Q&A session with cricket statistician Bharath Seervi

Ricky Ponting

1. Who has the next best set of 52 Test matches as a batsman after Don Bradman and 27 matches as a bowler after Sydney Barnes? - Asked by Manish Achuth, Bangalore, India by Email

Don Bradman scored 6996 runs at an average of 99.94 in 80 innings of 52 Test matches he played. No batsman has aggregated that much in career’s any consecutive 52 tests. The next best is 5813 runs by Ricky Ponting from March 8, 2002 to November 23, 2006 at an average of 74.52 (Test no. 55 to 106). He played 92 innings in that period which included 23 centuries and 20 half-centuries. Next to Ponting comes Brian Lara with 5576 runs between April 6, 2001 and November 23, 2006 at 61.27 with 19 hundreds and 17 fifties (Test no. 79 to 130).

Sydney Barnes accumulated 189 wickets in his Test career of 27 matches. But Barnes’ tally is not the highest in a career’s any consecutive 27 tests. Muttiah Muralitharan got more than Barnes. Muralitharan took 205 wickets in 27 tests (Test no. 83 to 109) between December 2, 2003 and December 7, 2006 at an average of 18.15 and strike rate of 43.10 with 10 wickets in a match seven times and 5 wickets in an inning 18 times. Muralitharan had another sequence of 205 wickets (Test no. 85 to 111). Among pace bowlers, it is Waqar Younis with the next best aggregate wickets in 27 consecutive tests. He took 177 wickets between October 10, 1990 and September 28, 1994 (Test no. 6 to 32).

2. Who has the highest batting average in Sheffield Shield in Australia and County Championship in England? – Asked by Rahul Dharangaonkar, Bangalore, India on Twitter

In Sheffield Sheild in Australia, the leader is the Donald Bradman for players with a minimum of 5000 runs in the tournament. Bradman scored 8926 runs in Sheffield Shield in 62 matches and 96 innings at an average of 110.29 that included 36 hundreds and 20 fifties. The next best is his Bill Ponsford with an average of 83.27 in 43 matches and 70 innings that yielded him 5413 runs with 21 hundreds and 14 fifties. The highest among batsmen with 9000+ runs in the tournament (Bradman tops till that cutoff) is 60.69 by Michael Bevan.

In County Championship in England, the highest average among batsmen with minimum of 15000 runs in the tournament is by Kumar Ranjitsinhji. He averaged 62.04 in 187 matches and 297 innings scoring 16194 runs with 50 hundreds and 68 fifties. Among batsmen with a minimum of 25000 runs, the best average is 58.18 by Mark Ramprakash. Ramprakash played 353 matches, 585 innings and scored 29731 runs with 103 hundreds and 119 fifties.

3. Karn Sharma in his debut Test went for 24 runs in an over. Is it the highest in an over for a debutant? – Asked by Soumyadut Nag, India by Email

It is indeed the highest number of runs conceded in an over by a bowler in his debut test. Karn Sharma conceded 24 runs to Mitchell Marsh (6, 4, 0, 6, 2, 6) in the 64th over of Australia’s second inning at Adelaide on December 12, 2014. The previous dubious record was 21 runs by three bowlers – by Lance Klusener (SA) vs India at Kolkata in November 1996, by Colin Stuart (WI) vs Australia at Melbourne in December 2000 and by Pankaj Singh (Ind) vs England at Southampton in July 2014. Mohammad Azharuddin hit five consecutive fours in a Lance Klusener over on the South African all-rounder’s debut (21 runs).

4. What is the maximum number of runs off a single (legal) delivery in Tests and FC? Brathwaite got 7 (including an overthrown boundary) off Philander at Cape Town in the 3rdtest of the series. – Asked by Ajai Banerjee, Jaipur, India on Facebook.

Kraigg Brathwaite got off to the mark with seven runs in the 2nd innings of the test match at Centurion on January 4, 2015. That is the highest number of runs to get off the mark in Test cricket. But, it is not the highest number of runs in a single legal delivery. The most runs off a single delivery is 8 runs, not the extras. It has happened five times in the history of test cricket.

Batsman	Bowler	Runs	Venue	Year
Patsy Hendren (Eng)	Percy Hornibrook (Aus)	4 all-run + 4 overthrows	Melbourne	1928/29
Vijay Hazare (Ind)*	-	-	Mumbai (BS)	1951/52
John Wright (NZ)	Lenny Pascoe (Aus)	4 all-run + 4 overthrows	Melbourne	1980/81
Brian Lara (WI)	Nicky Boze (SA)	3 all-run + 5 penalties	Port of Spain	2004/05
Andrew Symonds (Aus)	Iain O'Brien (NZ)	4 all-run + 4 overthrows	Brisbane	2008/09

*Details missing for Hazare’s instance.

In first-class cricket, the most runs off a single delivery recorded is ten runs – AN Hornby for Lancashire vs Surrey, Oval, 1873 and SH Hill-Wood for Derbyshire vs MCC, Lord’s, 1900. In 1842, FCB Ponsonby ran nine runs for MCC vs Cambridge University.

5. How many runs had Sachin scored in the same number of ODIs and Tests as Virat Kohli? – Asked by Ram Narayanan, Chennai, India on Facebook

In Tests, Virat Kohli has scored 2547 runs in 33 matches and 59 innings at 46.30 with 10 hundreds and 10 fifties. In 33 Tests, Sachin Tendulkar had 2412 runs in 42 innings at 51.00 with 7 hundreds and 10 fifties. In 59 innings, Sachin Tendulkar had 2837 runs at 54.55 with 10 hundreds and 13 fifties.

In ODIs, Virat Kohli has scored 6208 runs in 146 matches and 138 innings at 52.61 with 21 hundreds and 33 fifties. In 146 ODIs, Sachin Tendulkar had 5197 runs in 143 innings at 40.28 with 11 hundreds and 32 fifties.