da apostaganha： The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket
da pinnacle： Steven Lynch15-May-2006The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:
Murali had to wait 103 Tests for his first Lord’s outing © Getty Images
I was surprised to see that Muttiah Muralitharan hadn’t played a Testat Lord’s before. Has anyone else played 100 Tests without appearingthere? asked Barry Jameson of Doncaster
No, MuttiahMuralitharan’s 103 Tests before playing one at Lord’s is easily arecord. He hands over this rather unwanted milestone to anotherdoosra-delivering offspinner – Harbhajan Singh, who has played55 Tests so far without appearing at Lord’s. Saqlain Mushtaq, the man whomight be said to have invented the doosra, is third with 49, level withanother Sri Lankan, Romesh Kaluwitharana. Spinners seem to dominate thenot-at-Lord’s list: other current players on it include Nicky Boje (41Tests), Stuart MacGill (40) and Danish Kaneria (36).What is the most prolific fielder-bowler combination in Test history?Is it c Jayawardene b Muralitharan? asked Nuwan de Silva
It is now – at least as far as an outfielder is concerned. Mahela Jayawardene’s catch to send back Andrew Strauss in the Lord’s Test was the 52nd he had taken off the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan, beatingthe previous Test record by a fielder off the same bowler of 51 (c MarkTaylor b Shane Warne). Jayawardene also took one more catch off Murali, as a substitute fielder in 1997-98, but that one doesn’t count in the overall records. If you include wicketkeepers, the most common combination remains c Rod Marsh b Dennis Lillee, with 95, although c Adam Gilchrist b Glenn McGrath is closing with 85.Is Jehan Mubarak the first American-born person to play in a Lord’sTest? asked Neville Jayasinha from Colombo
Jehan Mubarak, who was bornin Washington in 1981, is only the second Test player to have been bornin the United States. The first, the Boston-born West Indian Kenneth “Bam Bam”Weekes, only played in two Test matches – but the first of those wasatLord’s, in 1939.I was wondering who was the last person to score 1000 runs in May,and was looking for the list of all who achieved this rare feat?asked Al Berry from Australia
Only three batsmen have ever scored 1000 first-class runs duringMay in England: WG Grace, in1895, when he was almost 47; Wally Hammond in 1927; andLancashire’s Charlie Hallowsin 1928. The feat of reaching 1000 for the season before the end of May- but including some runs in April – has been managed on a further sixoccasions: by Surrey’s TomHayward in 1900; by DonBradman, in 1930 and again in 1938; by Bill Edrich, also in 1938, whenall his runs were scored at Lord’s; by Glenn Turner in 1973; and mostrecently by Graeme Hick, in1988.Johnny Briggs, Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq and James Franklin are theonly four players to have done what in Test cricket? askedMatthew Finn from New Zealand
Sounds like a quiz question! The answer is that they all scored at leastone Test century, and also took a Test-hat-trick. James Franklin joinedthe club with his recent innings of 122 not out for New Zealand againstSouth Africa at Cape Town: he’d previously taken a hat-trick againstBangladesh at Dhaka in 2004-05. The man who came closest to joining thelist is Shane Warne, whose highest Test score remains that tantalising99 against New Zealand at Perth in 2001-02.
Graeme Hick was the last player to score 1000 runs in May © Getty Images
Mark Ramprakash made 292 the other day, and still hasn’t (yet) made atriple-century. Has anyone got nearer than Ramps yet ended his careerwithout a 300? asked Colin Giles from Guildford
Probably the most famous near-miss in this respect is Martin Crowe’s 299for New Zealand against Sri Lanka atWellington in 1990-91. That remained the highest of Crowe’s fourcareer double-hundreds. Others who have exceeded Mark Ramprakash’s 292 yetfallen short of 300, and never did get reach that magical figure, are Les Ames, whose ninedouble-centuries included a highest of 295 for Kent v Gloucestershire atFolkestone in 1933; BhupinderSingh, 297 for Punjab at Delhi in 1994-95; Ramprakash’s Surrey team-mate Ally Brown, 295 not out against Leicestershire at Oakham School in 2000; John Gunn, 294 forNottinghamshire v Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in 1903; Gursharan Singh, 298 not outfor Punjab v Bengal at Calcutta in 1988-89; Arthur Jones, 296 forNottinghamshire v Gloucestershire at Trent Bridge in 1903; Allan Lamb, 294 for Orange Free State v Eastern Province at Bloemfontein in 1987-88; Harry Moses, 297 not outfor New South Wales v Victoria at Sydney in 1887-88; the former NewZealand captain John Reid,296 for Wellington v Northern Districts at Wellington in 1962-63; Jack Ryder, who made 295 in Victoria’s world-record total of 1107 against New South Wales at Melbourne in 1926-27; Shantanu Sugwekar, 299 not out for Maharashtra v Madhya Pradesh at Poona, 1988-89; JohnnyTyldesley, 295 not out for Lancashire v Kent at Old Trafford in 1906;and another Surrey player in David Ward, 294 not out vDerbyshire at The Oval in 1884. Ramprakash’s 292 – the 11thdouble-century of his career – came for Surrey against Gloucestershireat The Oval earlier in May.<B<Finally, Farhan Asrar has an addition to another recent column:
“Regarding brothers on opposite sides, a similar incident did take placein an ODI (well, technically). In the Austral-Asia Cup in Sharjah inApril 1994, Arshad Laeeqrepresented the United Arab Emirates. His brother Athar Laeeq was also selectedfor the tournament, but representing their native Pakistan.Unfortunately Athar did not get a chance to play in any of the matches,but he was the 12th man in the game against the UAE. Both Arshad and Athar Laeeq were on the fieldrepresenting different countries, when Arshad was batting and Athar wasa substitute fielder for around ten minutes.”