Ask The Spider #11

How many Test matches were played in the 19th-century? And how many players were involved in Test matches which were played in the 19th-century?

Between 1876/77 and 1899, there were 64 matches which are now recognised as Tests played between England and Australia and England and South Africa. 249 players appeared in these games, including six who played for more than one team. Not all of these games were thought of as Tests at the time they were being played, however – indeed, the very earliest came before the term “Test match” had even been used.

What is the highest number of runs scored in boundaries in a Test innings?

The most number of fours was struck by Sri Lanka. They pillaged 109, when Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama ground India down en route to a scarcely believable score of 952 for 6 declared, at Premadasa Stadium, Colombo in 1997. This innings also holds the record for the most number of boundaries in an innings, with 111 (there being two sixes in addition to the colossal fours tally).

What is the highest number of runs scored in boundaries in a ODI innings?

In the shorter game, the record is also held by Sri Lanka: 56, hit against Netherlands in 2006. Just three sixes were hit, for a total of 242 runs in boundaries. The most fours in a game between two serious ODI teams is 44, by South Africa against Australia in the famous ODI in 2005/06 where they successfully chased 434. That innings also had 12 sixes, a total of 248.

What is the maximum number of fours hit in an innings in all forms of cricket?

The most recorded was by Hanif Mohammed, who struck 64 en route to 499 for Karachi against Bahawulpur in 1958/59. It is possible (though exceedingly unlikely) that this tally may have been bettered in First-Class cricket, and at levels below First-Class no definitive records are kept of very much.

Who was the first non-wicketkeeper to take 100 Test catches?

The first was Walter Hammond, the fabulous England batsman and slip fielder, who took his 100th catch just before the Second World War, in the second Test against West Indies in 1939. For a long time, too, he was the only one. Colin Cowdrey finally joined the club in 1965/66, the only other to do so before 1970.

When was the first double-century partnership in Tests?

The mark was first scaled by Billy Murdoch and HJH “Tup” Scott against England at The Oval in 1884, putting-on 207 for the third-wicket in the first innings of the match. There were just two further instances in the 19th-century and just one more in the 1900s.

When was the first double-century partnership in ODIs?

Desmond Haynes and Vivian Richards, both early greats of the one-day game, were the first to scale the double-century mark, and the only ones to do so before the turn of the 1980s. They slammed 205 for the second-wicket against Australia at the MCG in December 1979.