Ask Steven

The fastest 1000, and a man called Hogsflesh

Steven Lynch

October 17, 2005

Andrew Strauss: 1000 runs in 228 days - that's a healthy 4.3 runs per day © The Cricketer

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

In a recent column you talked about Marcus Trescothick being the quickest, in terms of time, to 5000 Test runs. But has anyone reached 1000 Test runs faster than Andrew Strauss? asked Robin Kearney

I think that's another record which passed everyone by, since Andrew Strauss reached 1000 Test runs in just 228 days, between his debut at Lord's on May 20, 2004, and reaching four figures during the third Test against South Africa at Cape Town in January 2005. And for once this isn't one of those records that has been broken repeatedly as Test cricket becomes more widespread - the previous mark was set way back in the 1920s, when Herbert Sutcliffe, another England opener, reached 1000 runs in just 244 days.

Who, after Jim Laker, has the best bowling figures in Tests and first-class cricket? asked Guy Hannaford from Australia

Jim Laker's 19 for 90 in the 1956 Old Trafford Test against Australia is one of those records that seems likely never to be bettered (although it's always dangerous to say things like that!). The next-best performance in an 11-a-side first-class match was by an earlier England spinner, Colin Blythe, who took 17 for 48 - 10 for 30 and 7 for 18 - for Kent against Northamptonshire at Northampton in 1907. The most recent instance of a bowler taking 17 wickets in a match came when John Davison took 17 for 137 for Canada against the USA at Fort Lauderdale in 2004. For a complete list, click here (note that it includes some performances in early matches which are usually considered to be first-class despite one or both sides containing more than 11 players).

In the recent Sri Lanka A-New Zealand A match Gareth Hopkins made ten dismissals in the match, including seven in the second innings (with two stumpings) - was this a record? asked Stewart Benson from New Zealand

The match you're talking about was the first "Test" on the recent tour of Sri Lanka, at Kandy, which New Zealand A won by three wickets. Their wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins made ten dismissals in the match, including seven in the second innings. That haul of seven equalled the New Zealand record, in which Hopkins already had a share with seven in an earlier New Zealand A international, against South Africa A at Centurion in 2004-05. Ten in a match also equalled the New Zealand record - again Hopkins already had a share in that, from Otago's match against Canterbury at Dunedin in 2004-05. The overall first-class record for an innings is nine dismissals, which has happened twice: by Tahir Rasheed for Habib Bank v PACO at Gujranwala in Pakistan in 1992-93; and by Wayne James for Matabeleland against Mashonaland Country Districts in Zimbabwe's Logan Cup final at Bulawayo in 1995-96. James went on to break the overall record for dismissals in a match, with 13 (11 caught, two stumped) - and also managed innings of 99 and 99 not out!

Sachin Tendulkar: 48 "List A" hundreds, and counting © Getty Images

Who has scored the most centuries in "List A" limited-overs matches? asked Sanjay Naik from the United States

Sachin Tendulkar leads the way with 48 hundreds in "List A" one-day cricket, 38 of them in one-day internationals and 10 in other games - he made three for Mumbai, two each for India Seniors, the Indians (on tour) and the Wills XI, and one for Yorkshire. Graham Gooch is next with 44 - 34 for Essex and eight for England in ODIs - ahead of Graeme Hick (39), Gordon Greenidge (33) and Sourav Ganguly (31).

My friend says that Viv Richards's 189 and Courtney Walsh's spell of 5 for 1 came in the same match, but I don't think they were. Can you help? asked Babu Ramanujam from Singapore

Well, you're right: those two exceptional performances did come in different matches. Viv Richards's 189 not out, the highest individual score in ODIs at the time, came against England at Old Trafford in 1984. But Courtney Walsh's 5 for 1 came against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in 1986-87. Viv Richards was playing in that match - in fact he was West Indies' captain - when Walsh mopped up the Sri Lankan tail to finish with the amazing figures of 4.3-3-1-5.

Stephen Pile's Book of Heroic Failures reports the spectacular failure of a West End play entitled Mr H which, though billed as a farce, derived its sole humour for the naming of the lead character as Hogsflesh, "after a well-known cricketer". Who was he? asked Charles Curry

William Hogsflesh played for the Hambledon club in Hampshire, at a time when they were the most powerful cricket team in the country. He was born in 1744, and died in 1818, and is referred to in the Who's Who of Cricketers as "one of the most famous bowlers connected with the Hambledon Club". His entry continues: "His career seems to have been a short one, ending when he was only 32 years of age." He played a few matches for Hampshire between 1769 and 1775.

Steven Lynch is the deputy editor of The Wisden Group. For some of these answers he was helped by Travis Basevi, the man who built Stats Guru and the Wisden Wizard. If you want to Ask Steven a question, contact him through our feedback form. The most interesting questions will be answered each week in this column. Unfortunately, we can't usually enter into correspondence about individual queries.

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