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The standout numbers from the final day of the Test series in Christchurch

Sampath Bandarupalli11-Mar-202413 Consecutive Test series without a defeat for New Zealand at home before losing to Australia. New Zealand’s last series defeat was in a three-match series against South Africa in March 2017. New Zealand played 13 two-match Test series at home between the two series defeats, winning in ten while another three ended in a draw.210 Runs scored by the Australia batters at No.6 and lower during the fourth innings. These are the most by any team’s No.6 and lower batters in a successful fourth-innings chase, surpassing the 190 by Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe in 2017.7 Consecutive Test wins for Australia against New Zealand in New Zealand. It is the joint-second longest winning streak against the home team in Test cricket. England won each of their first eight Tests in South Africa between 1889 and 1899, while New Zealand also won their recent seven Tests in Zimbabwe (since 2000).ESPNcricinfo Ltd15-1 Australia’s win-loss record while chasing a target against New Zealand in Test cricket. The 2011 Hobart Test was the only time Australia lost while chasing against New Zealand in Tests. The 279-run chase in Christchurch is now the highest that Australia chased successfully against New Zealand.247 Runs scored by Australia after the fall of the fourth wicket in the chase. These are the third-most runs scored by any team after losing their fourth wicket in a successful fourth-innings chase in Test cricket. The previous highest for Australia was 244 against Pakistan in the 1999 Hobart Test, where they were 125 for 4 in a 369-run chase.98* Alex Carey’s score in the Christchurch chase is the second-highest by a wicketkeeper in a successful fourth-innings chase in Tests. Adam Gilchrist’s unbeaten 149 against Pakistan in 1999 in Hobart is the highest.ESPNcricinfo Ltd140 Partnership runs between Mitchell Marsh and Carey is the third-highest in a successful fourth-innings chase in Tests for the sixth or lower wicket. The highest is 238 between Justin Langer and Gilchrist for the sixth wicket against Pakistan in 1999.2 Individual scores by No.7 or lower batters in a successful fourth-innings chase in Tests higher than Carey’s 98 not out in Christchurch. Gilchrist’s 149 not out against Pakistan came while batting at No.7, while Gilbert Jessop scored 104, also at No.7 against Australia in 1902 at The Oval.3 Instances of Australia successfully chasing a target of 250-plus runs since 2008. During this period, Australia lost chasing 250-plus targets on 25 occasions, while another four ended in a draw. Johannesburg 2011 (310), Birmingham 2023 (281) and Christchurch 2024 (279) are those wins. Pat Cummins hit a boundary to close the chase in all three instances.

In this interview, Axar talks about the T20 World Cup triumph, the celebrations that have followed, his batting, and his role going forward

Ashish Pant20-Jul-2024″So many people dream of such things and out of them, we 15 have lived the dream.”It’s been three weeks since Axar Patel played a key role – with bat and ball – in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph, but the aftereffects of that memorable day in Barbados continue to ring loud among Indian fans.This outpouring of love and gratitude is something that Axar is still wrapping his head around. Open-bus parades, felicitations in the hometowns, celebrations that don’t seem like stopping any time soon. Has it sunk in yet for Axar that he is now a T20 world champion?Related

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“Not yet to be honest. And even if we want to, the others are not letting us do it. The kind of atmosphere there is, the people are not letting it sink in. The kind of welcome we are getting, the kind of reception we are getting, locally too, is great. It’s been really enjoyable these last few days,” Axar tells ESPNcricinfo in an interview facilitated by JSW Sports. “I am not much of a social guy. But when I came back, everyone was showing so much love. Even when I came to Gujarat, I think I reached home after 12am, and even then, people came in huge numbers to meet me. It was incredible.”That is when I thought how much craze there is for cricket in this country. It felt that along with us the entire country and the people have won this trophy. I feel fortunate and I am glad to witness these things.”Going back three weeks things could have been much different for India if not for Axar’s timely 31-ball 47 at a critical juncture. Batting first in the final, three of India’s top four were back in the shed inside the first five overs. That meant a promotion almost out of the blue for Axar. He had been asked to bat at No. 4 in an earlier group game against Pakistan, but to be promoted in the final, with his side in trouble, was a test of his mental aptitude.Axar says the key to that innings was to not second-guess himself and opt for a simple see-ball, hit-ball approach.”I came to know about the promotion barely four or five balls before I went out to bat,” Axar says. “It wasn’t that long. When Rishabh [Pant] got out, I was asked to get ready and I think in the next over itself Surya [Suryakumar Yadav] got out.Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya keep the party going•BCCI”I wasn’t nervous. Obviously, there is pressure on you, but at the time, I didn’t understand how to react. I don’t think when I went to bat there was anything going on in my mind. I had gone with a see-ball, hit-ball mindset. I was not thinking about anything, not worrying about the consequences, there were no second thoughts in my mind.”I consistently communicated with Virat [Kohli] , so I didn’t feel that I have come in early and that I have to do something different. I kept talking with Virat and we communicated clearly about what we have to do.”Axar’s role in the Indian side is of a spin-bowling allrounder who can be useful with the bat lower down the order. But his batting has been on an upswing, especially in the last year or so. In IPL 2024, he was often employed as a floater, at times coming in at No. 3 or 4 for Delhi Capitals, and that’s a role he has been asked to do in the Indian team as well of late.Not having a permanent batting position in a line-up can be off-putting for a player, but not for Axar who sees being a floater in a positive way.”Every batsman likes to have a fixed batting position because it becomes a bit easy for him to plan for his role. But as a floater, I feel that the captain and coach trust you which is why they are sending you in tough situations. I am taking that in a positive way,” he says. “When the team needs someone to stand up, they are banking on me to deliver. That means they have seen something in me. When the team trusts you to deliver in such crunch situations, you start trusting yourself even more automatically. And once you deliver in one or two matches, it gives your confidence a different sort of boost altogether.”It is not as if this has happened just once or twice. I have been asked to perform this role for Delhi Capitals and other teams as well. After a point, you get used to it and it doesn’t matter which position you are batting in. You are confident in batting in any position and you know what to do in that situation.”But how does Axar classify himself, as a batting allrounder or a bowling allrounder?”, allrounder (Whatever works for me on a given day, I become that variety of allrounder),” he says with a smile. “If my bowling clicks, I am a bowling allrounder; if the batting clicks, then batting allrounder. I started off as a batsman, so I think I like my batting more. In the last two or three years, the kind of batting I have been doing, I feel I am now capable. I was not doing justice to my batting in the earlier years.”Axar Patel gave the India innings some impetus in the T20 World Cup final•Getty ImagesIndia will next be travelling for a three-game T20I and ODI series to Sri Lanka and Axar is part of both squads. The T20I leg will mark Suryakumar’s first stint as full-time T20I captain after Rohit Sharma retired from the format, and also Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment as India head coach.Axar, who played five T20Is against Australia under Suryakumar’s leadership last year, described him as a “bowler’s captain” and one who likes to keep the “atmosphere lively and cool.””I have spent a lot of time with Suryakumar. Surya is a happy-go-lucky guy. He keeps the atmosphere lively, loves doing mimicry and such fun stuff. I know he will keep the atmosphere cool,” Axar says. “I recently played a five-game T20I series when he was the captain. I know he is a bowler’s captain. He gives the bowlers the fields they ask for. And it was like that with me, too. I don’t think there will be a lot of change. We will get to know now playing under his captaincy about his mindset. You can’t judge someone’s captaincy by one tour. When we play more, we will get to know more of his captaincy style.”With Gautam , yes, we will go to Sri Lanka, there will be meetings, we will exchange a few thoughts and after that I will get to know exactly what my role is and what he thinks. I will get more clarity on that only after that.”Axar made his India debut back in 2014, and in ten years, he has only played 14 Tests, 57 ODIs and 60 T20I games. But finally, after all these years, he seems to have found a permanent spot at least in the white-ball scheme of things. Ravindra Jadeja’s retirement from T20Is makes Axar the leading spin-bowling allrounder in the format, as he was selected ahead of Jadeja for the ODI series for Sri Lanka as well.Axar, however, isn’t looking too far ahead of himself and wants to focus on short-term goals.”I can only set my goals based on the kind of role I am expected to perform. It shouldn’t happen that I am asked to perform some role and my goals don’t align with it,” he says. “I don’t believe in long-term planning. I just look at the present, what’s in front of me and just the short-term goals is what I look at.”

England’s No. 3 rides his luck throughout but still takes 121 off West Indies

Vithushan Ehantharajah18-Jul-20240:43

Pope on ‘lucky charm’ Ramsdale: He can come more often!

Is there such a thing as a ‘bad’ Test hundred? Ollie Pope’s sixth Test century fit snugly into this philosophical navel.His 167 balls at the crease were a neat microcosm of the first day of this second Test at Nottingham. Those 88.3 overs were as fast-food as Test cricket gets. Big chomps of low-grade, error-reared beef interspersed with the occasional mouthful of high-quality fries that will leave both teams feeling a little icky as they lie down on Thursday evening.West Indies will feel it worse. Kraigg Brathwaite’s decision to bowl first under clear blue skies and on a baize-like outfield allowed Ben Duckett to nail into the Trent Bridge pockets like peak Ronnie O’Sullivan, his breezy 71 more than covering for the loss of Zak Crawley three balls into the start. Four drops, a missed stumping and ragged ground fielding – despite the carpet surface – let England off the hook, allowing them to pass over any introspection into their own carelessness.Five batters made it to 30, but only three went beyond 60; among those only Pope reached three figures. Ben Stokes looked set to join his vice-captain to a milestone but instead gave Kavem Hodge a maiden Test wicket. Harry Brook fluffed a scoop to short leg, having already been given a life on 24. Joe Root’s awry hook undid a patient start. Is there such a thing as a “bad” 400-plus score? It might be this one, you know.Even Pope walked off unsatisfied with his 121. He was shelled on 46 before lunch, lashing one to Alick Athanaze at gully – and again on 54 soon after, a simple catch dropped by Jason Holder at second slip and almost redeemed by Hodge at first. Having got through that period, offering up a third chance when there were runs to plunder late in the day was an opportunity squandered.Related

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“A nice couple of drops, which always helps,” Pope ceded bashfully at stumps. It certainly does when you are emerging from a peculiar run of form emanating from the innings of a lifetime.Pope’s stunning 196 in the heist of Hyderabad prompted a dire run that spilled over into his domestic season for Surrey. In 18 first-class innings leading into this West Indies series from that first India Test, Pope averaged 19.05. His 57 at Lord’s last week was just his second half-century in the period, following a gritty 64 against Worcestershire at The Oval.Those struggles in the final four India Tests were not for a lack of effort. But it was the famine in the County Championship that had Pope scrabbling. Surrey might be top of Division One, but Pope’s average of 22.88 from seven games sticks out like a sore thumb considering he arrived into the season with a red-ball average of 70.31 for his county.He rejected any notion of doubts. But he admitted to a degree of pressure because of what he now represents, both to his peers, and to himself:
“You’re like ‘Why’s everyone else in the country scoring runs in county cricket but England’s No. 3 isn’t going out and averaging 50 this summer?'”Privately, he reflected that he should have taken more time off at the start of the season to fully shed the toil of three gruelling months overseas. But it was during a round off ahead of this series – when Surrey played Essex – that he set about some corrective work with England batting coach Marcus Trescothick.Were those improvements visible today? Sort of… ish?The drops scream at you, but there were plenty of sweet-sounding strikes in there, particularly the six off Shamar Joseph, picked up off the hip over deep square leg, among the scuff and strikes nailed at fielders. Pope’s restraint was evident by the fact this was comfortably the most leg-side of his centuries, split 47/74. The single that took him to 83 was his first run in front of square on the off side, followed by a crisp punch through the covers an over later.Pope brings up his sixth Test hundred•PA Images via Getty ImagesThough undoubtedly fortunate, this ranks third when you look at the false-shot percentage of his six hundreds: below Hyderabad (21%) and his double hundred against Ireland last summer (19%) on 15%.Maybe that says more about those two innings than this one. But while this England team moves towards refinement, the old ways – bringing up the team 50 from 4.2 overs; reaching 100 in 17.2; putting 281 on the board by the time Pope was the fifth man to fall at the start of the 58th over – kept them moving forward, unperturbed by the rakes that lay ahead.How else to explain their immediate recovery from 0 for 1 in the first over, and how Pope shed the drops when others would have dwelled on them? “It’s kind of like a play and miss,” he explained, delving into the mentality of parking what, to rest of us, appeared to be grievous mistakes.”Sometimes I slash at a wide one and miss, and think ‘lucky I didn’t nick that’. I use it as a lesson, think it’s not the option to take. With batting, you are never going to be completely perfect.”Cricket goes in [swings and] roundabouts. My luck wasn’t with me in my county stint, but every now and then, you get a bit of luck in international cricket and it’s just trying to make it count as much as you can.”1:12

Pope explains his attitude to being dropped after his 121

England were certainly not completely perfect on Thursday – not even a little bit. This was a day that loaded questions onto West Indies and did not provide England with any answers. But they did make it count.For Pope, the England batter under the most scrutiny heading into this summer, this was at the very least a score of note to bank for a player thriving at No. 3 – with an average of 44.45 – while still trying to figure the role out.If this century unlocks a more comfortable Pope, then it’s served its purpose. And so maybe there is no such thing as a bad Test century. It’s like what they say about pizza – even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

Rain had a part to play in ruining the first two days of the Test but there was no easy excuse for how the third one turned out

Alagappan Muthu29-Sep-2024″”It kept piercing the silence, the sound from one solitary horn. Usually, it accompanies revelry at a cricket ground. Here it may as well have been an entreaty. A significant crowd had gathered at Green Park and they wanted to see something, anything, besides the covers that were practically nailed into the turf on Saturday.Aditya, a young boy, was among them, wearing the India ODI jersey. He had come from out of station to watch his first day of live cricket. Sadly that was too much to ask in Kanpur. His father, in an effort to try and make it up to him, got him a bowl of before they made their way back home.This was not the “Shine Green Park” experience that the stadium officials were hoping for.Perhaps it was best Aditya and his dad weren’t here on Sunday. They would have been put through an even more perplexing experience. The covers had all been peeled off. The stumps had been put in. Paint was applied to the bowling crease. And best of all there was no rain from at least 8am. It still wasn’t enough for play to take place. The teams didn’t even make it to the stadium.Related

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The weather forecast for this Test was poor. The monsoon which usually recedes by mid-September has been hanging back for a little too long. When the players went off for bad light on the first day, there was torrential downpour. A significant part of why there has been no play over the last 48 hours is because of the rain leading up to them. There has barely been any in the time the game was supposed to be happening. Maybe a drizzle here and there on Saturday. Absolutely none on Sunday. This casts the facilities at Green Park in poor light.Earlier this month, the Kanpur district magistrate visited the stadium to test its readiness for the India-Bangladesh Test. He had concerns about the drainage system and, according to local reports, left instructions “to fix it in two days”. There’s certainly been some improvement over the years. In September 2017, a Duleep Trophy game held here was put to bed after no play for three successive days.It might almost have been good if this debacle had happened in front of empty stands, but they’ve been relatively packed. The crowd has found ways to keep their spirits up, belting out slogans, bashing on their drums and creating the festive atmosphere that the venue director Sanjay Kapoor had made a heartfelt plea for. In return, he and the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association have given them a really raw deal. It’s tempting to wonder if they even tried.On Thursday, when asked about Green Park’s protection against the weather they were facing, Kapoor said, “All covers have been arranged for the pitch, there are two super soppers [they eventually had to borrow one more from Lucknow] and the drainage system is in place. Recently, we encountered the most torrential rainfall, but our stadium wasn’t impacted. (God has tested us, now we leave the rest to almighty).”On Sunday, hundreds of people saw the umpires make their inspections. They expected the groundstaff to spring into action after that. But that never happened. A pair of birds spent more time bouncing around on the outfield than anybody who had anything to do with getting it fit for purpose. It was not a good look and it raised a whole load of questions. Some relating to competence, others relating to resources.Umpires Chris Brown and Richard Kettleborough examine a few wet spots on the outfield•AFP/Getty Images”You see organisers do all sorts of things, use iron boxes, hair dryers to dry the ground,” a fan, who works nights and as a result isn’t sure if he can make it back to the match, said on his way out. “You can see them make the effort.”We spent INR 500 for tickets, sat through for six hours in this humidity, haven’t eaten anything since morning, haven’t slept. We couldn’t even step out of the stadium since we won’t be allowed a re-entry. So we had to stay put hoping that play would start at some point. Even if nothing was possible, if we could have seen Virat [Kohli]’s face or Rohit [Sharma]’s face, that would’ve been worth it.”There were multiple explanations for the Test sliding into limbo. Up in the press box, the UPCA representatives claimed the delay had nothing to do with the outfield, that it was actually because of bad light. A member of the groundstaff believes that the umpires felt more comfortable starting if the sun had been out. Clearly, they didn’t run this line out to the person manning the big screen because on it flashed the words “Day 3 play called off due to wet outfield.”Umpires Richard Kettleborough and Chris Brown certainly paid a great deal of attention to the mid-off region for a right-hand batter facing up from the media box end and seemed to point to it when they met with support-staff members from both teams. At no point were they seen with their light meters out. Why would they make so many trips onto the field and check the same parts of it – mid-off, gully, bowlers’ run-ups – if it was just the light that wasn’t right? Whatever the case, at 2pm, the worst-kept secret in Kanpur broke. There could be no cricket possible, in b(ro)ad (day)light and with no rain.The first two days going by the wayside had a lot to do with the weather. The third one seemed salvageable and the fact that it couldn’t be salvaged only adds to the dysfunction that has surrounded this game. There were protests against this Test by some right-wing political groups. It led to increased police presence, some deployed on the rooftops of houses at the start of each day. The stadium couldn’t support a full house because one of its stands had become structurally unsound. The organisers had to cap entry into it in order to make it safe. The cricket, while it was on, tried its best to be a distraction but it was no match for the constant off-field drama. And then it simply disappeared.

Australia’s middle-order veteran understands the entertainment aspect of the power surge but feels it is hindering the development of players

Alex Malcolm13-Dec-2024One of Australia’s T20I middle-order mainstays Marcus Stoinis says the BBL should revisit the rules around the shortened powerplay and power surge as he believes it is detrimental to developing middle-order T20 batters.The new Melbourne Stars captain is uniquely qualified on the subject having become an outstanding middle-order T20I batter for Australia and a highly sought-after player for that role in franchise cricket around the world, including the IPL, after making his name as an opener in the BBL.Stoinis, 35, was a key match-winner at No. 5 and 6 in Australia’s 2021 T20 World Cup triumph and was one of the best performed batters at the most recent T20 World Cups for Australia in 2022 and 2024. But Australia’s middle-order was a weak-point overall in the 2024 edition, compared to 2021, as they failed in two chases against Afghanistan and India and missed the semi-finals.Related

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On Thursday he was asked if there was a rule within the BBL he would like changed and Stoinis diplomatically suggested the surge should be revisited.”I usually steer clear from this sort of stuff,” Stoinis said. “But I think, personally, if we’re building towards our Australian T20 team being as good as it can, I think having the surge and shorter powerplay at the start. I think that sort of makes it hard for middle-order batters in the Big Bash to push a case for international cricket, and to learn the way to play through those middle-overs in international cricket.”I understand why they’ve done it, and I understand the entertainment aspect, but I think it’s probably a question that needs to be spoken about.”The power surge is a unique rule to the BBL competition having come in as part of three new rules that were introduced in 2020-21, alongside the X-Factor and the Bash Boost.The surge was designed to create a different dynamic in the second half of the innings, with the standard six-over powerplay reduced to four overs at the start and two surge overs, with just two men allowed outside the circle, to be used any time after the 10-over mark of the innings.It has been a hit with fans, but the issue from an international standpoint is that middle-order/death batting in T20I and IPL cricket has become a power game with specialists needed to score at well in-excess of 10 runs per over with five men out. The surge has allowed less powerful middle-order players to face 12 deliveries against an older ball with just two men out.Jordan Silk is someone who has had a significant role in the power surge•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesPlayers have been able to find the boundary more freely without needing to clear the men on the fence, like they would in international cricket. International middle-order batting is even harder in Australia compared to overseas because of the size of the grounds. But the surge lessens that challenge in the BBL.The leading runscorer in the power surge since it was introduced has been Jordan Silk, scoring 233 runs off 139 balls. But he has struck just three sixes off those 139 balls, instead finding the rope 31 times and also scoring three threes, which are incredibly rare in T20 cricket. Stoinis smashed five sixes in his most recent T20I innings in Australia, when he scored 61 not out off 27 balls against Pakistan, with all five sixes being struck while Pakistan had five men on the rope.The BBL has been flexible with the rules and open to feedback. The competition leadership was happy to abandon both the X-Factor and Bash Boost as it was felt neither were having the impact they were initially designed to have.But the surge has remained as it has been a hit with fans and broadcasters. The BBL are adding to the entertainment factor this year both inside the stadium and on the broadcast after success during the WBBL, with young kids involved in hitting a ‘Surge button’ at the venue to light-up the stadium and announce the surge overs. There has not been a discussion within the BBL to have the surge reviewed at the moment.Stoinis’ sentiment highlights the ongoing push and pull between the ‘entertainment’ of the BBL and the development of Australia’s domestic talent for international cricket.Australia’s selectors and coaching staff are already looking to regenerate the T20I side ahead of the 2026 after long-time No. 7 Matthew Wade and opener David Warner retired at the end of the last World Cup. Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell, 36, could well be involved in the 2026 World Cup but will almost certainly not play beyond that.The middle-order axis of Maxwell, Stoinis, Tim David and Wade, which has been the bedrock of Australia’s T20I side at the last two World Cups, will need to be completely reshaped in the near future. In the case of Stoinis and Wade, both men developed their middle-overs and death batting skills at T20I level or in franchise cricket overseas in part because of how they were used by their BBL sides.But there is a concern the surge isn’t helping the next generation of players, like Aaron Hardie, get true middle-over experience at BBL level with five men out, with Hardie scoring 109 runs from 55 balls in the surge for just two dismissals.

Also: what is the highest percentage of team runs contributed by two batters in a Test?

Steven Lynch29-Jul-2025I know Charles Bannerman still holds the record for the highest percentage of a completed Test innings. But what’s the record for the highest percentage by two batters? Did Harry Brook and Jamie Smith get close at Birmingham? asked Kunal from India

Harry Brook scored 158 and Jamie Smith an unbeaten 184 in England’s 407 in the second Test against India at Edgbaston earlier this month. That’s 84.03%, which comes in fourth on the list for a pair of batters in a completed Test innings. Leading the way are Mushfiqur Rahim (175 not out) and Liton Das (141), who made 86.58% of the runs in Bangladesh’s 365 against Sri Lanka in Mirpur in 2022.Next come Kepler Wessels (74) and Peter Kirsten (52) with 85.14% of South Africa’s 148 in their comeback Test against West Indies in Bridgetown, in 1992, and Rohan Kanhai (84) and Seymour Nurse (70) with 85.08% of West Indies’ 181 against Australia in Melbourne in 1960. Nurse features in fifth place too: in his final Test, against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1969, he scored 258 and Joey Carew 91 – 83.69% of the total of 417.It’s probably worth repeating that Charles Bannerman does still hold the record for one batter in a completed Test innings, set in the very first Test of all, in Melbourne in March 1877. His 165 (retired hurt) in Australia’s first innings represented 67.34% of the total of 245.Shubman Gill’s batting average improved by 6.15 after the second Test. Was this the highest jump for anyone who had played 50 or more innings? asked Sagar Iyer from India

Shubman Gill’s Test batting average climbed from 36.57 to 42.72 after that stunning double of 269 and 161 in the second Test against England at Edgbaston earlier this month. It was his 34th Test, and his 62nd and 63rd innings.This is indeed the biggest improvement in a player’s Test batting average, given a minimum of 50 innings: Gill just squeezed past England’s Wally Hammond, whose 336 not out against New Zealand in Christchurch early in 1933 – his 64th innings – improved his average by exactly 6.00, from 60.63 to 66.33. The 311 (and 4 not out) of Australia’s Bob Simpson at Old Trafford in 1964 raised his average by 5.94 to 41.87, while Zaheer Abbas’s 235 and 34 – both not out – against India in Lahore in 1978 improved his by 5.60 to 44.25. Another Pakistani, Younis Khan, boosted his average by 5.38 by scoring 267 and 84 not out against India in Bangalore in 2005.Leicestershire’s total of 398 the other day included three centuries, one of them over 150 – surely a record? asked Ben Preedy from England

That remarkable innings in Leicestershire’s Championship match in Derby last week included 115 from Rehan Ahmed, 151 from Lewis Hill and 101 from skipper Peter Handscomb. The other eight batters contributed just 15 runs between them – there were four ducks (and a 0 not out).Almost as remarkably, this is not the lowest all-out total to include three centuries: in a Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Bangalore in 2014, three batters – Robin Uthappa, Karun Nair and Chidhambaram Gautam – all made exactly 100 as Karnataka scored 349 against Uttar Pradesh. There were four ducks too. Leicestershire’s innings, though, is the lowest to include three centuries of which one was above 150.Mohammad Siraj is one of three bowlers to take five-fors inside 16 balls•Associated PressI noticed that in a one-day international in 2017 the Pakistan fast bowler Usman Shinwari took his fifth wicket with his 21st delivery. Was this the fastest five-wicket haul by balls? asked Zaheer Ahmed from Pakistan

That feat by left-armer Usman Shinwari came against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in October 2017. It is the quickest-known five-wicket haul for Pakistan in ODIs (we don’t have ball-by-ball details for all games), but there are a few faster ones overall.Three bowlers have taken their fifth wicket of an ODI innings with their 16th ball. Chaminda Vaas did so for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh during the 2003 World Cup, in Pietermaritzburg, where he took a hat-trick with the first three balls of the match and added another wicket in the first over. Mohammed Siraj followed suit for India against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2023. And you could be forgiven for having overlooked the United States seamer Ali Khan, who did it against Jersey in Windhoek (Namibia) in 2023.Shinwari was playing in his second ODI. Scotland’s Charlie Cassell started his international career against Oman in Dundee last July by taking five wickets in his first 19 balls, on the way to debut figures of 7 for 21. Ryan Burl (Zimbabwe) and Aryan Dutt (Netherlands) have picked up five wickets with their first 18 balls in a one-day international, while Timm van der Gugten of the Netherlands has done it in 20.Further to my recent query about players who scored centuries in the second and third innings of a Test, has anyone done it in the first and fourth innings? asked Nirmal Mendis from Sri Lanka
There were only two answers to your original question – and only one to this one! It requires someone to score a century in the first innings of a match, then watch the opposition follow-on but score enough runs to allow him to reach three figures in the final innings of the match. And that’s what happened to South Africa’s captain Alan Melville, in the first Test against England at Trent Bridge in 1947. He scored 189 as his side ran up 533, then England managed only 208. Denis Compton made 163 in the follow-on as England reached 551, which left South Africa a target of 227 in the four-day match. They made 166 for 1, with Melville reaching his second hundred of the match shortly before the draw was agreed.It gave Melville three centuries in successive Test innings, the first having come more than eight years before, in the famous Timeless Test in Durban in March 1939, and he added a fourth in the first innings of the next Test, at Lord’s.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions