dismissed … but, remarkably, played only four more Tests – two of them for England! The best match figures by a debutant are 16 for 136, by legspinner Narendra Hirwani for India against West Indies in Madras (now Chennai) in 1987-88. He just shaded the Australian swing bowler Bob Massie’s equally remarkable first-up figures of 16 for 137, in the 1972 Ashes Test at Lord’s. The best bowling figures on one-day international debut are 6 for 16, by the South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada against Bangladesh in Mirpur in July 2015. The only other man to take a six-for on ODI debut is another fast bowler, Fidel Edwards, with 6 for 22 for West Indies v Zimbabwe in Harare in November 2003. And the best by someone in their first T20 international is 5 for 13, by the Bangladesh slow left-armer Elias Sunny against Ireland in Belfast in July 2012.Send in your questions using our feedback form.

Who goes to Raipur in May? Mad dogs and cricket correspondents

Alagappan Muthu14-May-2015May 8
First trip to the north of India, armed with shards of Hindi borrowed from cricket commentary on the radio. Not too sure ” shot” will help me with asking for directions. Trawl the internet for information on Raipur. May is the hottest month. Temperature on the day I land is forecast to hit a high of 43°C. Paste notes about packing my cap and sunscreen all around the house. Predictable facepalm moment en route to the airport when I discover I’ve forgotten both.The Swami Vivekananda Airport is astounding. Great walls of brick, steel, glass, and all-round posh. Read that it was one of the richest cities in India. Am standing in the evidence. Even if it is 15km from the city and out in the wilderness. Search for the tourism desk. It is unmanned, and most of places in the pictures aren’t quite in the city.Fifteen seconds is all it takes on the drive for a first glimpse of the IPL – Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Albie Morkel and a couple of other Delhi Daredevils on a billboard. The same one crops up three seconds later. In the air-conditioned cab, I’m busy revelling in beating the heat.May 9
Just couldn’t keep from gloating, could I? The mid-day sun stalks me now. But the bustle of Raipur offers enough distraction.The capital of Chhatisgarh looks more like a township striving incredibly hard to keep up its disguise. Little mom-and-pop stores everywhere, their wares spilling onto the street. Shop carts line the roads, selling everything from fruit to clothes. I’m reminded of a hard-working student concerned only with getting an A in the next exam. Hear that Raipur’s iron and steel resources are unrivalled in the country.I’m meeting a contact for match tickets. He is in town for the IPL as well, a scorer and statistician from Vidarbha. He tells me he has worked in cricket all his adult life. Laments that he wasn’t able to become an umpire. But then taps his chest and says, “It doesn’t matter. It’s the love of the game.”A patch of tiled ground? Game on•Alagappan Muthu/ESPNcricinfo LtdThe ground is over 20km away, nestled like a crown jewel in the government’s pet project – Naya Raipur. A railway station is planned. More bus routes are planned. The chief minister is hoping to make the capital a thriving hub of modernity. And if his visions are similar to the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, it will be. Grand, imposing, one of the largest in India. Also, a long walk from the main road. My poor legs.About two-thirds of the 50,000 seats are full. There is dancing. There is cheering. There is heckling. There is a lust for the camera that threatens decapitation. The cricket is almost a sideshow. They spot the absence of the spidercam and the Pepsi VIP box sooner than I do.May 10
Cons of broken Hindi: getting lost, missing out on jokes, and haggling is impossible. Still no cap for me. Pros: an auto-rickshaw driver mistaking me for cricketer. I drop a few names and show him a picture taken with Graeme Smith. He nods and scowls: “But isn’t that the bad coach?”Outside, the traffic befits a capital, and the people have pieces of cloth tied around their heads and torsos to ward off the heat.I hide out at a restaurant that calls itself Food Xxpress. The room- service menu at my hotel asks me to “dail 777”. I wonder if I can make typo-eat a trend.May 11
“Pease Pulaw” is on the menu next. And more roaming.Chhattisgarh doesn’t have a Ranji team yet. It hasn’t hosted international cricket yet. The IPL hit it in 2013 and is back now. I’ve seen how the people have fun in the stadium. Now I want to know how the kids go about playing the game.There is an indoor stadium in Buddha Talabh. Its facilities are used for football, but there is a stretch of land out back that is perfect for gully cricket. For the structured version, the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh conducts annual inter-district tournaments and 19 teams participate. They’ve also had sporadic success at the Under-19 and U-25 levels.I get a wicket first ball and in return I am bowled first ball. I’ve still got it.The crowd is always colourful (but mostly yellow when Chennai Super Kings are in town)•BCCIMay 12
Raipur is gracious enough to leave some ambiguity over their allegiance in the last game. MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings roll into town and the stadium turns yellow. At neutral venues, the fans’ thirst tips towards getting a selfie with one of their stars in the background rather than bothering with the cricket and its nuances.That Zaheer Khan bowls 19 dots in 24 deliveries goes unnoticed. But every time Dhoni is on strike, the chant is deafening. He was 10 off 17, yet Raipur roared his name. Whether he believed one ball could bring his form back or not, these people sure did. Jayant Yadav, playing his second IPL game, is pestered for a wave at long-on. Who knows what’s happening to Yuvraj Singh at long-off.The DJ isn’t quite bothered about the cricket either. His concern is to butter up the Raipur crowd. “You wanna know what the local boys behind the cheerleaders say?” he asks, before providing the answer with the lyrics of “Hero [Your Hero’s Over Here].”After a low-scoring game with the Daredevils bowlers strutting their stuff, I walk to where the government buses queue up to take the people back to the city. The conductor has “CSK” painted on his cheek and I meet a staff member from my hotel. They draw me into a discussion of how boring the match was. No fun, is the consensus. “”

Bangladesh have moved on from a one-man show to a team that has a new performer on a daily basis. That they won yet another home series without Shakib Al Hasan shows their progress

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur31-Oct-2013Bangladesh won another home ODI series against a higher-ranked team by believing in their abilities. They batted first after winning the toss in Mirpur where, in late October, dew is already a major factor, particularly for the finger spinners. They used four of those in their chosen conditions, the most effective of whom opened the bowling at one end. Their injury prone fast bowler also came through. They won the second match with unconventional, yet useful methods.Mushfiqur Rahim showed a lot of confidence in his main spinners, Sohag Gazi and Abdur Razzak, in deciding to bat first. Both bowled accurately, didn’t let the wet ball be too much of a distraction and ensured they remained calm after every big hit. The wicket of Ross Taylor was a good example of how much Gazi has progressed as an international cricketer, and how quickly he learns.Taylor had smashed him for a six, and like the first game on Tuesday, it would have been easy for Gazi to continue firing them in as a defensive ploy, hoping to restrict the batsman to ground strokes. This time he tossed it up outside the off stump, and Taylor chipped it down long-on’s throat. He was lucky to pick up James Neesham’s wicket with a short ball, but it was the build-up that often gets bowlers wickets. He also ended Anton Devcich’s misery (he scored 19 off 44 balls) with an easy caught and bowled chance and a few words.Razzak dismissed Grant Elliott, the highest-scorer from the first match, with a flattish delivery that went straight, the batsman caught plumb in front. Razzak may have contributed only one wicket, but his discipline and leadership skills have been recently praised by the Bangladesh management.Mushfiqur’s gamble with Mominul Haque also paid off, his two wickets a bonus for the team. These series wins are important for Bangladesh’s growth as they have done it without their main allrounder, Shakib Al Hasan. He was also out of the squad with injury when they won 3-2 last year against West Indies in the ODI series.The team should be most pleased with Mashrafe Mortaza’s performance over the two games. He is known for missing more international matches than playing during his 12-year career but this latest comeback has begun very well.He was the quiet performer in the first game, making sure his transition from injury to rehabilitation to match fitness was smooth. His three-wicket haul on Thursday was his first since April 2011, and his best bowling figures since July 2010. His first spell kept the two left-handed New Zealand openers on tenterhooks, and he soon accounted for the miserably out of form Hamish Rutherford. He continued to be accurate, but when he gave width to Corey Anderson in his second spell, the edge was snapped up by a diving Mushfiqur.When you have a player with a history of major injuries and one who has to resettle almost every year, exiting suddenly after a comeback, it has two different effects in a team. Mortaza and his team-mates have experienced both, like when he felt unwelcome more three years ago when he made a comeback. But Mushfiqur’s catch said that the team wanted to do something for their rickety warrior.Bangladesh have their concerns too. Like their counterparts, the Bangladesh batsmen struggled to convert good starts into big scores, were poor in the batting Powerplay and didn’t have the flourish in the end overs. They took a chance by handing Shamsur Rahman a debut in such a crucial match. The right-handed batsman didn’t have the best of starts but it was progressive thinking to break a winning combination, knowing fully well how the public and media would react if Shamsur failed like Anamul Haque.Mominul, Tamim Iqbal and the rest of the batsmen all flattered to deceive, as they didn’t bat for long or put together a big stand. Even during their problematic phase, at 173 for 6 in the 39th over, two batsmen stood up. Gazi and Mahmudullah added 48 precious runs that got them past the 200-run mark.Bangladesh have moved on from a one-man show to a team that has a new performer on a daily basis. Someone or the other stands up. Mominul and Gazi did so in the Chittagong Test while in Mirpur, Tamim batted out of his comfort zone to guide his team to safety. Rubel Hossain did it on Tuesday with his best performance in international cricket. Today it was Mortaza, Gazi, Tamim and Mominul.There was a lap of honour at the end of the game, with the players’ families converging in the field, and a majority of the crowd that stayed back. The word out was that the Bangladesh players don’t celebrate in the dressing-room as much these days. But one can imagine that the players nowadays toast each other’s success, rather than one man’s.

Another big hundred, important wickets and safe hands – Jacques Kallis is finally getting some of the credit he deserves

Firdose Moonda25-Jul-2012Jacques Kallis had waited 143 Test matches and 15 years to score his first double hundred. It was thought of as the only thing he could not do. When it eventually came, against India in Centurion at the end of 2010, most expected a flood of twin tons to follow. They were not far wrong.The second was scored just seven matches later and the third was not far off coming up on Sunday at The Oval. Had it done so, it would have been Kallis’ third double in 10 Test matches.With South Africa leading by 252, an advantage that would cushion them but could still be plumped, and the England attack meandering, there did not seem to be a reason Kallis would not get there. Unexpectedly, he was denied, left on 182. Graeme Smith made a positive declaration after consulting with Kallis, who gave his blessing that he would sacrifice an individual accolade for the team goal.A day later, Kallis and Gary Kirsten, South Africa’s coach, were tasked with the post-match media session after an emphatic win. Kallis was asked about the current South Africa bowling attack and how he ranked them compared with packs of the past.”In terms of variations, it’s right up there, as good as we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve got Vernon who puts the batsmen under pressure, we’ve got Dale Steyn’s pace and swing, we’ve got Morne with his bounce and we’ve got Immi [Imran Tahir] as a legspinner, which we haven’t had for a long time, to add attacking value, so we’ve got a nice balance.”Kallis ended his assessment there but Kirsten interrupted him. “And then we’ve also got some guy who has taken 280-odd Test wickets, I can’t think of his name,” the coach said, nudging Kallis in jest. Kallis only smiled.As one of the most under-appreciated players of his generation, he is used to being forgotten about when greats of the game are discussed. Occasionally a debate will spark that compares Kallis with Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham or Imran Khan and none is clear favourite for the ‘greatest allrounder’ tag. Even if there was a conclusion, Kallis wouldn’t care to know. He maintains that comparisons over different eras are irrelevant because “we play so much cricket these days”, and statistics may only mean something to him when he retires.Had he said something like that a few years ago, he may not have been believed because he was seen as man who played for himself before others. At the 2007 World Cup in particular, Kallis did all he could to portray himself as that type of person. He single-handedly turned the speeding car of a chase against Australia in the group stages into one whose engine had stalled.Perhaps it was performances like those that kept Kallis from earning the praise he deserved but in recent years the stodginess has smoothed. Evidence of that can be gleaned from something as simple as Kallis’ strike rate. In five of the last six years, he has managed to keep it over 50 in Test cricket, having been a steady lower 40s before that. Included in that period has been his fastest century.There is an interesting correlation between the time when Kallis started scoring quicker and his contribution to South Africa wins. Ten of his 19 hundreds scored since June 2006 have been in winning causes; before that, 11 out of 24 hundred contributed to victories. His new-found vitality in run-scoring has extended as far as earning him a recall to South Africa’s T20 squad, from which he was dropped in 2010.Along with his batting, Kallis has always made a telling but often overlooked contribution with the ball. To say he was quicker when he was younger, would be incorrect. He remains able to bowl at around 145kph, especially as his workload has been steadily decreased. While he once had to shoulder the considerable burden of being a wicket-taker, he now acts as a balancer to the other attacking options around him.Jacques Kallis showcased his all-round abilities in South Africa’s crushing win•Getty ImagesThat is not to be mistaken for saying Kallis is the holding bowler. He is the multi-faceted one. At times, he is called on to give the others a break and contain, at others as the reserve armoury, to come out and strike when no-one else and usually it works. At The Oval, it was Kallis who made the crucial breakthrough late on the first day when he removed Kevin Pietersen with a bouncer – one of the few short balls South Africa bowled on a sluggish track that day.Had England’s premier batsmen survived into the next morning, the match may have played out in completely different fashion. But Kallis changed the course of that and although he does not need that to recognised as a turning point, it ended up being one of the most significant.Ian Bell acknowledged it when he said: “Kallis on day one was important, when the ball swings he is as good as anyone in the world.” James Anderson paid homage to him in the London , saying Kallis “gives great balance to their team as a fourth seamer and he is one of the greatest batsmen there has ever been but somehow doesn’t quite get the credit for it.”That has been the story of Kallis’ career for as long as it has lasted. For more than ten years, from 2000 to late 2011, he was ranked the top allrounder in Test cricket. He lost that status to Shakib Al Hasan a few months ago and shrugged it off as no big deal. Today, Kallis regained that spot.Many will say rightfully so, after he conquered the one territory he had not been able to reach in the past. A century, an incisive showing with the ball and his usual safe hands in the slips have shown why Kallis’ all-round abilities are vital to South Africa’s quest to reach No.1 in England.

India return to the scene of their World Twenty20 triumph but will have to cope with the burden of being favourites

Dileep Premachandran in Centurion25-Sep-2009Just over two years ago, MS Dhoni led an unheralded and inexperienced sideto South Africa for an event the ICC considered a trial run. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan all stayed at home while the rest of the team followed up a full tour of England with participation in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup.Few knew what to expect from the event, but a gripping first-round match between India and Pakistan that ended in a tie was followed by six sixes in an over [Yuvraj Singh against England] and a magnificent final where Misbah-ul-Haq and Pakistan fell five runs short. Overnight, the Twenty20 version became the talk of the town, and it could be argued that it was the frenzied interest created by those two India-Pakistan games that paved the way for the Indian Premier League, the Champions League and one-off games like the Stanford Super Series.It wasn’t just the Twenty20 game’s stock that went through the roof after that fortnight in South Africa. Dhoni went from being a maverick with an unorthodox array of strokes to the man who could lead Indian cricket past new frontiers. He was the anointed one, the leader who could give Indian cricket a standing on the pitch that was commensurate with its power off it.After the roughest of baptisms in a seven-match series against Australia at home [they lost 4-2], Dhoni has grown into the job. Tough on his players without being a bully, calm without being comatose and keen on leading by example whenever possible, he and his team have put together two years of solid achievement. It’s perhaps no coincidence that Indian cricket’s lowest point during that period came in the Test series in Sri Lanka that Dhoni sat out.Younis Khan, who will walk out to toss with him on Saturday, is certainly an admirer. “He’s doing a fantastic job as captain,” he said on the eve of the game. “When I first saw him, he was young and energetic and given to the grand gestures. Now he’s much calmer, and a real gentleman too. His performances have also improved with time, and he has done really well, for his country and himself.”Progress in the one-day arena has been especially impressive, with series victories in Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and home successes against Pakistan and England. Since January 2008, India have won 30 [and lost 12] of 46 matches, and they go into the game against Pakistan ranked No.1 in the world. Australia have fallen off their perch, hammered home and away by South Africa, while Graeme Smith’s side have experienced a blip of their own, thrashed 4-0 in England last year. There isn’t one side fit to be compared to the Australians that won three World Cups on the bounce between 1999 and 2007, and the frequent changes in the No.1 ranking reflect that state of flux.For Dhoni, the current challenge is perhaps the most tricky of all. Back in 2007, he captained a team of rank outsiders. Now, he leads a team considered the best in the world. That brings with it a pressure of its own, and other sides like South Africa have been unable to cope with it in the past.He’s also without three proven match-winners in Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj and Zaheer. Tendulkar and Dravid lend experience and class to the batting order, though it’s doubtful whether Dhoni had their names inked in when he was planning for the future. Some of the young tyros that he reposed so much faith in have failed to grab their chances, and at one level, he might find it galling that the old guard could be the difference between success and failure.The same is true of the bowling as well, with so much resting on Ashish Nehra, who made his debut a decade ago, and Harbhajan Singh. Ishant Sharma and RP Singh continue to veer between the brilliant and the abysmal, and with Yuvraj’s left-arm spin also out of the equation, one of Dhoni’s biggest tasks will be to cobble together an effective 50-over bowling plan.Off-field distractions are no help. The run-up to the World Twenty20 in England was full of media reports of a rift within the team, a charge that infuriated Dhoni to such an extent that relations with the reporters on tour reached an all-time low. They have arrived in South Africa with the same siege mentality, but that hasn’t stopped global headlines about the alleged dossier that encourages players to walk down the Keith Miller-George Best route of boudoir indulgence.These should be the best of times for Indian cricket, with the team having a great mix of young talent and proven performers, but with the media in particular going from singing hosannas to showing signs of the Tall-Poppy Syndrome, it’s also Dhoni’s biggest test.Ultimately, no one remembers the bilateral series wins, or what you do in various triangular series. Teams will always be judged by their performances on the big stage. Hansie Cronje won 99 of his 138 matches as South African captain, while capturing only one trophy of note. Now, in the country where Cronje was once so adored, Dhoni must avoid a similar fate. Without the trophies that matter, No.1 rankings aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.