Also: how often has a batter been stumped in both innings of a Test?
Steven Lynch03-Sep-2024Gus Atkinson just scored his maiden first-class century in a Test match. How rare is this? asked Jamie Willows from Ireland
Gus Atkinson clearly has a liking for Sri Lankan bowlers: his previous highest score in first-class cricket was 91, for Surrey against the touring Sri Lanka Development XI in Guildford in 2022. Jamie Smith, now an England team-mate, was also playing for Surrey in that game; Nishan Madushka, who also played in the Lord’s Test, was among the opposition.Atkinson’s accomplished 118 at Lord’s made him the 46th player to have scored his maiden first-class century in a Test. Only four players from that list had done it for England before Atkinson – three wicketkeepers, plus Stuart Broad, with 169 against Pakistan in 2010, also at Lord’s. The keepers were Henry Wood (134 not out against South Africa in Cape Town in 1891-92), Billy Griffith (140 against West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1947-48) and Jack Russell (128 not out against Australia at Old Trafford in 1989). Here’s the full list of players who made their first first-class hundred in a Test .In only his second Test at Lord’s, Atkinson made sure his name was on all three honours boards there (centuries, five-fors, and ten wickets in a match): earlier this summer, on his Test debut against West Indies, he took 7 for 45 and 5 for 61. He’s only the sixth man to have scored a century and taken ten wickets in a match in Lord’s Tests. Four others have made a century and taken five wickets in an innings.Joe Root just scored another Test century at Lord’s. Is that the record there? What’s the most on a single ground? asked Derek Mills from England
Joe Root followed 143 in the first innings against Sri Lanka last week at Lord’s with 103 in the second. The first hundred was his sixth in Tests there, equalling Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan, and the seventh gave him sole possession of the ground record. Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen both hit five centuries at Lord’s. The most by a visiting player is three, by India’s Dilip Vengsarkar.The most on any ground is 11, by Mahela Jayawardene at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, where he played no fewer than 27 Tests. Jacques Kallis scored nine hundreds in 22 matches at Newlands in Cape Town, but Don Bradman made nine in only 11 appearances in Melbourne, where he averaged 128. A later Australian captain, Michael Clarke, scored seven centuries in only ten Tests in Adelaide.Bangladesh hold the record for the highest declared first-innings total in a defeat – 595 for 8 in Wellington in 2017•Getty ImagesPakistan lost to Bangladesh after declaring with only six wickets down in their first innings. How many teams have declared in their first innings but lost? asked Tariq from Pakistan
Pakistan’s defeat to Bangladesh in Rawalpindi last week turns out to be the 26th time that a team has declared their first innings in a Test match but gone on to lose. Six of those involved higher totals than Pakistan’s 448 for 6: highest of all is Bangladesh’s own 595 for 8 declared against New Zealand in Wellington in 2016-17.However, only two other teams have lost after declaring their first innings with only six wickets down: England (551 for 6) against Australia in Adelaide in 2006-07, and India (306 for 6) against West Indies in Kingston in 1975-76 (a controversial match in which several Indian batters were injured).Saud Shakeel was stumped in both innings in the Test against Bangladesh. How often has this happened? asked Ayan Ghosh from India
The double stumping of Saud Shakeel during Pakistan’s defeat by Bangladesh in Rawalpindi last week was the 24th time this had happened in a Test. Shakeel was the first Pakistan player to suffer this fate, although as it happens, the previous man to be stumped twice in a match was born in Pakistan – Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe, who suffered this fate against Sri Lanka in Harare in 2019-20.When Brian Lara scored his quadruple-century, which bowler conceded the most runs? It looks like Gareth Batty, but that’s not certain… asked John Hastings from England
When Brian Lara amassed 400 not out – still the highest individual score in Tests – in St John’s in Antigua in 2003-04, 130 of his runs came off the bowling of England’s offspinner Gareth Batty, who finished with 2 for 185. Lara scored the following off the other bowlers – Simon Jones: 83 runs, Matthew Hoggard: 50, Steve Harmison: 38, Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan: 36, and Marcus Trescothick: 27.According to the indefatigable Australian statistician Charles Davis, Batty lies third on the list of runs conceded by one bowler to a single batter in a Test innings. He’s behind the Sri Lankan offspinner Suraj Randiv, who leaked 143 runs while Chris Gayle was running up 333 for West Indies in Galle in 2010-11; and the Australian slow left-armer Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, who conceded 136 to Len Hutton during his 364 in the Ashes Test at The Oval in 1938. Fleetwood-Smith finished with 1 for 298, still the most expensive figures in Test history.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions