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Ask Steven

What's the highest score by a batsman who also made a duck in the same Test?

Also, was the stand between Ben Stokes and Jack Leach the highest to win any match by one wicket?

Steven Lynch
Steven Lynch
08-Oct-2019
Ricky Ponting held the record for the highest score and a duck in a Test - 242 and 0 - till October 2015, when Shoaib Malik bettered it by 3 runs, making 245 and 0 against England  •  Hamish Blair/Getty Images

Ricky Ponting held the record for the highest score and a duck in a Test - 242 and 0 - till October 2015, when Shoaib Malik bettered it by 3 runs, making 245 and 0 against England  •  Hamish Blair/Getty Images

Who holds the record for the longest innings gap between Test hundreds? asked Krishna Reddy from India
This record is held by the New Zealand wicketkeeper Adam Parore, who had 92 innings - and 57 Tests - between Test centuries. He scored his first one in his 28th innings, in his 16th match - 100 not out against West Indies in Christchurch in 1994-95 - and had to wait till his 121st innings (73rd Test) to score another - 110 against Australia in Perth in 2001-02. These were Parore's only two Test hundreds.
Another wicketkeeper, South Africa's Mark Boucher, scored his fourth Test century in his 95th innings in his 70th Test, and did not score another (his last one) till his 169th innings, in his 120th match.
What's the highest score by a batsman who also made a duck in the same Test? asked Jerry Hayes from England
The current record was set in October 2015, when Shoaib Malik scored 245 and 0 for Pakistan against England in Abu Dhabi. It was previously held by Ricky Ponting, with 242 and 0 against India in Adelaide in 2003-04, in a match Australia lost (Ponting's innings was the highest individual score by someone who ended up on the losing side).
Five other players have made a double-century and a duck in the same Test: Dudley Nourse followed 0 with 231 for South Africa against Australia in Johannesburg in 1935-36; Shakib Al Hasan made 217 and 0 for Bangladesh v New Zealand in Wellington in 2016-17; Imtiaz Ahmed 209 and 0 for Pakistan against New Zealand in Lahore in 1955-56; Viv Richards 208 and 0 for West Indies v Australia in Melbourne in 1984-85; and another West Indian, Seymour Nurse, 201 and 0 against Australia in Bridgetown in 1964-65.
In all there have been 168 instances of a player making a century and a duck in the same Test.
Was the stand between Ben Stokes and Jack Leach the highest to win any match by one wicket? asked Praful Mukherjee from India
That remarkable partnership of 76, which somehow won the third Ashes Test at Headingley in August, would have been a new Test record - if the mark hadn't been broken earlier in 2019. In Durban in February, Kusal Perera (who made 153 not out) and No. 11 Vishwa Fernando (6 not out) put on 78 as Sri Lanka shocked South Africa to win by one wicket.
That stand by Perera and Fernando was actually the biggest tenth-wicket partnership to win any first-class match, beating by one the 77 of Tom Leather and 44-year-old Ron Oxenham for an Australian touring team against Madras in 1935-36. The highest in Tests prior to 2019 was 57, by Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed for Pakistan against Australia in Karachi in 1994-95.
David Miller took his 50th catch in T20Is last month. Is he the first fielder to reach this milestone? asked Tanmay Gupta from South Africa
South Africa's David Miller reached the milestone of 50 catches in the field in T20Is when he caught Hardik Pandya in Bengaluru on September 22 (he's also taken a catch and a stumping while keeping wicket). He's actually the second fielder to reach 50: Shoaib Malik of Pakistan completed his half-century in his most recent match, against South Africa in Centurion in February 2019.
Three women have taken more catches in the field in T20Is: England's Jenny Gunn has 58, while her England team-mate Lydia Greenway and New Zealand's Suzie Bates both have 54.
Who has been out lbw most often in Tests? asked Jim Radcliffe from England
Not entirely surprisingly, the man who had the most Test innings is the one who was lbw most often: Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed leg before wicket in 63 of his 329 Test innings (33 of which were not out). Next on the list is Shivnarine Chanderpaul, with 55, then the Essex and England pair of Alastair Cook (54) and Graham Gooch (50).
Probably a better measurement is the percentage of lbw dismissals. Given a minimum of 25 completed innings, the current Zimbabwean batsman Craig Ervine leads the way here: 11 of his 28 Test dismissals (39.29%) have been lbw. The West Indian wicketkeeper Junior Murray comes next with 39.02% (16 of 41), then Hannan Sarkar (36.36%), Maninder Singh (34.62%), and Bob Woolmer, JP Duminy and Ed Cowan (all 34.38%).
At the other end of the scale, in the "Golden Age" years leading up to the First World War the Australian Joe Darling had 60 Test innings without ever being out lbw, while his contemporary Clem Hill was leg-before just once in his 89 innings.
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Steven Lynch is the editor of the updated edition of Wisden on the Ashes