Ask Steven

Shiv's not-outs, and hit-wicket victims

Also, top-scoring in both innings, most Test dismissals caught, and the oldest Test centurion

Steven Lynch
Steven Lynch
23-Sep-2014
Steve Tikolo: the leading ODI run scorer in Associate cricket  •  IDI/Getty

Steve Tikolo: the leading ODI run scorer in Associate cricket  •  IDI/Getty

Shivnarine Chanderpaul top-scored in both innings against Bangladesh recently, and he's done this several times now. Who holds the record? asked Tony Martin from Barbados
After that instance in St Lucia, when he made 84 and 101 (both not out), Shivnarine Chanderpaul has now top-scored in each innings of a Test match on nine separate occasions, including consecutive matches against England at Old Trafford and Chester-le-Street in 2007. He also did it at Lord's in 2004 and 2012. Two other batsmen top-scored in both innings of a Test on nine occasions: England's Ken Barrington, in the 1960s, and another West Indian in Brian Lara. Two legendary Indians managed it eight times each - Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid. In Cape Town in 1891-92 South Africa's Frank Hearne - who was actually born in Ealing, in west London - top-scored in both innings by making just 24 and 23 as South Africa were shot out for 97 and 83.
I note that the evergreen Shiv Chanderpaul has more not-outs in Tests than any other recognised batsman (currently 49). Is this a record as a percentage of the number of innings played as well, assuming a reasonable number of innings batted? asked Eckhardt Gerber from South Africa
Only five players - all bowlers and specialist No. 11s - have had more not-out innings in Tests than Shivnarine Chanderpaul's 49: Courtney Walsh leads the way with 61, then come Muttiah Muralitharan (56), Bob Willis (55), Chris Martin (52) and Glenn McGrath (51). The recognised batsman with the most not-outs after Chanderpaul are Steve Waugh (46), Allan Border (44) and Jacques Kallis (40).
Overall Chanderpaul has been not out in 49 of his 269 Test innings to date, or 18%, the same (to the nearest whole number) as Steve Waugh. The only recognised batsman with a higher percentage is Sri Lanka's Hashan Tillakaratne, with 19% (25 out of 131 innings), although Imran Khan finished not out in 20% of his innings (25 out of 126).
Which bowler has taken the most Test wickets caught? Bowled? Stumped? Lbw? Hit-wicket? asked Jeremy Hall from New Zealand
I think that's actually five questions, but we'll let that go! These kinds of lists are naturally dominated by bowlers who took a lot of wickets. Muttiah Muralitharan had the most batsmen caught, with 435, ahead of Shane Warne (418) and Glenn McGrath (373). Murali also had the most bowleds (167), well ahead of Warne (116), Fred Trueman (103), Brian Statham and Waqar Younis (102), and Wasim Akram (101), and Murali also leads the stumpings list with 47 to Warne's 36 and Clarrie Grimmett's 28. Anil Kumble leads the way for lbws, with 156, ahead of Murali (150) and Warne (138). The bowler who inflicted the most hit-wicket dismissals is Graham McKenzie, with four, ahead of five bowlers with three (Kapil Dev, Ray Lindwall, Vinoo Mankad, Fred Trueman and Hedley Verity).
A better test really is to work on percentages, given a minimum number of dismissals. Assuming a minimum of 100 wickets, the highest percentages are: Caught 77% (Jacques Kallis, Nathan Lyon and Bruce Yardley); Bowled 45% (George Lohmann; Johnny Briggs 44%); Lbw 34% (Terry Alderman and Saeed Ajmal), and Stumped 13% (Clarrie Grimmett and Subhas Gupte).
Which batsman was out hit-wicket most often in Tests? asked Gordon Aaronson from England
The famous England batsman Denis Compton was out hit-wicket on five occasions in Tests, two more than anyone else: Mohinder Amarnath of India hit his own stumps three times, while a further ten batsmen did it twice - including Bill Ponsford, the great Australian opener, who was out this way in successive innings in his last two Tests, in 1934. Mind you, he had scored 181 and 266, so he probably wasn't too upset.
Who is the oldest player to score a Test century? asked Glenn Rogers from the Netherlands
The oldest batsman to reach 100 in a Test is Jack Hobbs, who was 46 years 82 days old when he made the last of his 15 Test centuries, against Australia in Melbourne in 1928-29. Patsy Hendren, a frequent team-mate of Hobbs, was 45 when he made 132 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1934. Shivnarine Chanderpaul recently became the 18th 40-year-old to score a Test century: he was 31 days past the landmark birthday when he made 101 not out against Bangladesh in St Lucia earlier this month. For the full list, click here.
Who has taken the most wickets and scored most runs from Associate teams? asked Ali from the United States
At the top of the table of leading run scorers in one-day internationals from non-Test teams is Kenya's Steve Tikolo, who made 3428 at an average just under 30. Next comes his Kenyan team-mate Thomas Odoyo (2420), before a couple of Irishmen - William Porterfield (2122) and Kevin O'Brien (2114). Kenya's Collins Obuya (2044) and his brother Kennedy Otieno (2016) also have more than 2000 runs. Turning to the bowlers, Odoyo is the only one from an Associate country to have taken more than 100 ODI wickets - he currently has 145. Tikolo comes next with 94, ahead of three more Kenyans: Peter Ongondo (78), Nehemiah Odhiambo (70) and Hiren Varaiya (68). Then come the Irish pair of Trent Johnston (66) and Kevin O'Brien (64). Just to complete the statistical set, the Associate wicketkeeper with most ODI dismissals is Ashish Bagai of Canada, with 67, ahead of Kenya's Kennedy Otieno (54) and Maurice Ouma (53).

Steven Lynch is the editor of the Wisden Guide to International Cricket 2014. Ask Steven is now on Facebook