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Wisden CricInfo staff - May 11, 2002

Saturday, May 18, 2002

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

  • One batsman outscoring opponents
  • What does lbw(n) stand for?
  • World Cup upsets
  • 709 runs between dismissals
  • Longest bowling spells
  • Middle name of Mary?

    In the recent Test at Lahore, Inzamam-ul-Haq scored more runs in one innings than New Zealand managed in both of theirs - how often has this happened? asks David Kendix

    I was rather surprised to discover that this was only the fourth time that this had happened in Test history. Inzamam scored a fabulous 329 - an amazing innings in sweltering heat - and New Zealand managed only 319 runs (73 and 246), so you could say that Inzamam won by an innings and 10 runs. The first occasion this happened in Tests was way back in 1888-89, when South Africa collapsed for 47 and 43 at Cape Town in what was only their second official Test. Bobby Abel, the Surrey and England opener, outdid them on his own, with an innings of 120. The most famous occurrence was in 1938, when Len Hutton (364) outscored Australia (201 and 102) by 61 runs at The Oval. Don Bradman was unable to bat in that game, which helped Hutton - but The Don, almost inevitably, muscles in on this list. In the first Test against India at Brisbane in 1947-48 Bradman hammered 185 - and then pulled the strings as India were all out for 58 and 98.

    I was looking at an old scorecard and one dismissal is shown as "lbw (n)". What does this signify? asks Albert Thornton

    This denotes a leg-before decision given under the new experimental lbw law, which was tried in 1935. Previously a batsman could only be given out if he was hit by a ball which pitched in line with the stumps and was going on to hit them: increased use of pad-play led to an experiment whereby the batsman could be given out if the ball pitched outside the off stump, as long as it hit him in line with the stumps and was going on to hit them. After two years this was adopted as a full law in 1937. To gauge the impact of the experiment, in 1935 all dismissals to balls pitching outside the off stump were recorded as lbw (n), the n standing for new. The umpire signalled an lbw (n) to the scorer by holding an open palm above his head. The Wisden Almanack of 1936 records that of 1273 lbw decisions in the 1935 County Championship, 404 of them were given out under the new regulation.

    Were Kenya the first non-Test side to beat a Test-playing one in the World Cup? asks Samuel Jackson

    Kenya's victory over West Indies in 1996 was probably the most famous David-and-Goliath act in World Cup history, but the first such upset was actually in 1979, when Sri Lanka (then not a Test-playing nation) beat India by 47 runs at Old Trafford. Duleep Mendis top-scored with 64 as Sri Lanka made 238 for 5 in their 60 overs, then Tony Opatha and Somachandra de Silva took three wickets apiece as India were shot out for 191. Zimbabwe also pulled off a fine victory before gaining Test status, against Australia at Trent Bridge in the 1983 World Cup, and also beat England at Albury in 1991-92. The only other such victory in a World Cup was Bangladesh's 62-run win over Pakistan at Northampton in 1999. Outside the World Cup Kenya have twice defeated India in official one-day internationals.

    Which Indian batsman once scored 709 first-class runs between dismissals? asks Ashwin Raghuram

    Well, it's not one of India's most famous batsmen ... not Gavaskar or Tendulkar. The answer - and 709 runs without dismissal is the overall first-class record, not just an Indian one - is KC (Khanmohamed Cassambhoy) Ibrahim. He was born in 1919, and for Bombay in 1947-48 compiled successive innings of 218, 36, 234 and 77, all not out, followed by 144. Ibrahim ended up with a first-class average of 61.24 - he made 4716 runs in all - but didn't do very much in his four Test appearances, managing only 169 runs (21.12) with a highest score of 85 on debut against West Indies at Delhi in 1948-49.

    What is the longest unbroken bowling spell in Test history? asks Andy Martin

    The longest-known bowling spell in a Test was of 55 (six-ball) overs by Tom Veivers, the Australian offspinner, in England's innings of 611 at Old Trafford in 1964. Veivers bowled 75 of the last 80 overs delivered from the City end, and finished with figures of 95.1-36-155-3. Another offspinner, South Africa's Hugh Tayfield, had a complete and unbroken spell of 53.4 overs (5 for 60, with 29 maidens) against England at The Oval in 1955. At Sydney in 1881-82, Joey Palmer (58-36-68-7) and Edwin Evans (57-32-64-3) bowled unchanged throughout England's first innings of 133 in 190 minutes - but those were four-ball overs.

    We were given this question in a quiz recently, and suspect the setter may be having a joke: Which male Test player's middle name was Mary? asks Ewen McRoberts from Auckland

    Well, he wasn't joking - and the answer is closer to your home than you may think. It was Chris Kuggeleijn, the Northern Districts allrounder who played two Tests for New Zealand in 1988-89. His biggest contribution came as early as the third over of his Test debut, when he took the catch (India's Arun Lal) that gave Richard Hadlee the then-record number of Test wickets (374). Kuggeleijn was of Dutch extraction, which accounts for his unusual middle name of Mary.

  • 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
    May 3, 2002
    April 24, 2002
    March 24, 2002
    March 17, 2002

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