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Who are the Fastest-Scoring (and Most Tenacious) Batsmen in Test Cricket? Click Here.

 

 

Longer articles by Charles Davis Click Here

 

 

A list of “Unusual Dismissals” in Test matches

 

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 2025 and Earlier Entries

 

A Bonus Page:

some remarkable first-class innings, re-scored.

 

Link to Travels

 

The Davis Test Match Database Online.

 

Detailed scores for all Tests from 1877 to the 2010s have now been posted. More than three-quarters of Tests include ball-by-ball coverage; virtually all others offer some degree of extended detail, beyond anything previously made available online. 

The starting page is here. An information page outlining this database is here.

Major Test Partnerships (200+) 1877 to 1970.          Major Test Partnerships (200+) 1971 to 1999. 

 

 

Only one Test has seen five instances of bowlers taking five or more wickets in an innings: Sheffield 1902. Barnes 6/49, Saunders 5/50, Noble 5/51 and 6/52, Rhodes 5/63.

in the Lord’s Test Eng v NZ there were four instances of five-fers, spread across four different innings by four different bowlers. There have been only eleven other Tests where this specific combination has occurred, including Sheffield 1902.

14 June 2026


The First Test of 1899

Sreeram has alerted me to an X post that identifies a previously unknown ball-by-ball account of the Nottingham (first) Test of 1899, as published in the Nottingham Journal. I don’t know who exactly found this source or made the post.

 

This is one of many Tests of the 1890s that had been missing from the bbb database, as no full scorebook for this match is known. A tour scorebook from the 1899 tour exists in Australia, but it is a re-copy that lacks any detail in the bowling section of the matches.

I downloaded the relevant articles and have now re-scored the whole match. The re-score was not without difficulty, as there were some apparent errors in the reports, and a few overs appeared to be missing entirely. However, the reports did specify the scores at every change of bowling (almost) and this was a significant help.

A snip from the first day report is shown…

 

 

 

from Nottingham Journal, 2 June 1899

 

The text that I have included in the snip is of some historical interest. The earliest known moving pictures of a Test in England are from this Test, and it appears that this article made reference to those films, although the technology was so “novel” that it uses the term “animated pictures”. I wonder if the players actually saw the films.

The match itself was a slow draw and not of great statistical interest, although it is notable how slow the scoring could be in the ‘Golden Age’. Joe Darling made a hit for six off FS Jackson; previously thought to be the first hit out of the ground in England, it is now identified as including overthrows. The first known out-of-ground hit for six runs in a Test in England now falls to Warwick Armstrong at Trent Bridge in 1905.

 

Historically, the match is of some importance, being the last Test for WG Grace and the first for Victor Trumper and Wilf Rhodes.

 

The relevant web pages for the series have been updated. Found here.

 

********

 

A Brief History of the Reverse Sweep

 

An apparent reference has surfaced describing early examples of reverse sweeps in 1906, found in a book about England’s tours to South Africa by Odenhaal and Barry (2023). The shots are credited to E.G. ‘Teddy’ Wynyard (Boer War veteran and Army Captain) in the first Test of the 1905-06 series. The Johannesburg Star is given as the source. I also happen to have a copy of the Natal Mercury for that Test and indeed there is mention of Wynyard playing a shot “left-handed”. This seems like pretty good confirmation, although it is not absolutely clear if the shot was a reverse sweep or a switch hit. I’ll go with the former for now.

 

There are sporadic references to possible reverse sweeps going back as far as 1870, but the 1906 case is the earliest reference that I have seen in a Test match. It appears that the shot was invented and reinvented multiple times long ago, but for decades never caught on. The name “reverse sweep” only emerged in the 1970s; this makes identifying earlier example tricky.

 

Some early mentions of (apparent) reverse sweeps in Tests:

-         EG Wynyard at Wanderers 1906 as described.

-         Percy Fender Manchester 1921.

-         Mushtaq Mohammad. Mushtaq appears to be the first batter to use the shot on a semi-regular basis, from 1964 onwards. There is a definite reference to the shot in the Dunedin Test of 1972-73, during Mushtaq’s 201.

-         Viv Richards 1974-75 (Mumbai).

-         Although there are claims that Greg Chappell never used the shot, there is mention of a ‘back-handed sweep’ by Chappell at Auckland in 1977.

A Birmingham Post article in June 1975 referred to Mushtaq’s “famous reverse sweep”. This is the earliest reference to the actual term that I have seen. The term also turned up in reference to Derek Randall in 1977 (not in a Test); most occurrences of the term in English papers in the early 80s refer to Ian Botham or Mike Gatting. The Times of India mentions a reverse sweep by Botham in the World Cup in 1983. I did not find the term in the Sydney Morning Herald or The Age before 1985.

 

I am indebted to Sreeram once again for some of this information.

 

 

********

 

 


Who bowled the first ball in an ODI World Cup (men’s)? This has been a tricky little question because four matches started ‘simultaneously’ on the first day of the tournament in 1975. However, Sreeram has found a report in the Birmingham Post that says that the Lord’s clock at the time was running about three minutes fast. If so, the first ball probably belongs to the match at Lord’s, where the first ball was bowled by Madan Lal.

 

********

 

 I have updated a list of Most consecutive balls faced without scoring, extending it down to 50 balls. Most of this data is from the ball-by-ball database. There are probably other cases where bbb data is not available. There is also some uncertainty over cases drawn from non-bbb data, but which probably belong on the list.

 

 

**********

 

 

 

 

30 May 2026


Left/Right Preferences

Following up a question, I took a look at individual bowlers and their performances against left-hand and right-handed batsmen. This requires ball-by-ball records to produce the most useful results.

 

Most bowlers do better against RH than against LH. Note that LH bats have a better overall average than RH bats; a major factor is that far more tailenders bat RH than LH.

The exceptions include

 

Wkts

Bowl Avge

Wkts R

Wkts L

Avge R

Avge L

Left minus Right

MDK Perera

161

35.9

68

93

52.3

23.7

-28.5

GP Swann

255

30.0

134

121

37.2

21.9

-15.3

KR Miller

170

23.0

110

18

23.8

13.1

-10.7

R Ashwin

537

24.0

234

240

32.4

22.0

-10.4

NM Lyon

567

30.2

309

173

39.0

28.8

-10.2

DK Morrison

160

34.7

82

30

36.8

29.3

-7.5

MM Ali

204

37.3

125

70

41.1

35.1

-6.1

TA Boult

317

27.5

181

136

29.0

24.6

-4.4

AV Bedser

236

24.9

172

46

26.0

21.7

-4.3

Z Khan

311

32.9

177

134

33.3

29.4

-3.9


Conditions: Minimum 150 career wickets, >60% career coverage ball-by-ball, careers since about 1950.

Figures are drawn from bbb Tests only. I have checked the Perera figures but I can’t explain them. His wickets total is a slightly limited sample size.

The bowlers who prefer bowling to RH bats include

 

Wkts

Bowl Avge

Wkts R

Wkts L

Avge R

Avge L

Left minus Right

MS Panesar

167

34.7

135

32

30.0

54.5

+24.5

SJ Harmison

226

31.8

167

59

25.3

46.3

+21.0

Abdul Qadir

236

32.8

141

26

28.6

49.0

+20.5

Shoaib Akhtar

178

25.7

135

43

20.0

37.7

+17.7

TM Alderman

170

27.2

137

30

21.9

38.8

+16.9

JR Thomson

200

28.0

168

31

25.1

41.1

+16.1

Mushtaq Ahmed

185

33.0

130

44

28.3

43.8

+15.5

DL Underwood

297

25.8

255

42

23.6

39.1

+15.5

Saqlain Mushtaq

208

29.8

141

52

24.5

39.0

+14.4

ST Gabriel

166

32.2

120

44

26.9

41.0

+14.1

JH Kallis

292

32.7

199

93

27.5

41.1

+13.6

CR Woakes

192

29.6

96

34

39.4

53.0

+13.6

MA Holding

249

23.7

140

35

20.5

34.0

+13.5

FJ Titmus

153

32.2

124

29

29.7

42.9

+13.2


********

 

Benedict asked me about the players who were ‘involved’ in the most balls in Test matches. Taking this to mean the sum of balls faced and balls bowled, this was an easy list to make. Strictly speaking one could include balls as non-striker and number of balls fielded – that would make it much more difficult, probably impossible.

 

The stat favours bowlers, because in a typical Test innings the balls faced are shared among eleven bats, but only five or six bowlers.

 

Not many current bowlers on this list.

 

Tests

BF

BB

Total

JH Kallis

166

28,904

20,232

49,136

A Kumble

132

6,464

40,856

47,320

SK Warne

145

5,463

40,704

46,167

M Muralitharan

133

1,792

44,039

45,831

JM Anderson

188

3,432

40,037

43,469

SCJ Broad

167

5,607

33,698

39,305

NM Lyon

141

3,278

34,832

38,110

GStA Sobers

93

~15,300

21,599

36,901

DL Vettori

113

7,787

28,814

36,601

N Kapil Dev

131

~6,400

27,740

34,175

SR Tendulkar

200

29,508

4,240

33,748

R Ashwin

106

6,423

27,246

33,669

 

 

Only five players have faced more than 10,000 balls and also bowled 10,000 balls in Tests.

 

Tests

BF

BB

Total

JH Kallis

166

28,904

20,232

49,136

GStA Sobers

93

~15,300

21,599

36,901

BA Stokes

120

12,348

13,767

26,115

CL Hooper

102

11,467

13,794

25,261

RJ Shastri

80

~10,200

15,751

25,752

 

********

 

 

 



 

After his first innings at Nottingham 1947, Bruce Mitchell waited about 520 overs before he batted again. The exact number is not known but 520 can be reasonably be estimated. Kanhai at Bridgetown 1958 was probably a little under 500 overs. (UPDATE: 520.2 overs for Mitchell, exact number)

https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/1940s/1947ES/1947ES1.pdf

 

https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/1950s/1957WP/1957WP1.pdf

 

 

*******

 

Here is a posting (elsewhere) by Sreeram. I hope he doesn’t mind me copying it.

 

“There is an often repeated statement that Madan Lal bowled the first ball of the world cup. The problem with this is that there were four matches on that day and the first ball could have been in any of them…

 

“[However, there is a] news report that the Lord's clock on this day was three minutes fast. Does not necessarily prove anything but may slightly enhance the Madan Lal claim to being the first…

“… the next paragraph says (after talking about Amiss missing his hundred because of the early lunch) : "Those who go in for clock watching at that time of the morning might have noticed that the game started early so presumably Amiss had the full two hours"

(I can add a comment that “The Frindall score gives the first session times as 11:00 to 1:00, but I guess that he would have been going on the ground clock that the umpire's used.”)

Overall, this represents a strong case that Madan Lal bowled the first ball in World Cup matches.

 

********

24 April 2026


Appealing Statistics

I recently updated my ‘appeals’ file, which I have been keeping for a quarter-century now, where I identify as many balls as possible that contained an appeal by the bowling team (Tests only). To do this, the Cricinfo texts were searched for mention of appeals, ‘shouts’ or the many euphemisms that commentators use. It is remarkable how many different terms crop up. They include…

… beg, bellow, beseech, enquire, implore, plead, polite enquiry, roar, scream, screech, squawk, squeal, whisper, yell, and yelp.

 

Overall (since 2000) about one-third of appeals result in a wicket, including those that go through review. (This assumes also that all batsmen out lbw, caught behind or caught at short leg, have been subjected to an appeal.) There has been a slight trend in the success rate of appeals. From 2001 to 2005, about 31 per cent were successful, while from 2021 to 2025, the figure has risen to 35 per cent. There has been a parallel decline in the number of appeals per Test, from around 46 per Test in the early years of the century, to around 41 in this decade. The reasons for this are not clear to me: there was not step change around 2009 (introduction of DRS) but there was such a change around 2020.

A general decline in spin bowling may be a factor, since spinners tend to make more unsuccessful appeals than pace bowlers. (28 per cent success for spinners v 37 per cent for pace).

There are national differences in success rate for appeals.

 

Appeal Success Rates by Team 2000-2025

South Africa

38%

Australia

37%

West Indies

34%

New Zealand

34%

Zimbabwe

33%

England

31%

Sri Lanka

30%

India

30%

Bangladesh

29%

Pakistan

29%

 

 

Here are the Top 10 ‘most appealing’ bowlers, since 2000. Note that Murali leads even though one-third of his career is missing from the data.

Bowler

Appeals

% OUT

M Muralitharan

1096

28%

JM Anderson

929

35%

SCJ Broad

882

31%

NM Lyon

862

29%

A Kumble

801

24%

R Ashwin

742

34%

Harbhajan Singh

748

28%

HMRKB Herath

713

32%

Danish Kaneria

619

21%

Z Khan

573

27%

 

The most successful bowlers, when it comes to appeals, are all pace bowlers. (Note once again that only about half of McGrath’s career is represented).

Bowler

Appeals

% OUT

GD McGrath

325

50%

DW Steyn

384

48%

MG Johnson

312

46%

K Rabada

322

46%

JN Gillespie

257

44%

B Lee

318

43%

MA Starc

419

40%

PM Siddle

256

40%

Minimum 250 appeals

 

The pace bowler with the lowest success rate was Zaheer Khan on 27 per cent.

 

At the other end of the scale there are only spinners. Anyone who saw the excitable Monty Panesar in action won’t be surprised at this list.

 

Lowest Appeal Success Rate

Bowler

Appeals

% OUT

MS Panesar

406

18%

Saqlain Mushtaq

278

19%

AF Giles

359

19%

Danish Kaneria

619

21%

A Kumble

801

24%

RA Jadeja

540

25%

Saeed Ajmal

392

25%

MM Ali

322

26%

 

The spin bowler with the highest success rate is Shakib al Hasan on 37 per cent. Interesting in light of Bangladesh’s low success rate of 29 per cent.

 

********

 

 

 


Happening now but little noticed is a collapse in the number of Test matches being scheduled. We are currently in a 151-day hiatus between Tests, the longest since the early days of South Africa’s exclusion from Test cricket in the early 1970s. Those 1970s gaps were mitigated by substitute’ World XI matches scheduled to replace cancelled South Africa tours. To get a real gap between internationals greater than 150 days, we must look back to World War II.

There appear to be only 18 Tests scheduled to be played in the whole of 2026. This is down from 42 in 2025 and 53 in 2024. The record is 55 in 2001. New Zealand played only 5 Tests in 2025, Pakistan 5 and Sri Lanka 4.

Test cricket is approaching a crossroads. Can the number of Tests recover, and to what extent? From an Australian perspective it is all very strange. There were record crowds at Adelaide and Sydney last season, and Melbourne would have been a record too if the match had gone 5 days. At the other extreme, the response of South Africa to winning the World Test Championship was to take more than year off without a Test match.

********

 

I have bought a book “Test Cricket Cavalcade 1877-1947” by E.L. Roberts (2nd edition 1948). The book claims to be the first compilation of the complete ‘canon’ of Test matches, and I have no reason to doubt this. The first edition in 1947 had omitted the Test in New Zealand in 1946, but this had been granted Test status by 1948.

The list of Tests up to 1948 is identical to that accepted today. Unfortunately the book does not state the basis or authority for ruling particular matches in or out of official Test status.

The basis for the canon seems to have emerged gradually. In it there are matches that were not regarded as Tests at the time, and the list excludes others that were called Tests (e.g. M.C.C. in New Zealand 1922-23 if I recall). While it is quite messy, there is now little point in making changes. I would, however, append ‘asterisks’ to any records set in dubious matches such as 19th Century ‘Tests’ in South Africa.

 

********

 

22 March 2026


Dropped Catches Report 2025

I have completed an annual search for missed chances in Test matches. The search has used the same technique on the Cricinfo texts since 2002 (and some Tests earlier), flagging balls that have all manner of synonyms and euphemisms for dropped catches, followed by individual checking of all ‘hits’. My favourite description this year was of a fielder who “shells an absolute soda”. (It would be much simpler if the commentators would simply use the word “Dropped” whenever it happens.)

Overall there were 272 missed chances (including stumpings) found in 40 Tests ending Jan-2025. New Year’s Tests are included in the previous year. There was an uptick in the incidence of missed chances in 2025, reaching 25.6%, up from 23.6% a year earlier. Does this represent a trend? Too early to say.

 

For 2025, Australia performed best, after a couple of years trailing South Africa and New Zealand. Overall the top 3 or 4 teams performed at about the same level in 2025 as in the decade overall. There was, however, a decided slide in performance by other teams. India had a bad year, but not as bad as Sri Lanka which at 40% dropped was at an all-time low in terms of catching success. Note, however, that Sri Lanka played only four Tests in the year, so the sample size was marginal.

 

Missed Chances 2025, by Team

2025

2021-24 average

Australia

18%

24%

South Africa

20%

20%

New Zealand

22%

22%

Zimbabwe

24%

29%

England

27%

22%

West Indies

27%

22%

Pakistan

28%

26%

India

30%

23%

Bangladesh

33%

27%

Sri Lanka

40%

25%

 

Zimbabwe, who actually played nine Tests in this set, had one of their best years by this measure. Ireland and Afghanistan don’t play a lot of Tests, but overall their drop rates have been 27% and 29% respectively.

 

On an individual basis, there has not been a lot of change in the records. Nathan Lyon, now with 139 missed chances off his bowling, has passed Jimmy Anderson (136) for second place in this century, after Stuart Broad on 144. Judging by the way Lyon was treated in the Ashes series, it is uncertain if he will get many more opportunities.

 

In an interesting development, I was able to obtain a detailed list of more than four thousand dropped chances from the CricViz database. This data goes back to 2008, although the early years are very patchy.

 

CricViz details 253 dropped catches for 2025, while I found 268 (not including stumpings) in the same set of Tests. While this is an encouraging correlation, it is also a reminder that there is a subset of missed chances that can be a matter of opinion. Most of the excess in my data were ‘fingertip’ or half-chances. Looking at specific disagreements, I also found cases of drops in the CricViz data that were absent from mine, being specifically described as falling short of the fielder in Cricinfo and Cricbuzz, which also does detailed text descriptions.

 

I was relieved to find that CricViz reported no drops at all in the Multan Test between Pakistan and West Indies in January 2025, which had 19 catches. Relieved because this confirmed by own finding (after much searching and head-scratching).

 

The only other Tests for which I have found no missed chances (excluding a couple of washed out or abandoned matches) are South Africa v Zimbabwe Cape Town 2005 (17 catches) and England v New Zealand Lord’s 2022 (22 catches).

 

 

********

 

Here’s another very early Test record that has stood the test of time…

 

Longest careers as Test Wicketkeeper

Years

JM Blackham

17.8

(1877-1894)

DL Murray

17.2

(1963-1980)

H Strudwick

16.6

(1910-1926)

Wasim Bari

16.4

(1967-1984)

WAS Oldfield

16.2

(1920-1937)

 

Qualification: kept wickets in their first and last Test matches.

 

********

 

 

 

Travis Head made the highest score of the match in four out of the five recent Ashes Tests: 123 at Perth, 170 at Adelaide, 46 at Melbourne and 163 at Sydney. The only other similar case is Don Bradman in 1930 (when he set the one-series all-time record of 974 runs).

 

Curiously (and technically), Head only top scored three times in the series. His 123 was in an innings where only four batsmen batted, and normally everyone has to bat in an innings for a player to get a top score credit. But the ‘top score of match’ stat still applies.

In three-Test series, John Edrich (v New Zealand 1969), Virat Kohli (v Sri Lanka 2017) and Harry Brook (v Pakistan 2022) have made the highest score of the match in all three Tests.



********

 

 

 

 

 

27 February 2026


A bit more data on the fast men

A few years ago I started gathering, from the Cricinfo bbb texts, as much data as I could on bowling speeds in Test matches. For some reason I did not do much with this, but now I have updated the compilation and come up with some averages.

The deployment of speed guns to measure bowling speeds dates to Tests in England in 1998. Cricinfo started mentioning speeds in the texts in 1999. Since then I have compiled speeds for about 60,000 balls. This sounds like a lot; however, it represents less than three per cent of the balls bowled. (Recent Tests are better represented while for earlier Tests the data is quite patchy).


So this is just a sampling of bowlers’ speeds. The question of to what degree these are random samples cannot be fully answered – I will just proceed under the assumption of usefulness.

 

The beauty of having such a long record is that it offers data on all important bowlers in this century. This includes Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan, for whom I have readings on 135 balls spread over 18 Test matches spanning eight years (1999-2007). This is a small sample, but I would argue that it seems enough for a reasonable average. By contrast, I have 3772 balls Mitchell Starc.

Anyway, here is some data. I have chosen a median speed rather than an average, because I think that this would better represent the bowler’s stock ball; a straight average would be more distorted by deliberate slower balls.



Fastest Bowlers 1999-2025

Median kph

Count

150+

Fastest

Average

Shoaib Akhtar

145.6

135

42

160

143.9

B Lee

144

282

38

157.4

142.8

Nahid Rana

144

227

7

150.9

143.8

MG Johnson

143.7

604

17

152.5

142.6

MA Wood

143.3

1545

84

156.17

143.4

AA Nortje

143.2

499

25

155

143.3

MA Starc

142

3772

52

160.4

141.8

VR Aaron

142

76

0

149

141.6

FH Edwards

142

82

4

151

141.1

SE Bond

142

66

1

151

140.5

Minimum 50 balls measured

 

While you could say that the detail is debatable, it seems to be a satisfying list, agreeing broadly with reputation. I know little about Nahid Rana, who has played little outside the subcontinent, but all reports are that he is very fast and the fastest bowler ever produced by Bangladesh. We will see if he is able to sustain his speed.

Here is the frequency of bowlers at each speed range…

Median speed

Number of bowlers

145+

1

144-144.9

2

143-143.9

3

142-142.9

4

141-141.9

5

140-140.9

8

 

I mentioned that a minimum of 50 measured balls was applied. There is one interesting case that did not qualify. Shaun Tait only has eight measured balls in the data, but his median is 149 with three balls over 150 kph. I remember that Tait continued to regularly register over 150 in T20 matches after being discarded from Tests.

 

I did another check on Shoaib by extracting 130 records of bowling speed from the ODI ball-by-ball records. This produced a median of 147.1 kph and an average of 146.4. The maximum was 161.3, which has been cited elsewhere as a record. (I deleted a ball called at 166 kph, presumably a typo, since the text described it as a slower ball.) Tait’s median in ODIs, based on a larger sample of 266 balls, was 146.5 kph.

When sample sizes are larger, some career patterns can be discerned. In the first half of his career (up to 2019), Mitchell Starc’s average speed was 142.8 kph, declining a little to 141.0 kph in the second half. Still very pacy.

 

There is another, much more detailed, source for bowling speeds. The Cricviz database, has been recording most balls in recent years, more than just a sampling. However, it has very little before 2008, and only one Test involving Shoaib Akhtar, his last. I only have limited access to this, but I have obtained the following comparisons.

 

Cricinfo

Cricviz Database

Player

Avge kph

Mat

Ave kph

Max kph

Min kph

Shoaib Akhtar

143.9

1

141.47

150.33

104.14

B Lee

142.8

25

140.1

165.81

47.81

MA Starc

141.8

72

141.38

169.96

50.16

MA Wood

143.4

33

140.89

161.61

89.36

Nahid Rana

143.8

9

141.34

151.96

84.35

 

There would appear to be some checking required in the Cricviz data. The range for Starc, 50 to 170 kph, is quite improbable; Lee likewise. I believe that Starc was once measured at 176 kph but that the figure was rejected for unspecified reasons. It highlights a problem with the speed guns: once a speed is measured it is not really possible to go back and confirm the figure. It can be hard to distinguish between real numbers and technical glitches. If only one ball in a thousand is a glitch, eventually most extreme speed measurements will be glitches.

 

********

 

While on the subject of bowling speeds, Bryan French has kindly sent me an article about the bowling speed of the fast bowlers in the Perth Test of 1975, which recorded some extreme speeds by Jeff Thomson. It looks reasonably rigorous to me. Contrary to some claims (that speeds were measured at the batting end or the full length of the pitch), the speeds were measured out of the hand, just as the speed guns do.

 

One thing I like about this data is that the speeds could, in principle, be checked after the fact by re-examining the films, which were made by high-speed cameras (with calibration). This is not possible with the speed guns.

 

 

1975 Speed Measurements

fastest kph

mph

JR Thomson

160.5

99.7

AME Roberts

150.7

93.62

M Holding

148.6

92.3

DK Lillee

139.1

86.39

K Boyce

137.2

85.24

G Gilmour

134.0

83.25

Recorded in the Perth Test of 1975-76

 

Remember that these ‘fastest’ speeds were based on very small sample sizes.

 

Some features:

·        Only six balls by Thomson were assessed; two of them were over 99mph!

·        The numbers refer to the fastest balls recorded, not averages.

·        There a clear gap between Thomson and the other fast bowlers.

·        Lillee and Thomson were clobbered by Fredericks and Lloyd in that match.

·        I don’t think that Lillee was at his fastest that day even though he broke Kallicharran’s nose. This is supported by preliminary testing of the equipment in another match where Lillee was about 5 kph faster.

·        Holding was playing one of his first Tests. Reportedly, he would bowl faster in coming years.

·        I remember this Test well, and Roberts (7/54) was very fast in the second innings!

·        Speed were also measured at the batsman’s end. The ball slowed down by 10-15 kph by the time it reached the batsman.

 

https://www.sportstats.com.au/articles/1975bowlingspeedtest.pdf

 

Ultimately, it should be emphasised that sheer speed is not the be all of pace bowling, even though here are some great bowlers among the all-time fastest. The pace bowlers with the most wickets, Anderson and Broad, are not among the fastest 50 in my list, while Glenn McGrath would probably not be in the fastest 100 (there is not really enough data for him, however). Only one out of 27 balls over 155 kph in my data took a wicket.

 

 



 

 

 

 

About 150 bowlers have taken a wicket in their first over of Test cricket, but only Tareq Aziz of Bangladesh has managed to effect a run out. He did so at Gros Islet in 2004. Other bowlers have seen a run out in their first over (JC Watkins, MA Hanley, SMSM Senanayake) but they did not receive a run out credit. Aziz did not actually take a wicket in said over, and only took one wicket in his career, for 261 runs.

 

Four bowlers have taken a catch in their first over bowling in Test cricket (i.e., a caught & bowled):

AEE Vogler

JA Rudolph

JS Patel

WW Hinds


********


 

13 February 2026

 

The recent sale ($A460,000) of a Baggy Green cap worn by Don Bradman in 1947-48 was the second sale of a cap from that season in the past two years. Turns out that Bradman was issued with two caps and gave both away to members of the touring Indian team of that season. Both are now returning to Australia.

 

It got me looking into the Baggy Green and making some notes …

 

Australia adopted green caps in 1899. However, the early caps not “baggy” but were tight-fitting (skull caps) with minimal peaks.

 

There was a coat of arms on the caps, which is still used today. Curiously, this is not the coat of arms of Australia (as adopted at Federation in 1901), but an earlier version.

 

In 1921, the Australian touring team was issued caps with a looser fit – the “Baggy Green” (although not known by that name at the time). For some time, these included the motto “ADVANCE AUSTRALIA”, which had been used even before the myrtle green colour was adopted in 1899. By the early 1930s, this motto had been simplified to “AUSTRALIA” in yellow on a red background.

 

The term “Baggy Green” seems to date from the 1950s, although it did not come into wide use until the 1980s.

 

For several decades, players were issued with new caps for every series, sometimes multiple caps (such as Bradman’s duplicate 1948 caps). The early ones were undated. After World War II, dates (seasons) were stitched on the caps; this was discontinued by 1973.

 

Bradman was issued with up to 13 baggy greens. Eleven are known to still exist. The practice of issuing multiple caps continued up to the 1980s. Len Pascoe says that he was issued with four caps from 1977 to 1982 (14 Tests). None were dated, unlike the late Bradman caps.

With exceptions (such as Bill O’Reilly), most players before the 1980s had no particular regard for their caps, treating them as just part of their playing kits.

 

Even Steve Waugh was issued with multiple caps. The one he wore to near-destruction was not his original Test cap.

 

The ceremonial issuing of caps to new players began in 1996 (Kasprowicz, Elliott) under captain Mark Taylor. From this point, only one cap was issued to each player.

 

A near-religious veneration of the Baggy Green developed under captain Steve Waugh, brought to a new level by a 2003 sale of a 1948 Bradman cap for $425,000. Allowing for inflation, this remains the highest price paid for a Baggy Green, with the exception of Shane Warne’s cap, auctioned for over one million dollars (ironically, only infrequently worn – Warne preferred floppy hats) in 2020. The price was amplified by the fact that the money was going to charity (bushfire victims).

 

********

 

 

 

 


The 2025-26 Ashes has been the first series since 1930-31 where the attendance in the Adelaide Test exceeded that of the Melbourne Test, with the exception of 1993-94 (v South Africa) when three days of the Melbourne Test were effectively washed out.

In fact, the Adelaide Test had the highest attendance (223,638) for the whole series, a first for any Test season in Australia.

This in spite of the fact that the Sydney attendance (211,032) was an all-time record for the ground.

 

 

********

 

Ian Hill has alerted me to some problems with the ball-by-ball scores of the 2000 England v West Indies series. This was in the early days of Cricinfo’s bbb texts. These were not presented as reliable scores, but at the time they were the only available source for the data.

Since then I have obtained Bill Frindall’s scores for this series. There are a surprising number of differences between these and Cricinfo data. In general, Frindall’s scores can be regarded as far more reliable. I have replaced the pdfs for the 3rd and 4th Tests of the series with versions based on Frindall. The 5th Test seems to be in fairly good order and has not been replaced. The first two Tests also appear to be ok.

 

https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/2000s/2000EW/2000EWcov.pdf

 

 

********

24 January 2026

 

Most wickets on the first 2 days of a Test (since 1920)…

 

36

Aus v Eng (4), Melbourne (MCG) 2025/26

34

Aus v SAf (1), Brisbane ('Gabba') 2022/23

34

Pak v WI (2), Multan 2024/25

33

SL v Aus (2), Galle 2016

33

SAf v Ind (2), Cape Town 2023/24

32

Aus v Eng (1), Perth Stadium 2025/26

32

SAf v Pak (3), Cape Town 2006/07

32

Ind v SAf (3), Nagpur 2015/16

32

SAf v SL (2), Port Elizabeth 2018/19

31

Eng v NZ (1), Birmingham (Edgbaston) 1999

31

SAf v Aus (1), Cape Town 2011/12

 

Curiously, there were no Tests with more than 30 wickets on the first two scheduled days between 1912 and 1999.

 

A number of Tests played before 1920, when wickets were poorer and over rates high, would also feature on this list. These include three Tests in which the full 40 wickets fell on the first two days, including the original Ashes Test in 1882 (also Lord’s 1888 and Port Elizabeth 1895-95).

 

********

 

In response to a question, I compiled a list of bowlers whose first over of Test cricket contained a wicket (or two). Turned out to have exactly 150 names. The list included a few wickets that were run outs. Most of the data (125) came from ball-by-ball records with 24 names from the Test Cricket Lists book, from Tests that are not in the bbb record. (There are also one or two names in TCL that have proven to be in error, and some of the others may be regarded as unconfirmed). The 150th name was Keith Miller, who is in neither source but it now known to have taken a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket (in the second innings against New Zealand in 1946, having not bowled in the first innings). Other names from earlier times may yet come to light.

A few of the names did not bowl on debut but still took a wicket when they first bowled. A few of the ‘first wickets’ were run outs.

 

Graeme Swann and Richard Johnson took two wickets in their first over in Tests.

 

 

********

 

 

 

At Perth, England was over 100 runs ahead with nine second-innings wickets in hand. Yet only two sessions later, England had lost the Test. How rare is this?...

 

[Conditions: team 2nd innings more than 100 runs ahead with nine or more wickets in hand. Team is bowled out and loses match, all on the same day...]

 

Adelaide 2006-07, after Flintoff's (in)famous declaration at 6/551, Australia 513, England was 69/1 on final day. Out for 129, England lost by 6 wickets.

 

Colombo 2009, Pakistan was 285/1, 135 ahead on the last day. Out for 320 and lost by 7 wickets.


Perth 2025-26.

********

More Hallucinations from Artificial Intelligence…


There was an Indian umpire named S.N. Hanumantha Rao. Someone on the Tosh group wondered what the initials stood for. AI (via Google) was asked on four occasions to come up with an answer, and came up with four different names…

 

Subramanyaiah Nallamutla Hanumantha Rao

Srinivasulu Nagabhushanam Hanumantha Rao

Surampudi Nethi Hanumantha Rao

Sri Nagendra Hanumantha Rao

 

These four names are all wrong and are completely made up. Ultimately, Indian umpiring guru Ashru Mitra provided the full name. It is

 

Sakaleshpur Narayana Rao Hanumantha Rao

 

“Rao” occurs twice; it is not a typo. Narayana Rao is his father’s name.

Ashru, incidentally, has identified another umpire who had to give a decision on his first ball in Test cricket – Jeremy Lloyds at Gros Islet in 2004. I had the other umpire, Harper, down as umpire for that, but that would appear to be in error.

 

********

 

Their first scoring shot in Test cricket was a five…

 

Shakeel Ahmed Pak v Zim (2), Bulawayo (Queen's) 1994/95

 

PR Adams Cape Town 1995-96

 

BW Hilfenhaus Aus v SAf (1), Johannesburg (Wanderers) 2008/09

 

Naeem Islam Ban v NZ (1), Chittagong 2008/09

 

MD Rae NZ v WI Wellington 2025-26

For Shakeel and Adams, this did not occur on Test debut. Neither player scored a run on debut.

 

 

********

 

 

15 December 2025

 

Yet More Data on Fast Centuries

 

Hundred in a Session in the Fourth Innings of a Test

 

SJ McCabe 189* Aus v SAf (2), Johannesburg (Old Wanderers) 1935/36

A Melville 104* SAf v Eng (1), Nottingham (Trent Bridge) 1947

NJ Astle 222 NZ v Eng (1), Christchurch 2001/02

DR Smith 105* WI v SAf (3), Cape Town 2003/04

Mushfiqur Rahim 101 Ban v Ind (1), Chittagong 2009/10

KS Williamson 121* NZ v SL (1), Christchurch (Hagley) 2022/23

TM Head 123 Aus v Eng (1), Perth Stadium 2025/26

 

Prior to Head, Williamson was the only one to do this for a winning side. Williamson remains the only one to score a century after tea on the 5th day to win.

Incidentally, Head’s 123 is the second-highest innings ever to start and finish within the same session. The record remains with Daniel Vettori’s 127 at Bulawayo in 2005. (There is a definite pattern in recent decades with session centuries occurring after tea, due to ubiquitous time extensions caused by slow over rates. Eight of the last 10 session centuries have been after tea, all of them longer than two hours. For reference, Richie Benaud’s 121 at Kingston in 1955 was made in a two-hour session between lunch and tea.)

 

Speaking of Bulawayo, there is another feature of Wiaan Mulder’s 367 not out in July that I have just noticed. He scored a century in a session twice in the one innings. He scored 131 after tea on the first day and then 103 before lunch next day. There are only three precedents: Mulder follows Bradman (334), Hammond (336*) and Hayden (380).

 

Rachin Ravindra recently scored centuries in a session in two consecutive Tests, at Bulawayo (once again, poor Zimbabwe!) and Christchurch.

 

 

********

 

Another Look at DRS LBW reviews.

 

This time including lbw decisions that did not attract a review.

 

A block of 177 recent Tests was examined. In eleven of the Tests DRS was not used, so these Tests were excluded. Only Top 6 batsmen were considered.

In the 166 Tests, on-field umpires gave Top 6 batsmen out lbw 629 times. Some 494 of these decisions were reviewed (by batsmen of course). The other 135 (21.5%) were not reviewed, almost always because the batsmen accepted that the decision was correct. Of the 494 reviews, the umpire’s decision was confirmed 329 times, while the decision was overturned 165 times.

 

Curiously, the number of batsmen who ended up lbw in these Tests was actually 553. This takes into account an additional 89 batsmen who were initially given not out lbw, but the decision was overturned by a bowling review.

 

 

329

given out, reviewed, umpire's decision upheld

(outcome: LBW)

135

given out, not reviewed

(outcome: LBW)

165

given out, reviewed, umpire's decision overturned

(outcome: not out)

 

 

 

89

given not out, reviewed, umpire's decision overturned

(outcome: LBW)

541

given not out, reviewed, umpire's decision upheld

(outcome: not out)

 

Sometimes batsmen do not review an adverse decision because no reviews are available, or they are simply in error and might well have been not out on review. This appears to be quite uncommon, however.

 

 

********

 

                                                                                                

 

 

In 1976 against New Zealand in Karachi, Majid Khan played one of the great opening innings, reaching 108 runs before lunch on the first day. There is no full scoresheet for this match, but now Afzad Ahmed has published a book that includes a one-page linear score (produced by Ben Lawrence) of Majid’s innings; as a result a full ball-by-ball record of the innings can be built.

 

My rendering of the innings can be found here.

 

There are still only six cases of a century before lunch on the first day. Majid’s remains the fastest; he reached 100 off 77 balls. A feature of the play is that only 18 eight-ball overs were bowled before lunch. Only 138 balls were bowled before Majid reached his century. Even though it was almost 50 years ago, the over rate is very similar to modern rates.

 

********


Speaking of fast centuries, Simon Wilde has produced a full record of the England innings at The Oval in 1902 – “Jessop’s Match” – and published it in the ACS Journal
.

I have rendered this innings into my format.

Note that while all scoring strokes can be identified, the placement of dot balls prior to Jessop’s innings is not precise. The record adjusts and corrects an earlier rendering of mine that contained many uncertainties. A few minor uncertainties remain in that the bowling figures of Trumble and Saunders do not quite add up to the ‘accepted’ values, but these anomalies will just have to remain.

 

********

 

I was asked about the unusual case of Indian captain Ajit Wadekar, who scored 44 and 0 in two consecutive Tests in 1972-73. There are quite a lot of cases of players making identical scores in two consecutive Tests if you include ducks, although very few involving a score of 40 or more. Certainly the most notable of all cases is Harbhajan Singh who scored 63 and 7 at Sydney in 2008, and then the same at Adelaide. He did not play in the intervening Test in Perth.

 

There are a few players who batted eight times in four Tests without scoring a run, although all include 0 not outs, including D Ramnarine and Chris Martin.

 

********

 

30 November 2025

 

More Data on Fast Centuries

 

Travis Head’s century at Perth (100 off 69 balls) has been described as one of the most remarkable in Ashes, coming in the fourth team innings after none of the previous three had reached 200. Measured from the start of the (team) innings, Head’s innings was the second-fastest ever, behind a century by David Warner in 2011-12. A list of the fastest centuries, measured in balls bowled after the batsman came to the crease, follows…

 

Fewest Balls Bowled before a Batsman reached a Century

Balls

Batsman

97

BB McCullum

NZ v Aus (2), Christchurch(Hagley) 2015/16

99

Misbah-ul-Haq

Pak v Aus (2), Abu Dhabi 2014/15

103

AC Gilchrist

Aus v Eng (3), Perth (WACA) 2006/07

105

IVA Richards

WI v Eng (5), Antigua (St John's) 1986

113

DA Warner

Aus v Ind (3), Perth (WACA) 2011/12

129

TM Head

Aus v Eng (1), Perth Stadium 2025/26

132

BB McCullum

NZ v SL (1), Christchurch (Hagley) 2014/15

 

Well I suppose this is much the same list as the fastest centuries in balls faced, but it does add a bit of interesting data. The data is from various sources: no balls may or may not be included.

 

 

********

 

Batsmen benefiting from DRS overturns.

These players were given out but made successful challenges under DRS, then went on to add more than 150 runs. Let it not be said that DRS has little effect on the course of a match.

Batsman

Review On a score of

Final score

Runs gained

TWM Latham

16

252

236

NZ v Ban (2), Christchurch (Hagley) 2021/22

TWM Latham

18

252

234

NZ v Ban (2), Christchurch (Hagley) 2021/22

Mohammad Hafeez

13

224

211

Pak v Ban (1), Khulna (Naser) 2015

JE Root

20

228

208

Eng v SL (1), Galle 2020/21

RG Sharma

7

212

205

Ind v SAf (3), Ranchi (Jharkand) 2019/20

KS Williamson

13

200

187

NZ v Pak (1), Karachi (National) 2022/23

JE Root

47

226

179

Eng v NZ (2), Hamilton 2019/20

Usman Khawaja

25

195

170

Aus v SAf (3), Sydney (SCG) 2022/23

Z Crawley

20

189

169

Eng v Aus (4), Manchester (Old Trafford) 2023

FDM Karunaratne

82

244

162

SL v Ban (1), Pallekele 2020/21

MA Agarwal

82

243

161

Ind v Ban (1), Indore (Holkar) 2019/20

AD Mathews

38

199

161

SL v Ban (1), Chittagong 2022

Younis Khan

20

177

157

Pak v SL (1), Galle 2014

 

Latham was given out lbw twice (to Ebadot Hossain) in one over.

 

********

 

 

 

First-class cricket at most different grounds

 

SR Tendulkar

 

116

TW Graveney

 

115

Mushtaq Mohammad

 

115

MJK Smith

 

114

PE Richardson

 

113

RS Dravid

 

113

JM Parks

 

112

FJ Titmus

 

110

RW Taylor

 

110

 

This table is offered with uncertainties. The identification of grounds is sometimes difficult especially with frequent changes of ground names.

UPDATE: I should have added that the above data is complete only up to 2013. I have since found that Shiv Chanderpaul played at about 117 different grounds. I don’t know if there are any other new recent entries for the list.

 

12 September 2025

 

Changing Face of Test Stats

 

It has taken a while, but I have updated the “hotscore” file, showing the fastest-scoring players in Test history. The update shows the impact of ‘Bazball’, with no fewer than four current England players hurtling into the all-time Top 20. Travis Head of Australia is another bat flying high.

 

The Hot 100: The Fastest-Scoring Test Batsmen of All Time

 

Qualification: 2500 runs for recent careers. 1,500 runs for careers ending before year 2000.

Batting average greater than 20, batting position <7. Updated to September 2025.

 

 

 

Runs

Avge

Runs/100 balls

1. HC Brook (Eng)

2022-

2820

57.6

87.5

2. BM Duckett (Eng)

2016-

2872

42.9

86.1

3. V Sehwag (Ind)

2001-2013

8586

49.3

82.2

4. AC Gilchrist (Aus)

1999-2008

5570

47.6

82.0

5. RR Pant (Ind)

2018-

3427

44.5

74.2

6. JH Sinclair (SA)

1896-1911

1069

23.2

72.1

7. Q de Kock (SA)

2014-2021

3300

38.8

70.9

8. DA Warner (Aus)

2011-

8786

44.6

70.2

9. Sarfraz Ahmed (Pak)

2010-

3031

37.4

70.2

10. IVA Richards (WI)

1974-1991

8540

50.2

69.0

11. TM Head (Aus)

2018-

3963

41.7

67.7

12. VT Trumper (Aus)

1899-1912

3163

39.0

67.1

13. S Dhawan (Ind)

2013-2018

2315

40.6

66.9

14. DPDN Dickwella (Sri)

2014-

2757

31.0

66.5

15. Z Crawley (Eng)

2019-

3313

31.6

65.6

16. TM Dilshan (Sri)

1999-2013

5492

41.0

65.5

17. ST Jayasuriya (Sri)

1991-2007

6973

40.1

65.2

18. K Srikkanth (Ind)

1981-1992

2062

29.9

65.1

19. BB McCullum (NZ)

2004-2016

6453

38.6

64.6

20. OJD Pope (Eng)

2018-

3607

35.4

64.4

 

 

If you relax the qualifications quite a bit to include batsmen with just 500 runs and an average over 15, and include tailenders, you also get an interesting list…

 

The Fastest-Scoring Test Batsmen (500+ runs)

Qualification: 500 career runs. Batting average greater than 10. Updated September 2025.

 

 

 

Runs

Avge

Runs/100 balls

 

1. GL Jessop (Eng)

1899-1912

569

21.9

111

2. HC Brook (Eng)

2022-

2820

57.6

88

3. Shahid Afridi (Pak)

1998-2010

1716

36.5

87

4. BM Duckett (Eng)

2016-

2872

42.9

86

5. TG Southee (NZ)

2008-

2245

15.5

83

6. V Sehwag (Ind)

2001-2013

8586

49.3

82

7. AC Gilchrist (Aus)

1999-2008

5570

47.6

82

8. N Kapil Dev (Ind)

1978-1994

5248

31.1

81

9. C de Grandhomme (NZ)

2016-2022

1432

38.7

80

10. LN Constantine (WI)

1928-1939

635

19.2

80

 

L Amar Singh (India 1930s) scored 292 runs at 102 runs/100 balls.

 

The extended lists are found here. At some point I will try to update the other lists on that page, although there tends to be little movement in the slow-scoring lists. (The previous list is here.)

 

If you are wondering about the fastest-scoring batsman of all, without qualification, the Australian fast bowler Jhye Richardson has faced just 14 balls in Tests and scored 18 runs, a scoring rate of 128 runs /100 balls. His last Test appearance was in 2021, so he could conceivably play again.

 

 

********

 

There have also been changes at the top in the area of head-to-head, batsman v bowler stats. After Virat Kohli/Nathan Lyon just failed to take the top spot from Smith/Broad last Australian season, Joe Root, facing Ravi Jadeja, swept in to pass the 600 run mark. Here is a short article I wrote on the subject for a magazine.

 

 

********

 

 

 

 

 

 

29 August 2025

 

1902 Revisited

 

The 1902 England-Australia Tests still rank among the finest and most memorable Ashes series. For the statistician, however, it is a frustrating series in that it is poorly represented by original scorebooks. At the Australian end, no tour book is known, and in England only one full Test score (Edgbaston) survives, along with a partial score (lacking bowling details) for the Manchester Test.

Now there has been some progress, and on a couple of fronts. Simon Wilde has published a fascinating book “Chasing Jessop” about 1902 and focussing on Gilbert Jessop’s famed 104 at The Oval, where England won by one wicket. Using the ever-expanding British Newspaper Archive, Wilde has uncovered some new sources, a couple of which give ball-by-ball accounts for Jessop’s hundred. Wilde found the source of Gerald Brodribb’s account, a source that had eluded me for a long time. It was not in a daily newspaper, but in The Athletic News and Cyclists’ Journal, a weekly published five days after the event.

Wilde also found a second detailed source in the Morning Leader. It has to be said that the two sources agreed largely but not exactly, but with other sources it has allowed a reasonably exact ball-by-ball record of the innings to be produced. Wilde has settled on 72 balls faced for Jessop’s first 100, still the fastest by an England batsman.


I mentioned a couple of fronts. The second has been from Barry Scott, who has found some new sources for other Tests of the series. The best statistical source for the Old Trafford Test, won by Australia by three runs, turns out to be in a South Australian rural weekly, the Adelaide Chronicle, published more than a month after the event. A good deal of the Test can now be reconstructed ball-by-ball, or over -by-over.

Barry has also produced a record of the second Test, which was ruined by rain with less than 2 hours play.

In summary, here is the state of the reconstruction if the 1902 Tests.

Test 1 Edgbaston: reconstructed ball-by-ball from a full scorebook.
Test 2 Lord’s: reconstructed by B Scott from newspaper reports.
Test 3 Sheffield: Australia 2nd innings reconstructed by me from newspaper reports. (this could do with improvement.)

Test 4 Old Trafford

Aus 1st innings reconstructed by me some years ago from newspaper reports and the partial scorebook. Could do with more work.
Eng 1st innings. Complete over-by-over reconstruction. Scoring strokes in every over are known, but not ball-by-ball.
Aus 2nd innings. Reconstructed with some bowling known ball-by-ball.
Eng 2nd innings. Full reconstruction ball-by-ball.

Test 5 The Oval: full reconstruction of England 2nd innings by S Wilde.

 

The cover page for the series, with the updated files, is here.

 

********

 

 

A report in the Adelaide Chronicle for the 5th day of the Adelaide Test in 1907-08 (15th January) claimed that the temperature reached 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 Celsius). I wondered about the accuracy of this, but the Adelaide Register and the Advertiser both gave an official maximum for the city that day of 111.4 degrees “in the shade and 153 degrees in the sun”. The temperature at Eucla in W.A. was recorded as 122 in the shade (50 Celsius) and “179 in the sun” (!).

In 2018, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the temperature at the SCG Test match was “43.4 to 43.7 degrees, above the 43.1 during the Adelaide Test of 1908”. However, the 1908 temperature published at the time was actually equivalent to 44.1 degrees, not 43.1.

********

 

John Benaud has a book out about the 1973 Australian tour of West Indies: “The First Ball after Lunch”. There are a couple of little snippets that show up how cricket, and society, have changed. Benaud mentions player payments from the time: A$200 per Test plus a few allowances. Sponsorship was starting to add to this, but not by a lot.

There is also an image of a very brief telegram “slipped under the door” of Benaud’s hotel room, informing him of the birth of his daughter back in Sydney. Nowadays I don’t think any cricketer would choose to play a Test over the birth of a child; many would also insist on ‘paternity leave’. (I am not passing judgement here on either approach.)


https://www.sportstats.com.au/pictures/firstballafterlunch.jpg

 

I seem to recall that one of Allan Border’s children was born while he was batting in a Test. It was one of the only days of his career where he was dismissed twice.

 

********

 

 

 

Bob Simpson 1936-2025

 

I saw Bob Simpson play from time to time in the late 60s/early70s. He played in Sydney for Western Suburbs 1st Grade, whose home ground was near our home. Having retired too early from first-class cricket, he was still one of the best bats in the world, and he rather terrorised the Club bowlers. He was one of a cohort of Australians at the time who gave up the game because of poor pay and the need to make a career elsewhere.

My father was a 1st grade umpire and knew Bob. One day when Wests were playing away and Dad was umpiring I spent the day watching (getting out of Mum's hair). Bob gave us a lift home. Dad introduced me. I was too shy to say anything much, but I was most impressed that Dad and Bob were on a first name basis and chatted all the way home.

 

My school friend Malcolm Gorham was a cricket (and Simpson) fanatic. While still at school, he had managed to get a gig as Western Suburbs scorer, using linear scoring. Malcolm went on to score Test matches at the SCG, but died (far too young) decades ago.

 

Simpson famously returned to Tests in 1977 after a 10-year break and scored a couple more centuries.

 

Simpson’s passing on August 15 brings to five the number of players from the 1966-67 tour of South Africa who have died in the last few months. I can't find any other cases of five members of a team passing away so close to one another. The nearest I found was five deaths in 639 days for the South African team that played in Durban in Durban in 1935-36.

HF Wade

23-Nov-1980

EL Dalton

3-Jun-1981

AD Nourse

14-Aug-1981

F Nicholson

30-Jul-1982

IJ Siedle

24-Aug-1982

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shortening of boundaries, which have been in place for more than 20 years now, has led to shots for three becoming far less common. The most in this decade is 45 at Brisbane in 2020-21.

 

There were 85 threes in the Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval in 1994-95. Of the historical Top 20 where data is available, ten were at the MCG.

At Headingly in 2023, there were no threes at all.

 

********

 

A minor record: Wiaan Mulder’s 367* at Bulawayo is the highest score by a batsman who was dismissed by a no ball: previously Warner 335*. Mulder was 'bowled' by LT Chivanga on 247.

 

I believe that Len Hutton was caught in the deep off a no ball when he made 364, although in those days with the early call it was effectively a free hit.

 

Most runs added after being dismissed by a no ball: 279 by Sangakkara (287). Dale Steyn 'bowled' Sangakkara and had him dropped in the same over. The pair then added more than 600 runs.

********

14 August 2025

Retirement makes a Comeback

 

I thought I'd share an observation about the recent resurgence in batsmen retiring hurt. The incidence of retirements has jumped in the last few years. I wouldn’t read too much into each fluctuation in the figures, but there are definitely some trends.

 
Any explanation? The Concussion protocol might have something to do with it, but there haven't been that many cases. Another factor is the banning of runners for batsmen, which was instituted in 2011.

 

 

 

 

********

 

UPDATE of a list from only a couple of weeks ago. At The Oval, for the second time in the series, the losing side scored more runs off the bat than the winning side. At Lord’s England had beaten India by 22 runs, at The Oval it was India winning by 5 runs. There had only been four previous such Tests in all Test history.

 

Winning a Test with fewer runs off the bat

Aus v SAf (3), Adelaide Oval 1910/11

South Africa won by 38 runs

South Africa

792

Australia

793

Aus v SL (1), Colombo2 (SSC) 1992

Australia won by 16 runs

Australia

637

Sri Lanka

681

SAf v Aus (2), Sydney (SCG) 1993/94

South Africa won by 5 runs

South Africa

373

Australia

394

NZ v Aus (2), Hobart (Bellerive) 2011/12

New Zealand won by 7 runs

New Zealand

334

Australia

336

Eng v Ind (3), Lord's 2025

England won by 22 runs

England

516

India

527

Ind v Eng (5), The Oval 2025

India won by 5 runs

India

556

England

580

 

Tests won by runs margin with no follow-on.

 

In the 1992 match, Sri Lanka managed to bowl 53 no balls to Australia’s 19, and lost by 16 runs. At the Oval, England bowled 22 wides to India’s 11 and lost by 5 runs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forty years ago (1985) I was travelling around southern Africa, part of a 5-month round the world trip which also took me to North America and Europe. It was mostly low budget solo travel - I never spent more than $20 on a night's accommodation, even in Switzerland - but I did join small group tours to remoter places like Namibia and Botswana.

 

Since I wasn't completely broke when I got home to Sydney, I drove up to Cairns and beyond for a bit. Don't ask me why. After that I WAS completely broke.

 

I have written down a few little memories of that trip and my other travels last Century.

 

https://www.sportstats.com.au/Travel/Travelslist.pdf

 

********

 

Making a Century after being dropped first ball…

Bowler

Habibul Bashar (108)

Ban v Pak (1), Karachi (National) 2003

Shoaib Akhtar

Inzamam-ul-Haq (117*)

Pak v WI (2), Kingston, Jamaica 2005

CD Collymore

MEK Hussey (195)

Aus v Eng (1), Brisbane ('Gabba') 2010/11

ST Finn

AB de Villiers (164)

SAf v Pak (2), Dubai 2013/14

Mohammad Irfan

KR Patterson (114*)

Aus v SL (2), Canberra (Manuka) 2018/19

DM de Silva

RA Jadeja (107*)

Ind v Eng (4), Manchester 2025

JC Archer

 

Since 2002 only. The Hussey case is debatable and may not have been a dropped catch.

Some reports say that Carl Hooper may have been dropped first ball in his 233 against India in 2002. However, the Cricinfo text, which is where I get most of my data, does not identify it as a real dropped catch.

 

 

 

 

Much has been said about records set in the Kingston Test, with West Indies bowled out for 27. Some adds…

Mitchell Starc took four wickets before he conceded his first run. As far as I can see, this has not been done in a Test innings before. Starc’s three wickets in the first over of the innings has only been seen once (IK Pathan’s hat-trick v Pakistan, Karachi 2006).

The match saw only 484 runs off the bat, the lowest total in a 40-wicket Test since 1907.

In the West Indies 27 there were more wickets (10) than there were scoring shots off the bat (9). First time ever in a completed innings in a Test.

 

The innings saw the slowest over rate in Test history for a complete innings – around 55 balls per hour (pending a check of times). One could argue mitigating circumstances.

When West Indies went into bat a few days later in a T20i, they scored 30 for 0 in the first three overs. By the 17th over, they had scored more runs than they did in the whole Kingston Test.

 

 

********

 

In 1974 Gerald Brodribb published a biography of Gilbert Jessop (The Croucher) that included a ball-by-ball summary of Jessop’s famous 104 in the Oval Test of 1902. Brodribb did not name his source, and over many years I have not been able to locate it. Such frustration.

Now Simon Wilde has written a book about ‘Jessop’s Match’. After some clever detective work, he has located the source of the ball-by-ball record. It was not in a daily newspaper, but in “
The Athletic News and Cyclists’ Journal”, a weekly published five days after the event.

Simon says that there will be more news on Jessop in the book, which I am looking forward to seeing.

A screenshot of part of the original report
is here.

 

*********

 

I try to record fielder locations for all catches in Tests. In the Lord’s Test, Washington c Brook v Archer was the first catch by a longstop that I have noted since Tom Horan took a couple in 1879 !

 

I have often thought that longstop would be a useful position in T20 with all those ramp shots, but I haven't seen it in Tests. I don't know if anyone recalls anything similar.

 

 

********

 

Most runs on first day as a Test captain…

PWA Mulder

264

2025

C Hill

191

1910

JE Root

184

2017

AN Cook

158

2009

GT Dowling

135

1968

MA Noble

131

1903

S Gill

127

2025

 

********

 

At Hyderabad in 1983, Javed Miandad faced a hat-trick ball from BS Sandhu and went on to score 280 not out in a partnership of 451 with Mudassar.

Gavaskar probably faced a hat-trick ball to start his 236 at Chennai but I don't have enough detail to be sure. None of the reports I have specifically says so.

I only have ball-by-ball data for about 80-85% of hat-trick balls. If wickets are taken with the last two balls of an over, then either bat could face the hat-trick ball.

 

********

Lowest score never recorded by a team at close of play = 425. Lowest never recorded by an individual batsman = 190.

********

 

20 July 2025

A ‘Prehistoric’ ODI

 

I have written before (as long ago as 2006!) about the intriguing limited-overs match in South Africa in 1967 between the touring Australians and a “Sports Roundup Invitation XI”, effectively a fully-representative South Africa. Although not ‘official’, it has enough hallmarks of a One-Day International to be recognised as the first such match (IMHO).


The match was the last in the tour, and such was the (lack of) status of limited-overs cricket at the time, it did not rate a mention in Wisden or in the tour books written at the time. Reports in Australian newspapers were perfunctory or incomplete. However, a score for this match exists at Cricket NSW and Colin Clowes has kindly sent me a copy. I have now re-scored this into ball-by-ball format.

The match now has ‘list A’ status; it was the first such match played outside of England, also the only such match before November 1969. Apart from historical interest, the match was an unusual one in some respects. Here is an extended scorecard of the match (there are slight uncertainties concerning balls faced due to unmarked byes and leg byes)…

 

South African XI v Australians, 50-over match, Johannesburg 4-Mar-1967

Australians Innings

R

BF

4

6

Min

†RB Simpson

run out

30

34

3

0

50

*WM Lawry

c PM Pollock b Procter

91

83

12

1

96

G Thomas

b PM Pollock

70

86

7

2

115

IR Redpath

c PM Pollock b Lance

10

11

1

0

20

RM Cowper

c Lance b Barlow

14

13

1

0

18

KR Stackpole

b PM Pollock

47

24

6

2

23

TR Veivers

retired hurt

0

1

0

0

2

GD Watson

c Lindsay b McKinnon

15

17

0

0

21

GD McKenzie

lbw b McKinnon

12

18

0

0

25

JM Hubble

not out

13

15

0

1

17

DA Renneberg

not out

6

5

0

0

10

Extras (1 b, 11 lb, 3 nb)

15

Total (8 wickets, 50 overs, 203 minutes)

323

O

M

R

W

nb

PM Pollock

10

0

63

2

1

MJ Procter

8

0

43

1

0

TL Goddard

7

0

59

0

1

PHJ Trimborn

7

2

30

0

1

EJ Barlow

8

0

39

1

0

HR Lance

7

0

56

1

0

AH McKinnon

3

0

18

2

0

South African XI Innings

 

 

R

BF

4

6

Min

A Bacher

c Simpson b Renneberg

15

16

1

0

21

TL Goddard

b Cowper

20

33

2

0

43

BA Richards

c Simpson b Watson

33

27

3

1

32

RG Pollock

not out

132

99

19

1

142

HR Lance

c sub b Renneberg

34

38

6

0

31

†DT Lindsay

c Redpath b Stackpole

35

28

4

2

37

*EJ Barlow

c McKenzie b Stackpole

30

28

5

0

28

MJ Procter

lbw b Stackpole

0

4

0

0

5

PM Pollock

not out

18

21

3

0

25

AH McKinnon

did not bat

PHJ Trimborn

did not bat

Extras (4 b, 5 lb, 1 nb)

10

Total (7 wickets, 48.4 overs, 185 minutes)

327

O

M

R

W

nb

GD McKenzie

10.4

0

53

0

0

JM Hubble

6

0

43

0

0

DA Renneberg

11

0

55

2

1

RM Cowper

6

0

42

1

0

GD Watson

7

0

74

1

0

KR Stackpole

8

0

50

3

0

 

Australia Innings FoW

Wkt

FoW

Ov

Partn

Balls

1

86

RB Simpson

13.1

86

82

2

152

WM Lawry

24.1

66

69

3

180

IR Redpath

29.2

28

31

4

210

RM Cowper

34.1

30

29

5

276

KR Stackpole

40.3

66

39

6

279

G Thomas

40.6

3

3

7

295

GD Watson

45.4

16

28

8

304

GD McKenzie

47.1

9

9

9

(323)

50

19

17

TR Veivers retired hurt at 5 for 276.

 

South Africa Innings FoW

Wkt

FoW

Ov

Partn

Balls

1

32

A Bacher

5.1

32

32

2

56

TL Goddard

10.3

24

33

3

82

BA Richards

13.5

26

20

4

140

HR Lance

23.2

58

57

5

214

DT Lindsay

32.2

74

54

6

278

EJ Barlow

40.6

64

52

7

282

MJ Procter

42.2

4

8

8

(327)

48.4

45

38

 

 

The match was 50 (6-ball) overs a side, with bowlers limited to 11 overs. Although arguably played in a ‘picnic’ atmosphere, there was money at stake; it was taken seriously enough for the keeper Brian Taber to be dropped and Simpson taking the gloves to strengthen the Australians batting. Grahame Thomas of NSW was in the team and scored 70; he had not played in the Tests, but his mere presence in apartheid South Africa is interesting in that he was part-aboriginal – especially in light of the D’Oliveira affair less than two years later. For the South Africans, the first appearance of Barry Richards is notable.

Particularly notable is the free-wheeling scoring. Both teams exceeded 320; there would not be another 50-over List A match like this until the 1990s (Sri Lanka/West Indies in 1995, more than 9,000 List A matches later). If you thought that Bill Lawry could never have scored 91 off 83 balls against Test-class bowling, think again. Lawry, however, was outgunned by Graeme Pollock’s 132 off 99 balls in a single session (100 off 77 balls, 109 minutes), an innings that would impress in any era. Bear in mind the absence of boundary ropes and fielding restrictions.

 

Keith Stackpole hit a ball from fast man Peter Pollock clean out of the ground, but was out next ball. Tom Veivers then came in and appears to have retired hurt first ball; he did not bowl later. The over eventually cost 10 runs even with two wickets (Stackpole, Thomas) plus Veivers’ retirement (1 leg bye, 6, W, RH, 3, W).

 

The match was scored by two women, “Miss P Williams and Miss SR Hall”. Tour scorer M (Mitch?) McClennan is also named, but the score is not in his handwriting. (I believe that McClennan was a South African scorer contracted to score on the tour; he also did 1957-58). An image of a page from the score is here. I have posted before an article on the match by Alf Batchelor.

In a sad coincidence, four of the Australian players (Redpath, Cowper, Stackpole and Renneberg) have passed away in the last few months. Three of them Victorians.

 

 

********

 

At Lord’s England beat India by 22 runs in spite of hitting fewer runs off the bat. There have only been five such Tests…

 

Winning a Test with fewer runs off the bat

Aus v SAf (3), Adelaide Oval 1910/11

South Africa won by 38 runs

South Africa

792

Australia

793

Aus v SL (1), Colombo2 (SSC) 1992

Australia won by 16 runs

Australia

637

Sri Lanka

681

SAf v Aus (2), Sydney (SCG) 1993/94

South Africa won by 5 runs

South Africa

373

Australia

394

NZ v Aus (2), Hobart (Bellerive) 2011/12

New Zealand won by 7 runs

New Zealand

334

Australia

336

Eng v Ind (3), Lord's 2025

England won by 22 runs

England

516

India

527

 

Tests won by runs margin with no follow-on.

 

In the 1992 match, Sri Lanka managed to bowl 53 no balls to Australia’s 19, and lost by 16 runs.

 

 

********

 

 

 

 

 

250 and 150 in a first-class match.

 

Dhruv Shorey, 252* and 150* Delhi v Assam 2022-23

Shubman Gill 269 and 161, Edgbaston 2025

 

Warwick Armstrong came very close in 1920: 157* and 245 in a Sheffield Shield match

 

********

 

At Hyderabad in 1983, Javed Miandad faced a hat-trick ball from BS Sandhu and went on to score 280 not out in a partnership of 451 with Mudassar.

 

Gavaskar probably faced a hat-trick ball to start his 236 but I don't have enough detail to be sure. None of the reports I have specifically says so.

 

I only have ball-by-ball data for about 80-85% of hat-trick balls. If wickets are taken with the last two balls of an over, then either bat could face the hat-trick ball.

 

******

 

11 July 2025

There still seems to be stuff happening in the cricket world, so I shouldn’t stop posting I think.

 

Here is a broad look at a ‘batting decay curve’, the number of innings by recognised batsmen (those with median batting positions 1 to 6) at every level of scoring. I have taken the liberty of including not outs by adding the batsman’s career average to the score (this can be supported statistically, in a broad sense). So an innings of 100 not out by a batsman who averages 50 registers as a score equivalent to 150.

 

Above a score of 50, I have pooled results to smooth the curve. So the point at 110 represents the average of scores 106 to 115. The size of the pool is larger at very high (and rarer) scores. Averaging out at the high end, across a wide pool, can give values less than 1.

 

 

The graph is log-linear because the results are exponential, with quite a good fit to a simple exponential decay curve (the trendline is based on data from 15 to 300). Put simply, a batsman’s chances of getting out when he reaches a given score is about 2.6 per cent, and this applies, in a broad sense, at all scores from about 20 all the way to 300 or beyond. Naturally, individual batsmen can and do deviate from this trend, but the averages are fairly consistent.

 

There are some general deviations, though. That 2.6 per cent probability of getting out doesn’t settle down until a score of about 15. In particular, There are more than 4200 ducks which represent about 15 per cent of all innings. Between 50 and 100, the chances of getting out are slightly lower than the long-view average, while from 200 to 250, the chances are a bit higher.

 

********

 

400 runs in a first-class match without a quadruple century

 

456

GA Gooch

333 & 123

England v India, Lord's 1990

 

 

446

AE Fagg

244 & 202*

Essex v Kent, Colchester 1938

 

 

430

S Gill

269 & 161

England v India, Edgbaston 2025

 

 

 

433

AK Perera

201 & 231

Nondescripts v Sinhalese, Colombo PSS 2018-19

 

 

 

426

MA Taylor

334* & 92

Pakistan v Australia, Peshawar 1998/99

 

 

424

KC Sangakkara

319 & 105

Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Chittagong-D 2013/14

 

 

402

WW Armstrong

157* & 245

Victoria v South Australia, Melbourne 1920/21

 

 

402

D Shorey

252* & 150*

Delhi v Barsapara Guwahati, 2022/23

 

 

 

[Note: EDITED the Perera instance was left out of the original table.]

 

 

 

 

 

“Substitute” bowlers taking a wicket in same over

These bowlers came on after another bowler was injured mid-over, and immediately took a wicket

 

Batsman

Bowler

Replacing

JC Adams

RT Ponting

SR Waugh

Aus v WI, Brisbane ('Gabba') 1996/97

A Flower, ML Nkala

CD McMillan

CL Cairns

NZ v Zim, Harare 2000/01

MJ Horne

PA de Silva

M Muralitharan

SL v NZ, Colombo2 (SSC) 1998

Harbhajan Singh

CE Cuffy

M Dillon

WI v Ind, Mumbai (Wankhede) 2002/03

LPC Silva

DJ Bravo

JE Taylor

WI v SL, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad 2008

Mahmudul Hasan

Hamza Hotak

Nijat Masood

Ban v Afg (1), Dhaka (Mirpur) 2023

LD Chandimal*

Naveed Zadran

Mohammad Saleem

SL v Afg (1), Colombo2 (SSC) 2023/24

RMMP Rathnayake

JE Root

MA Wood

Eng v SL (1), Manchester (Old Trafford) 2024

 

 

* DM de Silva was also run out in this over

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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