Also, most wickets in a three-Test series, keepers’ records, and most centuries in a losing cause

Steven Lynch08-Sep-2015There were 118 wickets in the Sri Lanka-India Tests. Is that a record for a three-match series? asked Puneet Shah from India
The 118 wickets in India’s just finished series in Sri Lanka equals the record for a three-Test rubber: there were also 118 wickets (out of a possible 120) when Australia toured Sri Lanka in 2003-04, and when Sri Lanka went to Pakistan in 1999-2000. There is one longer series with a higher proportion of total wickets: in the five Tests of the 1907-08 Ashes, 197 of the possible 200 wickets went down (Tests in Australia then were all played to a finish, which probably helped). There have been four two-Test series in which the maximum 80 wickets fell: Australia v England in 1886-87, South Africa v England in 1898-99, India v Pakistan in 1998-99, and West Indies v Pakistan in 2005.In India’s third Test in Sri Lanka, both wicketkeepers were making their Test debuts. How often has this happened ? asked Prakash Vakashpati from Singapore
In that recent match in Colombo, Kusal Perera and Naman Ojha became the 14th pair of wicketkeepers to make their debut in the same Test – but it was only the fourth instance since 1933-34, when Dilawar Hussain and Hopper Levett won their first caps in the second Test between India and England in Calcutta. In Delhi in 1951-52, Nana Joshi (India) and Dick Spooner (England) made their debuts together, and then it didn’t happen for 40 years, until South Africa’s first match back after readmission, in Bridgetown in 1991-92, when Dave Richardson was joined as a new cap by David Williams of West Indies. The most recent instance came in Bangladesh’s inaugural Test, in Dhaka in 2000-01: Khaled Mashud was winning his first cap for the home side, while Saba Karim was making his debut for India.Kusal Perera made two fifties on his Test debut. How many other wicketkeepers have done this? asked Chandra de Silva from Sri Lanka
Kusal Perera, who made 55 and 70 in the third Test in Colombo, was the third wicketkeeper to make two half-centuries on his debut – and one of the others was also on his side in this match! Dinesh Chandimal kept wicket on his debut for Sri Lanka, against South Africa in Durban in 2011-12, and scored 58 and 54. The only previous instance was by Dilawar Hussain, with 59 and 57 for India against England in Calcutta in 1933-34. Only three wicketkeepers have made more runs than Perera’s 125 on debut, and two of them are also Sri Lankans: Brendon Kuruppu tops the list with 201 not out against New Zealand in Colombo in 1986-87, while Romesh Kaluwitharana scored 136 runs (132 not out and 4) against Australia in Colombo in 1992. Matt Prior made 147 runs (126 not out and 21) for England against West Indies at Lord’s in 2007.The player with the dubious record of the most run-outs in ODIs is not Inzamam but Marvan Atapattu•AFPWho has been run out most often in ODIs? And Tests? My money’s on Inzamam-ul-Haq… asked James Wright from England
Well, Inzamam-ul-Haq was run out on 40 occasions in one-day internationals, as was Rahul Dravid – but they have to give pride of place to Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu, who was run out 41 times. Mahela Jayawardene fell that way 39 times, and the Pakistan pair of Mohammad Yousuf and Wasim Akram 38. The most ODI innings without ever being run out is 59, by Kenya’s Maurice Odumbe; Quinton de Kock of South Africa has currently had 47 innings without being out this way yet. In Test matches, Ricky Ponting was run out on 15 occasions, Dravid 13, and Allan Border and Matthew Hayden 12. Dravid was thus run out 53 times in all international cricket, while Jayawardene (51), Atapattu (48), Ponting (47) and Inzamam (46) come next.Axar Patel took four for none in the recent unofficial Test against South Africa A. Has anyone ever taken more wickets without conceding a run in a first-class match? asked Hemant Kher from the United States
Slow left-armer Axar Patel’s second-innings figures of 6-6-0-4 in the recent second unofficial Test in Wayanad in Kerala set up an innings victory for India A, as their opponents were rolled for 76. This was the ninth time a bowler had taken 4 for 0 in a first-class innings, the most recent one being by Barbados’ Jonathan Carter against Jamaica in Bridgetown in February 2013. The last 4 for 0 by an Indian bowler was achieved by 47-year-old Lala Amarnath after opening the bowling in Railways’ Ranji Trophy match in Patiala in 1958-59. But there have been four instances of a bowler taking 5 for 0 – three of them, rather oddly, in English county cricket in the 1920s. The most recent 5 for 0 was by the Gloucestershire medium-pacer Percy Mills against Somerset in Bristol in 1928; it was also achieved by Dick Tyldesley for Lancashire v Leicestershire at Old Trafford in 1924, George Cox for Sussex v Somerset in Weston-super-Mare in 1921, and Dick Pougher for MCC as the Australians were bowled out for 18 at Lord’s in 1896.Who has scored the most Test centuries and taken the most Test five-fors in a losing cause? asked Gerry Cotter from England
I enlisted the aid of Statsguru for this one. Leading the way for the batsmen, with 14 Test centuries in vain, is Brian Lara with 14; next comes Sachin Tendulkar, with 11. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had nine, Mohammad Yousuf eight, and Mohammad Azharuddin and Andy Flower seven. Chanderpaul (whose Test career appears to be over) played in a record 77 defeats, ahead of Lara (63), Tendulkar (56), Alec Stewart (54) and Mohammad Ashraful (50). Turning to the bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan took 15 five-fors in matches Sri Lanka lost, Richard Hadlee 11, and Kapil Dev 10. Wasim Akram three times took ten or more wickets in Tests that Pakistan ended up losing.