And how often have England been dismissed for less than 58?
Steven Lynch26-Mar-2018How often have England been dismissed for less than 58? asked Raymond Spicer from New Zealand
England’s 58 all out in Auckland was their sixth-lowest total in any Test match. Their lowest of all – a record in severe danger when the score at Eden Park read 27 for 9 – was 45 against Australia in Sydney in 1886-87, a match that England ended up winning (they made 184 in their second innings, and bowled Australia out for 119 and 97). Next comes the Curtly Ambrose-inspired collapse to 46 all out against West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1993-94, the only other time England have been skittled for less than 50.England were all out for 51 against West Indies in Kingston in 2008-09, for 52 against Australia at The Oval in 1948 (Don Bradman’s last Test), and 53 against Australia at Lord’s in 1888. Their previous lowest total against New Zealand was 64 in Wellington in 1977-78.It was the 34th time England had been bowled out for less than 100 in a Test match.How many times have the last pair doubled the score in a Test, as England’s did at Eden Park? asked Peter Ryan from England
That last-gasp flourish from Craig Overton and James Anderson – who took England’s score in Auckland from 27 for 9 to the relative riches of 58 – was only the fourth time the tenth-wicket pair has doubled a team’s total in a Test match. The first instance was at The Oval in 1980, when Peter Willey and Bob Willis lifted England from 92 for 9 to 209 for 9, at which point Ian Botham declared with the match safe.It happened again in Cape Town in 2011-12, when Australia’s last pair, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon, took the score from 21 for 9 to 47 all out. And the most recent instance was also by Australia, at Trent Bridge in 2013, when Phillip Hughes and Ashton Agar turned 117 for 9 into 280.Rashid Khan took his 100th wicket in one-day internationals the other day. Is he the fastest bowler to reach this milestone? asked Benoit Briens from France
The Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan took his 100th ODI wicket – Shai Hope of West Indies – in the final of the World Cup Qualifier in Harare on Sunday. It came in his 44th match, easily breaking the previous mark of 52, by Mitchell Starc. Saqlain Mushtaq took 53 matches, Shane Bond 54, Brett Lee 55, Trent Boult 56 and Imran Tahir 58. Then come Morne Morkel, Irfan Pathan and Waqar Younis, who all needed 59 matches to reach three figures.Rashid, who’s still only 19, was also the youngest to reach 100 ODI wickets: Saqlain and Abdul Razzaq were both 20, while Pathan and Shahid Afridi were both 21. Saqlain remains the record-holder in terms of time: it took him only 592 days to get there. Pathan took 832 days, while Rashid needed 890, three fewer than Zaheer Khan.Peter Willey (batting) added 117 runs with Bob Willis for the ninth wicket against West Indies at The Oval, 1980•PA Photos/Getty ImagesHas any South African ever done better against Australia than KG Rabada’s 11 wickets at St George’s Park? asked Michael Labuschagne from South Africa
Kagiso Rabada’s match figures of 11 for 150 in Port Elizabeth have been bettered for South Africa against Australia only by the great offspinner Hugh Tayfield, with 13 for 165 in Melbourne in 1952-53. Charles Llewellyn (1902-03), Fanie de Villiers (1993-94), Makhaya Ntini (2005-06) and Dale Steyn (2008-09) took ten wickets in a Test for South Africa against the Aussies.The best figures in matches between the two countries remain Clarrie Grimmett’s 14 for 199 for Australia in Adelaide in 1931-32. Grimmett took ten or more wickets against South Africa in three other Tests, all of them during his final series, in SA in 1935-36. Mitchell Johnson, Dainty Ironmonger and Shane Warne (twice) have also had better match figures than Rabada in Australia-South Africa Tests.Chris Gayle was dismissed by the first ball of the recent World Cup qualifying match against Scotland. It’s happened to him before – has anyone suffered this misfortune more than twice? asked Craig Forbes from Barbados
That dismissal by Scotland’s Safyaan Sharif in Harare last week was indeed the second time Chris Gayle had fallen to the very first ball of a one-day international: it also happened in Adelaide in 2009-10, when he was lbw to Australia’s Doug Bollinger.Gayle was the 14th batsman to fall twice to the first ball of an ODI: the others are Hashim Amla, Sherwin Campbell, Aaron Finch, Sourav Ganguly, Herschelle Gibbs, Roshan Mahanama, Rameez Raja, Tamim Iqbal, Upul Tharanga, Marcus Trescothick, Philo Wallace, Shane Watson and John Wright. But one man stands alone in being dismissed by the opening delivery of three separate one-day internationals: Australia’s Adam Gilchrist fell to Shaun Pollock in Melbourne in 2001-02 and again in Brisbane in 2005-06, and in between was dismissed by Wasim Akram in Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium in June 2002. For the full list, click here.Leave your questions in the comments