Stump the Bearded Wonder No 99

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 season's action.

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

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Earl Robinson, St Vincent

When South Africa bowled their entire team in the recent Fourth Test, was it the fourth time that all eleven had bowled in a Test innings and the second at Antigua's record-breaking ground?

Yes, Earl, you are absolutely correct. Matt of London asked a similar question. It was the fourth instance, and St John's Recreation Ground is indeed the first to stage two instances of this bizarre record. It occurred first at The Oval in 1884 when the entire England team, under the captaincy of Lord Harris, bowled during Australia's innings of 551, wicket-keeper Alfred Lyttelton taking four wickets for eight runs with lobs. No other captain resorted to this expedient until Greg Chappell bowled the entire Australian team against Pakistan (382 for 2 in reply to 617) at Faisalabad in March 1980. The third occasion was in May 2002 when Sourav Ganguly bowled all his Eleven in Antigua while West Indies amassed 619 for 9 in reply to India's 513 for 9 declared.

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Anirban, India

Greetings, Bill. I have been a keen follower of this column and I must admit it has really helped me to enhance my cricketing knowledge. My question is related to a law of cricket. I know that if bails have fallen during a run out attempt, which eventually is not out, the wicket-keeper can uproot the stumps with the ball in hand to affect another run out. My question is, what happens if all the three stumps are uprooted during the first attempt? Is there a way to still run a batsman out? Wishing you best of health and luck for future.

Thank you for those very kind words, Anirban. The answer to your question is provided by Law 28 (The Wicket is Down), Note 3 (Remaking the Wicket). If all the stumps are out of the ground, 'any fielder is allowed to put back one or more stumps into the ground where the wicket originally stood.'

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Oliver, UK

With the current discussion about the position of Michael Vaughan in the England batting line-up, I was wondering what his averages are at the various positions he has played in previously?

Over half of Michael Vaughan's 99 Test innings have been as an opener and it is when batting at No. 1 or 2 that he has achieved his highest average. The full record is: opener - 58 innings, 2684 runs, average 49.70, 10 hundreds, 5 fifties; No. 3 - 6, 219, 36.50, 1, 0; No. 4 - 28, 870, 34.80, 2, 5; No. 6 - 6, 219, 36.50, 0, 2; No. 7 - 1, 31, infinity, 0, 0. He has not batted at No. 5, nor any lower than No. 7. His overall Test career batting record to the start of the 2005 season is 4023 runs, avge 44.20, with 13 hundreds and 12 fifties.

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Paul Goddard, England

Can you tell me about Paul Romaines and who he played for? I have his autograph.

I wondered where it was! Paul William Romaines was born in Bishop Auckland on Christmas Day 1955 and played six matches for Northamptonshire (1975-76), before returning to his native Durham for five seasons (1977-81) prior to their attaining first-class status. An opening or mid-order batsman and occasional purveyor of off-breaks, he then interspersed ten seasons with Gloucestershire (1982-91), in which he played 161 first-class matches, with one (1984-85) in South Africa for Griqualand West. His 8120 first-class runs at 28.39 included 13 hundreds, his best season being 1984 when he scored 1844 runs at 35.46.

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Alec Martin, England

What is the greatest number of bowlers to concede over 100 individual runs in the same Test match innings?

Paul Vincent, UK

In the recently concluded 1st Test between India and Pakistan, I noticed that ALL the Pakistan bowlers conceded more than 100 runs in the Indian first innings. Is this a record?

The most, Alec, is six for Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka when they scored a modest 713 for 3 declared at Bulawayo in May 2004. The savaged bowlers were D.T.Hondu (116 runs), T.Panyangara (120), T.Mupariwa (136), M.L.Nkala (111), E.Chigumbura (108) and S.Matsikenyeri (112).

No Paul, there have been four instances of five bowlers conceding 100 or more in the same Test innings and two of them involved all the bowlers: West Indies v Australia at Kingston in 1954-55, England v West Indies at Lord's in 1973 (all five bowlers), New Zealand v Australia at Brisbane in 1993-94, and Zimbabwe v Australia at Perth in 2003-04 (all five bowlers). Although instances of four are fairly commonplace, there were an unprecedented five instances of this in 2004-05.

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Mike Thurlow, UK

As I understand it, the middle stump was introduced in the late 18th century after 'Lumpy' Stevens bowled clean through the wicket without knocking off the bail. Has there been a recent (3 stump) situation where the ball has passed clean through the stumps without dislodging the bails, and is the batsman out?

It was indeed the bowling of Edward 'Lumpy' Stevens (1735-1819) in a single-wicket match between Five of Hambledon and Five of England at the Artillery Ground in London on 22-23 May 1775 that led to the introduction of a third stump. On three occasions 'Lumpy' bowled clean through the last Hambledon batsman's two-stump wicket before the visitors completed their narrow win. As the current Laws include intricate measurements for the wicket, it is very unlikely for a ball to pass through and not dislodge a bail. I cannot remember one. Should it happen then the batsman would not be out.

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John Attfield, Germany

Henry Attfield played for Chertsey & Surrey 1773-1783 and was also in the team which the Duke of Dorset planned to take to Paris in 1789. Is anything else known about him?

Henry Attfield was born at Bagshot in 1756 and was only 17 when he first appeared for Surrey against Hambledon. He lived most of his life in Chertsey, dying there c1829 when 73. No tombstone was erected to his memory. A sawyer by trade, his name was usually abbreviated to 'Field'. He was indeed in the Surrey XI (along with 'Lumpy' Stevens) that was invited to Paris by the English ambassador, the third Duke of Dorset, a mission aborted by the onset of the French Revolution, luckily before the team sailed from Dover.

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Chetan Ghadge, Singapore

Bill, greetings to you from Singapore. Can you please tell me who holds the record for playing most Test matches without being dropped or missing a Test due to injury? Is there any player who has played more than 50 Test matches and never missed a single game from his debut to retirement?

Good to hear from you Chetan. I twice had the honour of playing as a guest for the Singapore Cricket Club. India's Rahul Dravid holds the record for playing the longest unbroken number of Test matches from his debut with 89 to date. Adam Gilchrist is in second place with 68 consecutive Tests. The longest unbroken career run by retired players is 58 by Tony Greig for England and by John Reid for New Zealand.

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Rinke Altink, The Netherlands

With Andrew Flintoff's speedy recovery and the Bangladesh Tests coming up, is there a statistic available showing which batsmen have hit the most sixes in Test cricket (Flintoff is on 50)?

New Zealand's Chris Cairns heads the list of Test match sixes with 87 from 104 innings. He is followed by Viv Richards (84/182), Adam Gilchrist (80/97), Brian Lara (70/202) and Clive Lloyd (70/175). Andrew Flintoff's 50 sixes from 72 innings put him in 16th place. Only Ian Botham, in seventh place with 67 sixes from 161 innings has hit more sixes for England.

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David Grinnell, UK

Yorkshire's 406 for 4 against Leicestershire was the highest successful fourth-innings total in their history. What is the highest such score in the County Championship overall?

The highest fourth-innings total to win a County Championship match is 502 for 6 by Middlesex against Nottinghamshire in a three-day match at Trent Bridge in June 1925. In spite of losing their first three batsmen for 66, 'Patsy' Hendren (206 not out), Clarence Bruce (103) and Frank Mann (101 not out) took Middlesex to their target in just six hours and a quarter. Yorkshire's recent record is the fifth successful fourth-innings Championship chases in excess of 450 but, the 1925 instance apart, all have occurred in four-day matches during the past six seasons.

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Paul Hawkins, Dubai

Scott Newman has just scored a double hundred and a hundred in the same match. Who else has done it in county cricket? Also I believe Laurence Rowe did it in his first Test Match.

Yes, Rowe did score 214 and 100* against New Zealand on his Test debut in 1971-72. Newman is the 19th batsman to achieve this double for his county and the first to do so for Surrey. Arthur Fagg achieved a feat unique in all first-class cricket when he scored double hundreds in both innings against Essex in 1938. Zaheer Abbas paired a hundred with a double on four occasions, while Maurice Hallam and Neil Taylor each did so twice. Here is the full list: J.Cox (Somerset, 1999), P.A.de Silva (Kent, 1995), K.S.Duleepsinhji (Sussex, 1929), A.E.Fagg (Kent, 1938), C.B.Fry (Sussex, 1900), D.P.Fulton (Kent, 2001), G.A.Gooch (Essex, 1994), M.W.Goodwin (Sussex, 2001), M.R.Hallam (Leicestershire, 1959, 1961), H.T.W.Hardinge (Kent, 1921), M.L.Hayden (Hampshire, 1997), G.A.Hick (Worcestershire 1990), A.I.Kallicharran (Warwickshire, 1984), A.J.Lamb (Northamptonshire, 1992), C.P.Mead (Hampshire, 1921), S.A.Newman (Surrey, 2005), D.W.Randall (Nottinghamshire, 1979), N.R.Taylor (Kent, 1990, 1991), Zaheer Abbas (Gloucestershire, 1976 - twice, 1977, 1981).

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Chris Harrison, UK

With his century for Hampshire against Kent, Shane Warne lost the mantel of having the most first-class runs without having scored a century - who has he passed the title on to?

You have been misinformed, Chris. As at 17 May 2005, Warne has scored 5203 runs in 322 innings, with that one hundred and 20 fifties. G.A.R. ('Tony') Lock holds the record for most first-class runs without a century with 10,342 in 812 innings, his highest score being 89 against West Indies at Georgetown in 1967-68 in the last of his 49 Tests. Lock's average of 15.88 is the lowest by anyone scoring 10,000 runs.

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