Stump The Bearded Wonder No 62

Bill Frindall, aka the Bearded Wonder, is poised to solve your cricket queries and teasers.

The Test Match Special statistician will be busy answering your questions throughout the English winter.

Fill in the form on the right-hand side of the page to stump the Bearded Wonder.

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John Gallagher, England

Bill, for quite some time I have been fascinated by the late, great Hedley Verity but still don't know a great deal about him. Can you fill in a few blanks and are you aware of any biography I could get hold of?

Verity was the outstanding left-arm spinner of the 1930s, during which Yorkshire won the Championship in seven of his nine full summers. His 10 for 10 against Notts at Headingley (his birthplace) remains the least expensive ten-wicket first-class analysis and was the first one to include a hat-trick.

By taking 14 wickets in a day against Australia at Lord's in 1934 he produced such insuperable problems for BBC radio commentator Howard Marshall that the role of scorer, shared ever since that epic feat by the late Arthur Wrigley and myself, was immediately created.

A captain in the Green Howards, he died in an Italian POW camp in 1943 from wounds received during an 8th Army offensive in Sicily. I recommend Alan Hill's Hedley Verity: Portrait of a Cricketer, published in 2000 by Mainstream Sport.

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Darren Gipson, UK

What were Geoff Boycott's and Graham Gooch's Test bowling records please?

Unusual query - there must be a wager behind this one! Boycott bowled 944 balls and took seven wickets at a cost of 54.57 runs apiece and at an economy rate of 40.66 runs per 100 balls.

Gooch bowled almost three times as many balls (2655), taking 23 wickets at 46.47 each and at an almost identical economy rate of 40.26 per 100 balls.

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David Haddock, UK

Ian Blackwell scored 204 runs in a session for Somerset v Derbyshire at Taunton in 2003. Has this tally ever been beaten in first-class cricket?

A most intriguing question, David. Although hundreds in the pre-lunch session have been well-documented, the record being 197 by Russell Endean in a three-hour session for Transvaal against Orange Free State in 1954-55, little research appears to have been attracted by the other sessions.

It could well be that Blackwell's 204 from 98 balls (43 to 247 between lunch and seven overs before tea) is the record for a single session. The next highest I have found is Ken Rutherford's 199 in the lunch-tea session for the 1986 New Zealanders against Brian Close's XI at Scarborough.

During his record 501* Brian Lara's most productive session amounted to 180 runs, as did Denis Compton's during his 181-minute 300 in 1948-49.

Possible contenders could be Charlie Macartney (345 in 235 minutes for the 1921 Australians v Nottinghamshire), Andy Ducat (306* in 280 minutes for Surrey v Oxford U. in 1919) and Frank Foster (305* in 260 minutes for Warwickshire v Worcestershire in 1914), but their session-by-session scores are not available from my sources.

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Dr RBJT Allenby, A Lancastrian in Yorkshire

I presume you noticed that Murray Goodwin's recent 335* was (at least if I've read my Wisden correctly) the FIRST EVER individual score of 335 in first-class cricket. What is the lowest individual score NEVER scored in first-class cricket?

Goodwin is the first to score 335. The lowest first-class scores still to be recorded are 289, 326, 327, 328 and 330.

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Mark Bonsall, France

I recently came across a scorecard for the second Ashes Test in 1946-47 at Sydney. In Australia's only innings, SG Barnes and DG Bradman both scored 234. Is this the highest score scored by two batsmen in the same innings? If so, are there any other occurrences with two players joint top-scoring with more than 150?

Yes, Mark, 234 is the highest score recorded by two batsmen in the same Test match innings and there are no other instances involving 150 or more.

Syd Barnes was a serial extrovert and one of his contemporaries told me that he had deliberately got out when he had equalled The Don's score so that his innings would be remembered because of this unique double.

Their stand of 405 remains the Test record for the fifth wicket and Barnes' 200 in nine hours 30 minutes was the slowest in Anglo-Australian Tests until 1964.

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Rakesh Murria, UK

Munaf Patel recently made his first-class cricketing debut playing for his country (India A). Have any other players made their first-class debut for their country?

There have been several, including Graham Vivian who made his first-class debut for New Zealand against India at Calcutta on 5 March 1965 at the age of 19 years 5 days.

Perhaps the most notable are Colonel The Honourable Charles Coventry (two Tests), Basil Grieve (2) and Joseph McMaster (1) who are unique because their appearances for England in the inaugural Tests in South Africa (1888-89) comprised their entire first-class careers.

Coventry was reported killed during the Jameson Raid and his funeral service in Worcestershire was about to commence when news of his survival compelled its hasty conversion to celebrations on the village green!

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Daren Fawkes, Australia

Who has played the most Test matches for Australia without ever captaining the team?

Mark Waugh has that unusual record with 128 Test match appearances. Three other Australians have gained 100 or more caps without being appointed captain: Ian Healy (119), David Boon (107) and Shane Warne (107).

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Robin, Indonesia

Here is your Indonesian cricket enthusiast again! How many specialist wicket-keepers have been picked by England in a Test as a pure batsman? I can think only of Roger Tolchard in modern times. Was it in India?

Welcome back, Robin! You are spot on with 'Tolly'. Reserve keeper to Alan Knott on Tony Greig's 1976-77 tour of India, he gained his four caps as a specialist batsman because he was an extremely quick-footed improviser against spin. He is now a master at Malvern College and still appears for Old England and the Lord's Taverners.

Other specialist keepers who didn't keep in some Tests for England include Alfred Archer (1898-99), Monty Bowden (1888-89), 'Billy' Griffith (1947-48), Gregor MacGregor (1891-92), Arthur McIntyre (1950-51), John Murray (1964-65), 'Tiger' Smith (1913-14) and Herbert Strudwick (1909-10).

There have also been specialist batsmen such as Paul Gibb, Jim Parks and Alec Stewart who played several Tests before taking on the role of specialist wicket-keeper.

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Zainab, Pakistan

Two players, Dirk Welham and Gundappa Vishwanath, have scored hundreds on both their first-class and Test debuts. Are there any players who scored centuries on both their Test and limited-overs international debuts?

No batsman has achieved that double so far, Zainab. Surprisingly, only five have scored a hundred in their first LOI innings: Dennis Amiss (England), Desmond Haynes (West Indies), Andy Flower (Zimbabwe), and Salim Elahi and Shahid Afridi (Pakistan).

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Darren, England

On the back of Andrew Hall's erratic run with the bat in England last summer, what is the highest number of ducks by one batsman in a Test series?

Alan Hurst, a fast bowler and tail-end batsman, holds that unenviable record with six ducks for Australia against England in 1978-79.

There have been nine instances of players bagging five ducks in a series, including two by specialist batsmen, both Indians: Pankaj Roy in England in 1952 and Mohinder Amarnath at home against West Indies in 1983-84. Another Indian, Ajit Agarkar, was dismissed for nought in five successive innings in Australia in 1999-2000.

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Steve Lilley, England

Has it ever occurred before that the same four batsmen have scored centuries in the same innings twice in a season as happened for Lancashire in 2003?

No, the combined feat of Mark Chilton, Mal Loye, Stuart Law and Carl Hooper each scoring hundreds in the same innings twice (v Middlesex and Warwickshire) is unique.

Only two other teams, New South Wales in 1927-28 and Delhi in 1988-89, have twice scored four hundreds in an innings in the same season but each of those instances involved six batsmen.

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Adam, UK

I notice there have been a lot of first-class double centuries this year (in the high twenties I think). Which years have seen the most 200s scored since the reduction of matches in 1969? (my Wisdens only go back to 1999!)

There were 29 first-class double-centuries in 2003, including three triples. The most since 1968 is 32 in 1990, the season that they flattened both the pitches and the seams on the ball. There were 24 in 1994 and 1996, and 22 in 2002.

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