Snyman's blitz, and Sachin's misses

The regular Tuesday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Last week Gerrie Snyman of Namibia scored 230 out a total of 282. Is this the highest percentage in a first-class innings? asked Paul Brummer from South Africa

That astonishing effort from Gerrie Snyman came in the second innings of last week's Intercontinental Cup match between Namibia and Kenya at Sharjah. Snyman's innings - the next-highest score was 13 - amounted to 81.56% of the total. That percentage has been beaten in a completed innings in first-class cricket only once, by the New Zealander Glenn Turner, who made an unbeaten 141 out of 169, or 83.43% of the total, for Worcestershire against Glamorgan at Swansea in 1977. On that occasion, the next-highest score was 7. The Test record is 67.34%, set by Australia's Charles Bannerman in the very first Test of all, against England at Melbourne in 1876-77, when he made 165 (retired hurt) out of 245.

Other than Brisbane, on which other grounds has Sachin Tendulkar played a Test but not scored a century? asked Isaac Sayal from New Zealand

Sachin Tendulkar has played Tests at 25 different grounds without yet managing a century. He has played four at Lord's so far without yet managing more than 37, and three at Durban (highest score 63), Hamilton (67), Harare (69), Kanpur (61), Lahore (41) and The Oval (82). Perhaps the most surprising statistic is that he played two Tests at the Antigua Recreation Ground, and never even scored a run there - he didn't bat there in the 1996-97 Test, and was out for a duck in 2001-02. For the record, the other grounds he needs to complete his set are Auckland (one match, highest score 5), Bridgetown (two matches, 92), Brisbane (two matches, 16), Bulawayo (one match, 74), the Sector 16 Stadium at Chandigarh (one match, 11), the MA Aziz Stadium at Chittagong (one match, 36), the Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo (one match, 71), Cuttack (one match, 2), Faisalabad (two matches, 59), Georgetown (two matches, 83), Kandy (one match, did not bat), Karachi (two matches, 26), Kingston (two matches, 86), Napier (one match, 88), Port Elizabeth (two matches, 22 not out), Rawalpindi (one match, 1), and Sialkot (one match, 57).

Which Test player was nicknamed the "Governor-General"? asked Terry Beale from Yorkshire

This was the Australian Charlie Macartney, who played 35 Tests between 1907-08 and 1926. He acquired his nickname because of his lordly style of batting: Peter Sharpham, in his 2004 biography Cricket's Governor-General, writes that the name was bestowed by England's Kenneth Hutchings, an opponent in the 1907-08 Ashes series. Macartney is one of only four players to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test. He did this against England at Headingley in 1926, when he was 40 years old. Macartney went in in the first over, after Warren Bardsley was out for a duck, and after being dropped at slip by England's captain, Arthur Carr, later in the same over, had sailed to 112 (of his eventual 151) by lunch. England escaped with a draw, despite being asked to follow on.

I wondered whether there is any instance in a completed Test match where the wicketkeeper was not involved in any of the 40 wickets to have fallen? asked Gaurav Behl from the United States

The answer is no - in none of the Tests in which 40 wickets fell was the wicketkeeper not involved in any of the dismissals. The record is 39 out of 40, in the match between Australia and England in Sydney in 1886-87.

I see that the annual triangular tournament in Australia is being discontinued. When was the first one? asked Ray Trevor from Liverpool

Australia's annual three-way one-day tournament started in 1979-80, after peace was brokered between Establishment cricket and Kerry Packer's breakaway World Series Cricket. In that first season, West Indies beat England in the best-of three- finals, after Australia were eliminated.

Nasir Jamshed was Man of the Match in his first one-day international. How many players have managed this feat? asked Amit Changede from the United States

Nasir Jamshed, who made his debut for Pakistan in the first one-day international of the recent series against Zimbabwe in Karachi, is actually the 40th player to receive the Man of the Match award in his first ODI. The most recent one before him was Ireland's Alex Cusack, against South Africa in Belfast last June. Jamshed is the eighth Pakistani to achieve the feat, following Abdul Qadir, Manzoor Elahi, Zakir Khan, Saleem Elahi (Manzoor's brother), Shadab Kabir, Shahid Anwar and Shahid Nazir. The case of Shadab and Shahid is unusual - on their debut, against England at Trent Bridge in 1996, the adjudicator Tom Graveney gave the match award to the entire Pakistan side. Shadab actually played three ODIs, and made three ducks, facing only five balls in all. One of the earliest to win the match award on debut was Duncan Fletcher, later England's coach, as Zimbabwe beat Australia at Trent Bridge. in the 1983 World Cup.

And now the answer to the question I posed in last week's column:

Nick Statham, who asked a question last week about wicketkeepers who bowled, played twice for Holland in the 2003 World Cup. In the second of those matches, against Pakistan at Paarl, he opened the batting but was out for a duck - the 500th wicket for Wasim Akram in one-day internationals. Many people emailed with the right answer - including Nick Statham himself! - but the first one to land was from Pete Bourke from Australia.