Ask The Spider #19

What will be the World ODI XI prepared for years as follows: 1975; 1979; 1983; 1987; 1992; 1996; 1999; 2003; 2007. Eligibility criteria: For one to seven, more than 500 runs in last 2 years; for eight to eleven, more than 150 overs in last 2 years. Selection Criteria (based on performance in last 2 years): one-four, batsmen having highest average among those with more than 70 strike-rate; five-six, the remaining batsmen having best SR with more than 30 ave; seven, wicketkeeper with best SR with ave >25; eight-eleven: two bowlers with best averages among those with economy-rate <4.7-an-over and two among the remaining bowlers with best economy-rate and ave <35.

We’ll do this on a week-by-week basis. Starting with 2007, and including only serious ODI teams (defined for these purposes in the time in question as Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies).
Criteria:
Dates: 1st January 2006 to 12th March 2007
Batsmen one-seven 500 runs; one-four, highest ave >70 SR; five-six, Best SR with ave at least 30; seven, wicketkeeper with best SR ave at least 25
Bowlers eight-eleven: 150 overs; three best ave with ER <5; one with best ER with ave <35 BATSMEN. The top four with highest ave and >70 SR are:
ML Hayden 709 @ 54.54, SR 78.08
Yuvraj Singh 975 @ 54.16, SR 88.95
AB de Villiers 697 @ 53.61, SR 87.23
MEK Hussey 1081 @ 51.47, SR 88.02
The next two are chosen with the best SR, >30 ave:
ST Jayasuriya 1009 @ 43.56, SR 112.61
A Symonds 832 @ 39.61, SR 99.40

WICKETKEEPER with best SR and ave >25:
AC Gilchrist 924 @ 31.86, SR 98.71

BOWLERS
Top three averages with ER <5 are: SM Pollock 216 ov, 40 @ 16.65, ER 3.08 M Ntini 153.2 ov, 33 @ 21.69, ER 4.66 SE Bond 198.4 ov, 41 @ 21.92, ER 4.52 The last bowler is chosen with the lowest ER and ave <35:- GD McGrath 198.4 ov, 28 @ 27.50, ER 3.87 So the final line-up, in likely batting-order, is: 1 Sanath Jayasuriya 2 Matthew Hayden 3 AB de Villiers 4 Andrew Symonds 5 Yuvraj Singh 6 Michael Hussey 7 Adam Gilchrist 8 Shaun Pollock 9 Glenn McGrath 10 Shane Bond 11 Makhaya Ntini How many times has a 50 over ODI first innings been completed for the loss of no wickets?

Never. There have only been 4 first-innings ODI scores which have had zero wickets lost – these have lasted 5.5, 0.2, 4.0 and 3.4 overs respectively. Even for just a single wicket falling the longest first-innings was terminated at 23 overs. The fewest wickets that have been lost in a ODI first-innings which has run its full course is two, which has happened on 14 occasions (2 being 40-over games in Pakistan), the most recent being between England and India at The Rose Bowl in 2007. On all bar 2 of these occasions the set target has been sufficient for victory.

Who has scored the most double-centuries in a Test series?

Don Bradman (Aus) scored three doubles in the 1930 series in England (254 at Lord’s, 334 at Headingley, 232 at The Oval). Two doubles in a series has been achieved on twelve occasions:
Walter Hammond (Eng) v Australia, 1928/29
Donald Bradman (Aus) v South Africa, 1931/32
Walter Hammond (Eng) v New Zealand, 1932/33 (series average 563.00!)
Donald Bradman (Aus) v England, 1936/37
Vinoo Mankad (Ind) v New Zealand, 1955/56
Glenn Turner (NZ) v West Indies, 1971/72
Viv Richards (WI) v England, 1976
Gordon Greenidge (WI) v England, 1984
Graeme Smith (SA) v England, 2003
Ricky Ponting (Aus) v India, 2003/04
Kumar Sangakkara (SL) v Bangladesh, 2007

Which was the longest Test innings ever in terms of time at the crease?

Hanif Mohammad took, according to the official scorers, 970 minutes to score 337 in the First Pakistan v West Indies Test in January 1958, at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown (although he claims the time was 999 minutes).

Who is the youngest player to score 2,000 First-Class runs in an English domestic season?

Graeme Hick achieved this feat for Worcestershire in 1986, aged only 20. He was duly named as one of Wisden‘s Five Cricketers Of The Year.

Which team has the highest ODI no-result percentage? Where no-result is defined exclusively as games which have been started but not finished, and not those abandoned without a ball bowled.

Counting only regular ODI-playing teams, New Zealand just edge India out, and the percentage has to be taken to three significant figures before a definition can be made. New Zealand, with 0.046%, have lost 0.002% more started games to weather than India, who have lost 0.044.

What was Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana’s average as Sri Lanka’s ODI opening partnership, and what was the biggest stand they shared?

In 105 opening stands between the two dashers, they averaged 31.05 per partnership. Their best was 129 against India at R. Premadasa Stadium in 1996.