Also: how many times has a player opened both the batting and bowling in the same match?
Steven Lynch02-Oct-2018Was Liton Das’ 121 in the Asia Cup final Bangladesh’s highest score against India? asked Mehrab Ashraf from Bangladesh
That superb innings by Liton Das in the Asia Cup final in Dubai last week was indeed Bangladesh’s highest score against India in one-day internationals, beating Mushfiqur Rahim’s 117 in the Asia Cup in Fatullah in 2013-14. Bangladesh’s only other ODI century against India was Alok Kapali’s 115 in Karachi in 2008, again during an Asia Cup tournament.There have been four bigger scores for Bangladesh in Tests against India, the highest being Mohammad Ashraful’s unbeaten 158 in Chittagong in 2004-05.Marcus Trescothick took a hat-trick of catches in Somerset’s last Championship match. Was this unique? asked Chris de Kock from England
Marcus Trescothick’s three catches – all of them at second slip – came off successive deliveries as Somerset neared victory over Nottinghamshire in their final Championship match of the season, at Trent Bridge last week.It was only the third time a fielder is known to have taken three catches off consecutive balls in a first-class match. The first instance was in 1914, when George Thompson of Northamptonshire clasped three in a row (one at short leg, the next two at slip) off the left-arm spin of his captain Sydney Smith against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. It happened again in South Africa in 1946-47, when Border’s Cyril White held three catches in a row at forward short leg off left-arm seamer Ray Beesly against Griqualand West in Queenstown.Mehidy Hasan opened the batting and bowling for Bangladesh in the Asia Cup final. How many times has this happened? asked Pranav Thiagarajan from India
This particular double is not terribly unusual in one-day internationals – it’s happened no fewer than 171 times in total now, by 45 different players. But Mehidy Hasan was the first to do it for Bangladesh, in the Asia Cup final in Dubai last week.The man who did it most frequently was the combative Indian allrounder Manoj Prabhakar with 45 – almost twice as often as the next on the list, Neil Johnson of Zimbabwe, who managed it 25 times. Mohammad Hafeez has so far done it 13 times for Pakistan, while Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka did it 13 times, and Darron Reekers of the Netherlands 12. We should perhaps give a special mention to Frasat Ali, who opened the batting and bowling in every one of East Africa’s official one-day internationals – all three of them, during the inaugural World Cup in 1975.Manoj Prabhakar has opened batting and bowling in the same match no less than 45 times•Getty ImagesSurrey very nearly beat Essex the other day despite conceding a first-innings lead of 410. Would that have been a record if they’d won? asked Jeremy Hamilton from England
If Surrey had capped that remarkable comeback against Essex at The Oval with victory – perhaps if Ryan Patel had stood a little closer in to Morne Morkel’s last delivery to Matt Quinn? – then they would have established a new first-class record. As they didn’t, the record remains 402, by Central Districts (62 for 2 declared and 429 for 8) against Northern Districts (464 and 26 for 0 declared) in Lincoln in 2006-07, although that victory owed much to a couple of declarations after the second day’s play was lost to rain. The record for a match without such contrivance is 384, by Barbados (175 and 726 for 7 declared) in beating Trinidad (559 and 217) in Bridgetown in 1926-27.Who didn’t bowl in his first four matches but took a hat-trick in his fifth? asked Nicholas Ward from South Africa
The man who pulled off this unlikely feat was the South African Ralph “Ricey” Phillips in his debut season of 1939-40 for Border, who seem to specialise in unusual hat-tricks (see the second question above). Phillips was chosen for his batting, and made a consistent start to his career, never failing to pass 20 in seven innings across his first four matches. But he wasn’t asked to bowl. Finally, in his fifth game – the last of the Currie Cup season – against Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth, Border’s captain Stan White decided to give Phillips’ legbreaks a try – and he responded by taking a hat-trick in his very first over in first-class cricket, finishing with 5 for 38. His unusual nickname apparently stemmed from a childhood fondness for rice pudding.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions
