One-day ducks, and carrying the bat

One-day ducks, and carrying the bat

Q: I know that Courtney Walsh was dismissed for a duck most often in Tests. But who holds the record for one-day internationals?

A: The leader here is probably something of a surprise - it's Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka, who has been out for 0 no fewer than 31 times in one-day internationals. He has played 421 of them - more than anyone else - so I suppose he's had more chances. In second place is Pakistan's Wasim Akram, with 25 ducks, ahead of a further trio of Sri Lankans - Chaminda Vaas (25), Jayasuriya's long-time opening partner Romesh Kaluwitharana (24), and Muttiah Muralitharan (23). For a full list of the most ducks in ODIs, click here. You're right in saying that Courtney Walsh holds the Test record, with 43 ducks.

Q: Openers who aren't dismissed during a full innings are said to have "carried their bat". Where does this rather quaint terminology originate from? It seems to me that all players have to carry their bats, whether they last one ball or hundreds?

A: The expression "carry the bat" seems to date from the very early days of cricket, and used to refer to any not-out batsman, not just an opener, although that stricter interpretation was common by the early 20th century. Michael Rundell, in the Wisden Dictionary of Cricket, says the expression comes from a time when the outgoing batsman left his bat in the crease for the next man in, and so the last undefeated batsman actually did literally carry the bat off the field (dismissed batsmen were often said to have "thrown down their bat"). Coming up to date I can only recall one batsman who didn't carry a bat - Bob Willis once went out to bat in a Test for England without one, having forgotten it and left it in the dressing room.

Q: Brett Lee has taken 309 wickets in 74 Tests, without a ten-wicket haul so far. Has anyone got more wickets without taking ten in a match?

A: Brett Lee is only the second man to reach 300 wickets in Test matches without ever taking ten in one - the other is the aforementioned Bob Willis, who took 325 wickets in 90 Tests but never managed more than nine in a match, which he did three times. Several other people have pointed out that Lee has never taken more than five wickets in an innings, which is unique among bowlers with more than 300 Test wickets. Andrew Flintoff, with 206 wickets and a best of 5 for 58, is next on this particular list. For a full list of Test cricket's leading wicket-takers,

Q: I noticed that South Africa had five ducks during their 429 in the second Test against Bangladesh. Was this the highest total to include as many as five scoreless innings?

A: Yes, South Africa's 429 against Bangladesh in Centurion recently was indeed the highest Test total to include as many as five ducks. South Africa also held the previous record, with five zeroes in their 390 against England in Johannesburg in 1938-39. The overall Test record is six ducks in an innings, which has happened three times (and the highest total involved was 128, by Pakistan v West Indies in Karachi in 1980-81). For a full list of Test innings containing five or six ducks.

Q: I was sorry to learn of the recent death of Paul Hibbert, who I watched bat in his only Test. The newspapers mentioned that he once scored a century without any boundaries - how many others have done this?

A: The late Paul Hibbert made exactly 100 without a four for Victoria against the touring Indians in Melbourne in 1977-78, a feat that won him his one and only Test cap shortly afterwards, against India in Brisbane in the match you saw. Hibbert made 13 and 2, and wasn't chosen again, even though he was a consistent scorer for Victoria for several years. I only know of two other centuries that did not include a boundary: Alan Hill, who also blocked for Derbyshire, made 103 for Orange Free State against Griqualand West in Bloemfontein in 1976-77 without reaching the fence, while during Australia's 1926 tour of England, Bill Woodfull completed his century against Surrey at The Oval without hitting a four, but did hit one afterwards before he was out for 118. Wisden stated that Woodfull "observed special skill in placing the ball between short leg and mid-on, where most of his 72 singles were registered ... he hit only one four, and that, as it happened, was the last stroke he made". The highest Test score without a boundary is Geoff Boycott's 77 for England against Australia in Perth in 1978-79. His score did include one four - but it was all-run, and didn't actually reach the rope.

Q: Which cricketer scored Test centuries on two consecutive days in 1948?

A: The answer to this is India's Vijay Hazare, who made 108 of his eventual 116 on the third day of the fourth Test against Australia in Adelaide in January 1948, then made 102 not out in the follow-on on the fourth day, eventually being out for 145 on the fifth. As I mentioned in last week's column, Hazare also bowled Don Bradman in this match, so he could hardly have done more for his side - but Bradman had scored 201, and India still lost by an innings.

Cyclone scare looms over Chennai Test

Cyclone scare looms over Chennai Test

The first Test between India and England in Chennai, starting on Thursday, faces the strong possibility of rain disruptions and the fallout from a weakened cyclone over the state of Tamil Nadu over the next few days.
England arrived in Chennai on Monday to resume their tour of India but the team could be denied adequate practice if the rain persists in the city. Showers early this morning flooded the outfield at the MA Chidambaram Stadium and the Indians were forced to remain indoors. England are due to train later in the day but that may also be affected.
The official website of the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted thunderstorms with rain in Chennai on Wednesday and Thursday, suggesting that at least the first day of the Test could be affected. On Sunday, it said a depression over the Bay of Bengal had moved further westwards towards the Tamil Nadu coast but had weakened.
However, other weather sites are more optimistic - CNN has predicted showers only from Saturday.
"For the next 48 hours, there could be one or two spells of rain and cloudy weather will prevail due to activity of the North-East monsoon over Tamil Nadu," SR Ramanan, the Meteorological Centre regional director, told PTI. "There is no alert of low pressure or depression in the Bay of Bengal. This is only a normal monsoon activity. Gradual reduction of rainfall is expected from Thursday."
The weather will doubtless affect the pitch as well. The rainfall over the past month has complicated matters for the head groundsman, K Parthasarathy. "We need bright sunshine to prepare a good wicket but there has been a lot of rain," Parthasarathy was quoted as saying in the local newspapers.
The Test was originally scheduled for Mumbai but the terror attacks in the city and fears of player security prompted a complete overhaul of the venues for the Tests. England returned home midway through the one-day series after the terror strikes and while negotiations were on between the respective cricket boards to resume the tour, the players trained in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, rain disrupted their preparations for a day last week.
Chennai has had a history of washouts and rain-affected draws since 2003. Tests against Australia and Sri Lanka were drawn and a one-dayer with South Africa in 2005 was abandoned without a ball being bowled. The Challenger Trophy final the following year was also affected and the teams had to share the trophy.

Yuvraj and Ojha recalled for Tests

Yuvraj and Ojha recalled

Yuvraj Singh has been given one more chance to resurrect his stop-start Test career, after being selected in India's 15-man squad for the two-Test series against England starting December 11. Yuvraj, who muscled his way back into contention with two successive one-day hundreds against England last month, is expected to take Sourav Ganguly's place at No. 6.
The selectors have also recalled Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, and have retained M Vijay and S Badrinath as reserve batsmen. Ojha, yet to make his Test debut, toured Sri Lanka earlier this year, but lost his place to Amit Mishra, who made a strong debut against Australia in New Delhi. Vijay, an opener, was handed a debut in Nagpur against Australia after Gautam Gambhir was banned for one Test.
Yuvraj, a mainstay in India's one-day line-up, has had an inconsistent run in Tests, with 1050 runs in 23 games since his debut five years ago, However, his recent form against England prompted the chairman of selectors, Kris Srikkanth, to state that he's the frontrunner to take Ganguly's slot in the Test XI. Besides his two match-winning hundreds (138 not out and 118) in the first two ODIs, Yuvraj also picked up four wickets in the second match in Indore.
"I have got the opportunity," Yuvraj told news channel CNN-IBN. "I'm not thinking that I am filling in after someone's retirement. I always felt this is my place, and if I do well, I'll surely be there for a long time."
Badrinath and Vijay, who both play for Tamil Nadu, have had contrasting fortunes in their last Ranji Trophy game, against Andhra: Badrinath scored 121 and M Vijay lasted just eight balls before getting out for a duck. Vijay's splendid form this season, though, had earned him a last-minute call-up to the squad for the Nagpur Test against Australia.
Badrinath, who scored a hundred in Tamil Nadu's previous match against Uttar Pradesh, will be eager for a place in the starting XI for the first Test on his home ground in Chennai. He made his ODI debut during India's tour of Sri Lanka in August and was part of the Test squad against Australia, but was surprisingly dropped for the subsequent one-day series against England.
Left-arm fast bowler RP Singh, who had an indifferent ODI series against England, has been dropped. Ojha takes his place; he is expected to be the back-up spinner in the squad behind Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra - a tactic employed by India for the first three Tests in the previous series against Australia when they had the spin trio of Anil Kumble (now retired), Harbhajan and Mishra to choose from.
India squad: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, S Badrinath, Pragyan Ojha.

Yuvraj primed for Test comeback

Yuvraj primed for Test comeback

Yuvraj Singh is the top contender to replace Sourav Ganguly, who retired last month, in the Indian squad for the two-Test series against England, scheduled to start in Chennai on December 11. Gautam Gambhir, who was banned for one Test by match referee Chris Broad after he nudged Australian Shane Watson with his elbow during the Delhi Test, will come back into the squad. The selectors, who meet in Chennai on Thursday afternoon, are likely to pick a 14-member squad.
Yuvraj, who last played a Test against South Africa in Kanpur in April, virtually sealed his berth after his imperious form in the truncated ODI series against England recently. He ended as the top run-maker with two spectacular centuries. With his explosive batting Yuvraj silenced the critics who had been harping about his lean form at the beginning of the season: in the three Challenger Trophy games he had single-digit scores. Later he failed to inspire Punjab in the solitary Ranji match he played before the England series. But the selectors, including chairman Kris Srikkanth, recently made positive comments about Yuvraj being the best man to fill Ganguly's middle-order slot.
What remains to be seen is if the selectors will retain M Vijay, who was plucked out of a Ranji game to fill in for Gambhir in the Nagpur Test against Australia. The selectors face a hard choice between Vijay and S Badrinath, who was part of the squad against Australia. Though Badrinath has been seen as the frontrunner in the past to play in the middle order, Vijay seems to have overtaken him in the selectors' eyes with his batting as well as his agility as a close-in fielder.
The chances of any fresh face(s) being picked in the middle order remain slim, but the possibility of names like Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma cannot be ruled out. Rohit was part of the Test squad in Sri Lanka while Pujara recently piled three triple centuries for Saurasthra - one in the Ranji Trophy and two in an Under-22 tournament. It would have helped the duo if the ECB had not scrapped England's lone practice game.
The bowling unit is likely to be retained, with Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma sharing the new ball and Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra being the two specialist spinners. Munaf Patel will continue to be the third seamer, but the fate of his partner, RP Singh, is not so clear. There were reported difference between Dhoni and the selection panel over RP's selection ahead of the ODI series against England and it boiled over into a controversy after a selector leaked it to a member of the press.
If the selectors opt for a 15-man squad, there is a strong likelihood of a third spinner being picked. Piyush Chawla is the leading candidate, especially after the shoulder injury Pragyan Ojha suffered while fielding in the Cuttack game against England.
Probable squadVirender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, M Vijay/S Badrinath, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, RP Singh.

Chennai and Mohali to hold Tests

Chennai and Mohali to host Tests

The BCCI has unveiled a revised itinerary for England's tour of India, with Chennai and Mohali named as the two Test venues, replacing Ahmedabad from December 11-15, and Mumbai from December 19-23.
According to a BCCI press release, the ECB has informed the Indian board that it has agreed to the revised schedule, from which the warm-up match in Baroda from December 5 to 7 has been scrapped. "The tour will be officially cleared after discussions between the ECB's security consultant and officials in India," N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, said.
However, the ECB has yet to confirm that the tour is back on track, and is still awaiting the security audit being prepared by their security expert, Reg Dickason. No further announcement is expected from the England camp before Tuesday, as the players continue to weigh up the pros and cons of a return to India, so soon after last week's terrorist atrocities.
The new series itinerary might go some way towards calming England's fears, however. The original venue for the first Test was Ahmedabad in Gujarat, which was ruled out both because of its proximity to Mumbai, and because it was the scene of serial bomb blasts three months ago.
Chennai, which hosted South Africa during their Test tour earlier in the year, was offered as an alternate host for the first Test because it is seen as a city with the least threat perception from a security point of view, which will help ease the immediate fears expressed by some of the England players on touring India.
The ECB had specifically asked for a southern Indian venue for the second Test, instead of Mumbai. Instead they have been offered Mohali, a satellite town near Chandigarh in the north of the country. From a logistical point of view, the venue's proximity to Delhi should enable the tour party to obtain an easy passage back to England at the end of the tour and allow the squad to link up with their families for Christmas.
Despite the itinerary changes, the ECB have paved the way for a weakened squad to return to India, with the national selector, Geoff Miller, insisting that no player would jeopardise their prospects of future selection if they chose not to tour. Three senior players are already believed to have ruled themselves out: Andrew Flintoff, who also suffered an ankle injury during last week's fifth ODI; James Anderson, whose wife is pregnant, and Steve Harmison.
Harmison, unsurprisingly, has been the most vocal dissenter in the England camp. "I'm sorry, but whatever is being asked of us in the next few days, at the moment, the idea of being asked to go back out there is the last thing on my mind," he told the Mail on Sunday. "This is beyond cricket. This is beyond anything. It's all very well for people back home to say we should carry on with the tour, but none of what has happened has anything to do with cricket."