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The summer of runs
Wisden CricInfo staff - April 19, 2002

Wednesday, April 24, 2002

The column in which our database director answers your queries, large or small, about the history of the game

  • The most runs in a series
  • The highest score by a wicketkeeper
  • Was Derek Pringle's father a Test cricketer?
  • The fastest to 1000 Test runs
  • Which England captain was born in Peru?
  • Playing alongside fathers and sons in Tests

    Who has scored most runs in a series of five Tests, and also three Tests? asks Jess Jethwa

    The most runs in a five-Test series is Don Bradman's 974 (average 139.14) in seven innings on Australia's 1930 tour of England. The record for a three-Test series is 752 (avge 125.33 by Graham Gooch for England v India in 1990. The highest in a six-Test series is 839 (83.90) by Mark Taylor for Australia v England in 1989, and the best in a complete series of four Tests is 703 (87.87) by George Headley for West Indies v England in 1929-30. Viv Richards scored 829 runs (118.42) in four Tests for West Indies in England in 1976, but that was a five-match series, and he missed the second one through illness - much to the relief of the England bowlers.

    Was Adam Gilchrist's magnificent double-century recently the highest Test score by a wicketkeeper? asks John Cox

    Gilchrist's 204 not out for Australia against South Africa at Johannesburg in February was the fifth Test double-century by a wicketkeeper, and the fourth-highest. The biggest one wasn't all that long ago - Andy Flower's 232 not out for Zimbabwe v India at Nagpur came in November 2000. The other three keepers to top 200 were Taslim Arif, with 210 not out for Pakistan v Australia at Faisalabad in 1979-80, Imtiaz Ahmed (209 for Pakistan v New Zealand at Lahore, 1955-56), and Brendon Kuruppu, who made 201 not out on his Test debut for Sri Lanka v New Zealand at the Colombo Cricket Club in 1986-87. Since Gilchrist's innings a sixth name has been added to this list: Kumar Sangakkara made 230 for Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Lahore in March 2002.

    My father says that Derek Pringle's father was a Test player too, but I can't find his name in the Wisden Almanack. Is he right? asks James Wheeler

    Don Pringle, Derek's father, wasn't a Test player - but he did play one-day internationals in the World Cup. That was in 1975, and he was playing for East Africa, one of two non-Test side invited to take part in the first such tournament (the other was Sri Lanka, who didn't gain Test status until 1982). Don Pringle was born in Lancashire, but moved to Kenya as a landscape consultant in the late 1950s - Derek was born there in 1958. Like his son, Don was a fast-medium bowler, and he played in two of East Africa's three matches in 1975. He didn't take a wicket ... but he was 43 at the time. Sadly, he was killed in a car crash later that same year, returning home from a cricket match in Nairobi in which he'd taken 6 for 16.

    Who has taken the fewest innings to reach 1000 Test runs? Is it Don Bradman? asks Shane Bennett

    Actually this is one of the few batting records that Don Bradman doesn't hold. The Don reached 1000 runs in a very respectable 13 innings - he passed the landmark during his famous 334 at Headingley in 1930. However, England's Herbert Sutcliffe and Everton Weekes of West Indies - one of the legendary three Ws - managed it in only 12 innings. Bradman made up for it, though: he was fastest to 2000 (22 innings), 3000 (33), 4000 (48), 5000 (56) and 6000 (68) runs in Tests. He finished with 6996 runs in 80 innings (52 Tests) - the fastest to 7000 runs, England's Wally Hammond, took 131 innings. Garry Sobers (157 innings) was the fastest to 8000, and Sunil Gavaskar the quickest to 9000 (192) and 10,000 (212). Allan Border, the only man so far to have scored 11,000 Test runs, did so in his 263rd innings, in his 155th and last-but-one match. Border finished with exactly three times as many Test caps as Bradman - and well under double the runs.

    Which England captain was born in Peru? asks Peter Ezinwa

    This was Freddie Brown, the Northamptonshire and Surrey amateur who captained England in 15 Tests, including the 1950-51 Ashes series in Australia. Brown was born in Lima, Peru, in 1910 - his father was working in an import/export agency there - and he had been part of the squad for the Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932-33. He was the youngest member of that team, and didn't play in any of the Tests. But he proved popular Down Under when he returned after the war, as a burly florid-faced allrounder with a penchant for sporting a cravat, in charge of a young and inexperienced side. He continued to play for England until 1953, and returned to Australia as a rather autocratic manager in 1958-59. He died in 1991.

    I recently went to a cricket dinner where Pat Pocock, the former England spinner, was the guest speaker (he was very good). He mentioned that he had played Tests with both Colin Cowdrey and his son Chris. is this unique? asks Stephen Kearns

    It is quite an achievement, but it's not quite unique. Pat played with Colin Cowdrey in West Indies in 1967-68, and at home against Australia in 1968 - and was then recalled to play alongside Chris Cowdrey in India in 1984-85. I have found three other instances, and there may be more. Wilfred Rhodes played in Fred Tate's only Test, at Old Trafford in 1902, and was recalled to the England side in 1926, when he played alongside Fred's son Maurice. Zaheer Abbas made his debut for Pakistan in Hanif Mohammad's last Test, in 1969-70, and was captain when Hanif's son Shoaib made his Test debut, in 1982-83. And when Chris Cairns made his Test debut, at Perth in November 1989, New Zealand's side included four players - John Wright, Martin and Jeff Crowe, and Ian Smith - who had played in Lance Cairns's final Test match only four years previously.

  • If you have a question, e-mail it to steven.lynch@wisden.com. We can't normally enter into individual correspondence, but a selection of questions and answers will be published here each week

    More Ask Steven columns
    March 24, 2002
    March 17, 2002
    March 10, 2002

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