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Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 14:30 GMT

Stump the Bearded Wonder No 117

Bill Frindall is waiting for your questions 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 winter season.

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


Alex Webster, UK

Tillekeratne Dilshan was amazing whilst fielding in the first final of the recent VB series. Has anyone bettered his feat of five dismissals without being a keeper?

Christian Aulman, England

In the recent international between Australia and Sri Lanka, Tillekeratne Dilshan ran out four batsmen. Is this a record?

Scott Page, Prague, Czech Republic

When Sri Lanka beat Australia at Adelaide in the first final of the VB series, were four run outs by one fielder a record, as five run outs equalled the previous team record?

I have selected these three from a host of similar questions about Dilshan's fantastic fielding display which clinched Sri Lanka's memorable victory against Australia at Adelaide on 10 February.

The identities of fielders involved in run outs have not always been recorded but I cannot recall another fielder being responsible for four dismissals in an innings.

Added to his catch, he can certainly be said to have equalled Jonty Rhodes's tally of five dismissals (all caught) by a non-wicket-keeper in these matches, achieved for South Africa against West Indies in a Hero Cup game at Bombay's Brabourne Stadium on 14 November 1993.


Andy Stiff, UK

When was the last time a player batting number eight or lower scored a Test match hundred for England (assuming someone has done it)?

A fascinating question from one of the most frequent contributors to this page's questions.

The answer is 29 July 1980 when Peter Willey scored 100 not out against West Indies at The Oval. Batting at number eight, Willey produced a match-saving innings against Clive Lloyd's formidable team.

England were 197 ahead when Willey, who completed his maiden Test hundred, was joined by last man Bob Willis. The pair survived 171 minutes and added 117 runs.

No England number 11 has scored a century. Prior to Willey's feat, hundreds had been scored by just one number 10 (Walter Read 1884), two number nines ('Gubby' Allen 1931 and John Murray 1966), and five other number eights (Harry Wood 1891-92, Colin Cowdrey 1962-63, Ray Illingworth 1969, Godfrey Evans 1950, and Jim Parks 1959-60).


Daniel Ede, New Zealand

In the recent VB Series second final, Australia smashed 368 against Sri Lanka and the great Muttiah Muralitharan had figures of 0 for 99.

Is this a record for limited-overs internationals? What is the highest number of runs conceded by a bowler in a Test match?

Murali's savaging is the most brutal inflicted in 10 overs, surpassing the 97 conceded by a fellow Sri Lankan, Ashantha de Mel, in a World Cup match against West Indies at Karachi's National Stadium on 13 October 1987.

Only Martin Snedden, who leaked 105 runs off 12 overs in another World Cup tie, for New Zealand against England at The Oval on 9 June 1983, has suffered more than Murali in all limited-overs internationals.

During the record-breaking encounter between Australia (434-4; 50 overs) and South Africa (438-9; 49.5 overs) at Johannesburg on 12 March, Australia's Mike Lewis conceded 113 runs from his 10 wicketless overs to eclipse Murali's unwanted record.

The most runs conceded in a Test match innings is 298 off 87 overs by 'Chuck' Fleetwood-Smith for Australia at The Oval in 1938 when England scored a record 903-7 declared.


Peter Jones, Zambia

Has the MCC ever played on tour in Livingstone when the country was called Northern Rhodesia? If so, could you send details of the scorecard(s)?

We are trying to find as much as we can about the sporting times of this former capital, which once hosted the world professional sculling championships in 1910! Any other pieces of history would be greatly received.

I could find no record of an MCC team having played at Livingstone but one may well have visited there during a trip to the nearby Victoria Falls. Their matches against Rhodesia were usually staged at Bulawayo or Salisbury.

The only cricket connection I can discover is that Livingstone was the birthplace (11 January 1957) of Mark Hooper Gibb, a right-handed batsman and leg-break bowler who played four first-class matches for Zimbabwe in 1977-78 and 1978-79.

I have emailed Andrew Samson, South Africa's senior cricket statistician, to see what he can discover about cricket at the town that grew from a pole and mud settlement originally known as the Old Drift.


Orlando Mason, Germany

My grandfather vividly describes watching Bill O'Reilly as a boy, bowling out Somerset - presumably on one of the Ashes tours of the mid 1930s. Can you tell me anything about the match that might have slipped his memory?

Your grandfather was lucky enough to witness the best return of Bill O'Reilly's 135-match first-class career.

At Taunton on 27 June 1934, Somerset won the toss and surprisingly batted first on a pitch that had sweated after being covered from heavy overnight rain.

Hans Ebeling took the first wicket before O'Reilly, on the first of his two tours of England, seized the remaining nine wickets for 38 runs off 18 overs.

Opener Frank Lee, who umpired 29 Tests (1949-62), carried his bat for an undefeated 59 as Somerset were bowled out for 116. Australia replied with 309, dismissed their hosts for another 116 (O'Reilly 8-3-15-0) and won by an innings in two days.

Only two days previously Australia had lost the Lord's Test by an innings, O'Reilly's analysis there being 38-15-70-1.


Alastair Cook, New Zealand

What player has scored the highest percentage of an innings total runs? I think I read once that it was Glenn Turner, is this correct and what was the percentage?

Glenn Turner does indeed hold the world record for the highest contribution to an all-out innings in first-class cricket with 83.4% of the total.

He achieved this remarkable feat when he carried his bat for an undefeated 141 out of Worcestershire's 169 against Glamorgan at St Helen's, Swansea on 29 and 30 June 1977.

Batting for 220 minutes, he hit a six and 18 fours. The other batsmen managed just 14 scoring strokes between them and none reached double figures.


Allan, UK

There is only one Test series where the two opposing captains were wicket-keepers. Which is it?

If there is only one it has to be the two-match affair between New Zealand and Zimbabwe at Hamilton and Auckland in January 1996.

Lee Germon and Andy Flower were the two wicket-keeper captains.


Aniket Raut, India

Who has scored the most nineties in limited-overs internationals and also in Tests? I think it is Sachin Tendulkar in the LOIs.

Your thoughts are spot on, Aniket. Tendulkar has made 10 scores in the 90s in internationals, one more than the tally recorded by Grant Flower (Zimbabwe) and Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka).

The Test record also stands at 10 with Steve Waugh the unlucky batsman. Tendulkar's six 90s put him in equal sixth place at this level.


Moorty, India

Is there any cricketer, apart from Bernard Julien of West Indies, who scored his first ever century at Lord's in a Test, before scoring a first-class century or never scoring one?

There are four others. Harry Graham of Australia was the first in 1893, the first of his seven first-class hundreds.

Next came Percy Sherwell of South Africa in 1907 (first of three) and Nasim-ul-Ghani of Pakistan in 1962 (first of seven). Julien's 121 in 1973 (first of three) is the highest of the five Lord's scores.

In 1984 Amal Silva of Sri Lanka (first of three) became the most recent batsman to score his maiden first-class hundred in a Lord's Test.


Peter, Australia

I was just reading the question you recently answered: "Has a bowler ever bowled consecutive overs in an innings during a Test match?"

Besides Armstrong's instance, didn't Alex Moir (NZ) bowl consecutive overs in a Test at Wellington in 1951?

Ravi Kaza, India

Moir also bowled two consecutive overs against England at Wellington in 1950-51, before and after a drinks break. Armstrong is not unique.

You are absolutely right in that Alexander McKenzie Moir did bowl consecutive overs against England at Wellington on 28 March 1951. They were either side of the tea interval on the fourth day.

If you re-read my answer in #116 you will note that I did not claim that Armstrong's instance was unique. Indeed there may well have been other unreported instances apart from those two.


Roy Tunnicliffe, England

When Len Hutton made the highest score in Test match cricket, who was his team-mate at the other end when he broke the record?

Hutton (364) overtook Wally Hammond's record score of 336 not out during his sixth wicket stand of 215 with Joe Hardstaff, junior (169 not out) as England amassed 903-7 declared against Australia at The Oval in August 1938.


Nigel McQuoid, England

Has there ever been a Test innings where all ten wickets have fallen to the same type of dismissal (e.g. all caught or all bowled)?

There have been nearly fifty instances of all ten wickets falling to catches in a Test innings but the most to be bowled is nine. That instance occurred on matting at Cape Town in March 1889 when South Africa, playing only their second major match, were dismissed for 43 in their second innings, four fewer than they had managed in their first. Left-arm spinner Johnny Briggs took 8 for 11 and the tenth batsman was run out.

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