And which Test captain was married on the same day as his twin sister, but on a different continent?
Steven Lynch20-Aug-2024Shamar Joseph took a five-for in the second Test at Providence. What are the best bowling figures by a Guyanese bowler in a Test in Guyana? asked Ravindra Persaud from Jamaica
Shamar Joseph collected 5 for 33 in the first innings of the second Test against South Africa in Providence last week. Joseph, who comes from the remote village of Baracara in the west, is only the second Guyanese bowler to take a Test five-for in the country, after the great offspinner Lance Gibbs, who did it three times, at the Bourda ground in Georgetown: 6 for 29 against Australia in 1964-65, 6 for 60 vs England in 1967-68, and 5 for 80 vs Pakistan in 1957-58.There have also been 13 five-fors by visiting bowlers: the best figures of all were the Australian captain Ian Johnson’s 7 for 44 at Bourda in 1955. For the full list of the best innings figures in Tests in Guyana, click here.Which Test captain was married on the same day as his twin sister, but on a different continent? asked Bryan Marriott from Trinidad
Your location was useful here, as the answer is Trinidad’s Jackie Grant, a member of the family who owned the Geddes Grant trading company. After studying at Cambridge University, Grant captained West Indies in all his 12 Tests in the 1930s before devoting himself to teaching and missionary work around the world. His brother, Rolph Grant, succeeded him as West Indies’ captain.Jackie Grant married Ida Russell in Southern Rhodesia in 1932, on the same day as his sister tied the knot halfway round the world in Canada. The 1980 book Jack Grant’s Story gives the details: “We fixed our wedding date for 9th May, 1932 – my birthday. It so happened that my twin, Jill, had also planned to be married in May. When she learned that I had chosen 9th May, she decided that her wedding would also be on the 9th. Thus Jack and Jill were married on the same day – Jack in Bulawayo and Jill in Toronto.”Is Tharaka Kottehewa the only man to take two hat-tricks in the same innings in a List A match? asked Nirmal Mendis from Sri Lanka
The Nondescripts medium-pacer Tharaka Kottehewa took his two hat-tricks in Ragama’s innings of 92 at the Moors club in Colombo in Sri Lanka’s Premier one-day tournament in December 2007. Kottehewa finished with 8 for 20, still the fourth-best figures in all List A (senior one-day) matches.You’re right in thinking that no one else has taken two hat-tricks in the same List A game. The Australian fast bowler Graham McKenzie took two for Leicestershire in 1972, about six weeks apart, and the Bangladesh seamer Rubel Hossain took two in the space of five matches in 2013-14, one in an ODI against New Zealand in Mirpur. The Sussex fast bowler Billy Taylor also took two in the space of six weeks in 2002.Only four bowlers have taken three List A hat-tricks during their career: Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga (all in ODIs), the Pakistan pair of Saqlain Mushtaq (two in ODIs) and Wasim Akram (two in ODIs in Sharjah in 1989-90), and India’s left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav (two in ODIs, and one for India A).Apart from those mentioned above, ten others have taken two List A hat-tricks: Trent Boult (both in ODIs for New Zealand, in 2018-19 and 2019), Andy Caddick (1996 and 2000-01), Darren Gough (for Yorkshire in 1997 and 1998), Nantie Hayward (for Eastern Province in 1996-97 and 1998-99), another South African fast bowler in Garth Le Roux (1982-83 and 1985), Sri Lanka’s Farveez Maharoof (in an ODI in 2010 and a domestic match in 2015-16), Bangladesh’s Mohammad Sharif (2016 and 2017-18), Graham Napier (for Essex in 2011 and 2013), Gurinder Sandhu (in Australia in 2018-19 and 2021-22), the West Indian fast bowler Jerome Taylor (in a Champions Trophy game in 2006 and a county game in 2017) and Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas (both in ODIs, in 2001-02 and the other in the 2003 World Cup). For the list of List A hat-tricks, click here.Steve Waugh took 244 Test innings to get to 10,000 runs•Getty ImagesWho was the fastest to reach 10,000 runs in Tests? asked Rajendra Krishnan from India
The answer to this depends on how you calculate it. The fastest to 10,000 Test runs in terms of time is England’s Joe Root, who needed only nine years and 171 days to reach five figures. He’s the only one to do it in less than ten years. His long-time England team-mate Alastair Cook is next, at ten years 87 days.Probably a better way to look at this is to consider the number of innings each batter took. Of the 14 men to have made it to 10,000, Root and Cook stand 10th and 11th by that measure. There’s a three-way tie for top spot, as Brian Lara (West Indies), Sachin Tendulkar (India) and Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) all got there in 195 innings, while Australia’s Ricky Ponting took 196. The slowest to 10,000 by that yardstick was another Australian, Steve Waugh (244 innings), while the slowest by time was the West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, at 18 years 37 days. For the list, click here (note that the times shown there are from the day of debut to the start date of the match in which they passed 10,000).Who has scored the most first-class runs without ever playing in a Test match? asked Kevin Richards from Scotland
The answer to this one is, oddly, slightly complicated! The Glamorgan left-hand opener Alan Jones piled up 36,049 runs in a 26-year first-class career – but he never played an official Test match. However, he did play for England against the Rest of the World at Lord’s in June 1970, which was marketed as a Test at the time but was later ruled unofficial. Many years later, Jones was presented with England cap number 696, so features in the official list of England Test players.If you include Jones, then the man with the most runs who remained uncapped is Sussex’s John Langridge, who finished his equally long career in 1955 with 34,378. He did later stand in seven Tests as an umpire. For the list of the batters with the most first-class runs, click here.And there’s an update to last week’s question about bowlers taking caught-and-bowleds with successive deliveries in Tests, from James Tiver in Australia
“The Australian legspinner Jimmy Matthews also had two consecutive caught-and-bowleds, in his second hat-trick against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1912. He got the two hat-tricks all by himself – two bowled, two lbw and two caught and bowled!”You’re right that Matthews’ second hat-trick in the match in the Triangular Tournament included successive caught-and-bowleds – South Africa’s Reggie Schwarz (low to the bowler’s right) then the unfortunate Tommy Ward, who marked his debut by becoming the third victim of both Matthews’ hat-tricks. According to the Manchester Guardian: “Ward played his first ball exactly as Schwarz had done, and cocked it up. The ball, however, was hit so gently that for an instant no-one thought of a catch. Then one saw a nimble little figure flying up the pitch and making a frantic dive with both hands for the ball. Matthews went tumbling over, and it was not until he had flung the ball wildly in the air that the onlookers could believe that he had made the catch.”I’m sorry we missed Matthews last week, but it still means there are only three known instances – and none since 1912 – of caught-and-bowleds off successive balls in Tests before slow left-armer Jomel Warrican did it for West Indies against South Africa in Port-of-Spain earlier this month.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions