Playing for both sides, and Tait's troubles

Is there anyone who has played in an Ashes series for both Australia and England? asked Asad Rafique from the United States

There's only one man who has played for England against Australia and for Australia against England. It was a long time ago: so long, in fact, that it isn't strictly accurate to say that he played on both sides in Ashes series, because the Ashes hadn't quite been thought of when he first played. Billy Midwinter was born in Gloucestershire in 1851, but by the time of the first-ever Test match, at Melbourne in 1876-77, he was playing Down Under and turned out for Australia in that inaugural game. He then returned to England and started playing for Gloucestershire - and, in 1878, was the subject of a bizarre tug-of-war between WG Grace and the touring Australians, as featured in one of our recent Rewind To ... columns. Midwinter played for England in Australia in 1881-82, but by the following season he was back playing for the Aussies. He played 12 Tests in all, eight for Australia and four for England, scoring 269 runs and taking 24 wickets all told. In all there are 14 players who have appeared for two different countries in Tests: the most recent are Kepler Wessels (Australia and South Africa) and John Traicos (South Africa and Zimbabwe). For a full list, click here.

Someone told me that Shaun Tait bowled a 33-ball over in England - is that right? asked Charles Kocsis from Australia

Well, Shaun Tait, who has just become Australia's 392nd Test player, did have a rather gruesome introduction to county cricket when he played for Durham in August 2004, but it wasn't quite as bad as a 33-ball over - I think the longest was one of ten deliveries. In his first match, for Durham against Somerset at Chester-le-Street, Tait had figures of 12-0-113-0, which included 21 no-balls and two wides. Wisden solemnly reported that he "endured a nightmare English debut ... There were early glimpses of his undoubted pace from a slingy action, but his huge delivery stride made him over-step four times in his opening over". And in his next game - which not entirely surprisingly was his last for Durham - his figures were 6-0-63-0, with five no-balls, against Essex at Colchester. He finished with the chastening overall figures of 18-0-176-0 for the season.

I see that Don Bradman once scored 299 not out in a Test - why didn't he make 300? Also Martin Crowe once made 299, how was he dismissed? asked Pat Khan from Australia

Bradman's near-miss came in the fourth Test against South Africa at Adelaide in 1931-32. He was approaching his triple-century, but running out of partners: in an attempt to keep the strike he tried a risky second run, and Australia's No. 11 Hugh "Pud" Thurlow - a fastish bowler from Queensland who was playing in his only Test - was run out by Syd Curnow's return to the wicketkeeper Jock Cameron. The Don was left stranded on 299 not out. Crowe's 299 came for New Zealand against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1990-91, after a huge stand of 467 with Andrew Jones, who made 186. Needing one for his triple-century, Crowe dabbled a catch to the wicketkeeper off the gentle bowling of Arjuna Ranatunga. He later wrote: "I had choked. I didn't concentrate. I forgot to say `Keep still, watch the ball'. Out for 299 - tell me it's not true! Tears streamed down my face as I realised that this opportunity might never happen again." It didn't: Crowe never did make a Test triple-century, and not has any other New Zealander yet.

What is the highest batting average, in Tests and ODIs, that a batsman has managed without scoring a century? asked Ahsen Khalid

Given a minimum of 20 innings, the highest in Tests is 35.29, by Bruce Laird, the Australian opener. He scored 1341 runs in 40 innings, but never exceeded the 92 he made in his first innings, against West Indies at Brisbane in 1979-80. Another Australian, the adhesive 1950s allrounder Ken Mackay, is second with 33.49 (1507 runs), while the South African captain turned innovative administrator Ali Bacher comes next, (679 runs at 32.33) just ahead of the Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel (669 runs at 31.86). In ODIs, also given a minimum of 20 innings, the leader is yet another Australian, Graham Yallop, with 823 runs at 39.19, just ahead of Peter Kirsten of South Africa (1293 runs at 38.03), Graham Thorpe of England (2380 at 37.19), another South African in Jacques Rudolph (36.35), and New Zealand's Andrew Jones (2784 at 35.69).

In Zimbabwe recently Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori scored centuries from No. 7 and 8 in the order - how often has this happened in Tests? asked Richard Darrow from New Zealand

The performance of McCullum and Vettori - who lifted New Zealand from an undistinguished 113 for 5 to 452 in the first Test at Harare - was the 10th time two batsmen had managed to score a century in the same Test innings from No. 7 and below. It happened first at Adelaide in 1907-08, when Roger Hartigan hit 116 on his debut for Australia from No. 8 and Clem Hill, coming in much lower than usual at No. 9 because of flu, made 160. Against England at Melbourne in 1920-21 Australia's "Nip" Pellew scored 116 and Jack Gregory biffed 100 from No. 9, while at Lord's in 1931 Les Ames (137 from No. 7) and Gubby Allen (122 from No. 9) dug England out of trouble against New Zealand. More than 18 years later West Indies' 631 at Delhi included hundreds from Everton Weekes (128 from No. 7) and Robert Christiani (107 from No. 8) as well as earlier ones from Clyde Walcott and Gerry Gomez. It happened twice in 1955: at Bridgetown in May West Indies were rescued against Australia by a massive stand between Denis Atkinson (219 from No. 7) and Clairmonte Depeiaza (122 from No. 8), then at Old Trafford an eventual South African win was set up by John Waite (113 from No. 7) and Paul Winslow (108 from No. 8). It wasn't till 1982-83 that it happened again, when Jeff Dujon made 110 from No. 7 and Clive Lloyd 106 from No. 8 against India in Antigua. And there were two more recent instances before this latest one: in Colombo in 2001-02 Sri Lanka's Hashan Tillakaratne and Thilan Samaraweera both managed unbeaten hundreds from Nos 7 and 8 against India, while at Christchurch earlier this year Simon Katich made 118 against New Zealand from No. 7 (Jason Gillespie had earlier been used as a nightwatchman) and Adam Gilchrist followed that with a rapid 121, with six sixes.

I heard about a Timeless Test that had to end because of a team's ship leaving, was this the longest match of all? asked Dean Burns from Australia

The most famous so-called Timeless Test was the one at Durban in 1938-39, when England - who had been set 696 to win by South Africa - had reached 654 for 5 when rain brought an end to the tenth day of the match, at which point the touring team had to leave for Cape Town to catch the boat home. It meant that the match, which was supposed to be played to a finish, had to be left drawn. It is the longest Test on record, at ten days, although there was no play possible on the ninth day, and there were also two rest days. Something similar had happened at Kingston in 1929-30 - after the eighth day of another "timeless" Test was washed out, the England team had to catch the boat home, and West Indies, who had been set the little matter of 836 to win, escaped with a draw. It was generally agreed that this type of thing was not good for cricket: even Bill Edrich, who scored 219 in the final innings of that Durban marathon, wrote "What all of us felt was that it was an absurdity for any cricket match to go on through ten playing days and two Sundays. There must be a time limit to cricket matches." After that, there was: even in Australia, where all Tests had been played to a finish since the late 1880s, a time limit was introduced.