The slowest to 1000 runs

During his 31-ball innings of 49 that nearly gave India an improbable victory against Australia in the first ODI in Vadodara, Harbhajan Singh went past 1000 one-day international runs in his 196th match. He took the longest to reach the landmark, in terms of games played, beating Shane Warne's mark of 191. Harbhajan's dismissal brought to the crease Ashish Nehra, who ended the game with 90 runs from 83 ODIs. While Nehra is unlikely to beat Glenn McGrath's record to become to slowest to 100 runs, he could overtake Makhaya Ntini, who's in third place, having reached 100 only after 96 games.

Daniel Vettori's taken the most innings to reach a 1000 ODI runs, one more than Chaminda Vaas' 107. Vettori, though, went past 1000 career runs in style, during a match-winning 53 against West Indies at Queenstown in 2002, in his 108th innings. He is unlikely to take as long for his second 1000, having scored 589 runs in his last 42 innings and improving as a batsman with every one.

Muttiah Muralitharan, a 334-ODI veteran, is unlikely to make the table above, unless he has 340 more runs in him, but he is by some distance the slowest to 200 runs: he needed 159 matches and 72 innings to get there with an average of 4.87. He took the longest to reach 500 as well, although his pace improved marginally. Murali scored his 500th run against Australia in February 2008, averaging 5.83 after his 299th ODI.

Glenn McGrath, Australia's legendary No. 11, took 97 matches and 30 innings to score 50 ODI runs, and had the same average - 3.92 - as Allan Donald, who took 91 matches but only 23 innings to get there. It took McGrath another 104 games, however, to double his tally, although the fact that he played only 25 innings during that time is a testament to Australia's batting strength. McGrath took the longest to reach 100 ODI runs, getting there in his 201st game, having played 55 innings at an average of 3.84. He played 49 more matches, batted in 13 of them, and scored 15 more runs.

South Africa fast bowler Charl Langeveldt took the longest to score 10 ODI runs, getting there only in his 44th match (ninth innings). Indian fast bowler Sreesanth scored his first run only in his 16th ODI (fourth innings), beating Patrick Patterson's mark of 14 matches.

Eleven tailenders, from C Rangachari in 1948 to Mohammad Sami in 2002, have scored their first Test run only in their fourth Test, the latest anyone has taken to get off the mark in Tests, but it was the Zimbabwean legspinner Adam Huckle who played the most innings before scoring his first run. Huckle made a succession of unbeaten zeroes and ducks before cracking 19 against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in 1998.

New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin's reputation as a No. 11 has surpassed even that of McGrath. Martin's played 50 Tests to date, scored 82 runs at an average of 2.34, and been dismissed for 25 ducks. He was the slowest batsman to 50 Test runs, getting there with an average of 2.26 in his 33rd Test after 44 innings, which included 17 ducks.

Martin never made it to 100 Test runs, though, and that's where McGrath takes over. He took the longest to get to the 100-run landmark, reaching it in his 32nd Test with an average of 4.08. McGrath, however, achieved it in three fewer innings than Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.

Under the tutelage of Steve Waugh, though, McGrath improved slowly but steadily. He was the slowest to get to 200 as well, but the second 100 came in only 20 innings and included his career best of 39. McGrath surpassed the 500-run mark in his 102th Test, having played 115 innings. His last 300 runs had taken him only 59 innings, whereas his first 100 had taken him 36. He even had a new high score - 61 against New Zealand in Brisbane in 2004 - and by the end of his career he was an adept blocker with an average of 7.36.

McGrath finished with 641 Test runs and so it's Muralitharan who's taken the longest to get to the 1000 landmark. Murali got there in his 95th game (121st innings) and had an average of 13.11 at the time. Waqar Younis is the only other player to take more than 100 innings to reach the 1000-run milestone.

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