20th April, 2002

Name: Ananth Chinivar
Question: Dear Mr Menon, I have a curiosity about Tendulkar's centuries in ODIs and Tests: How many times has India won the match when Tendulkar has scored a century? How many has he scored while chasing? Could you please help me with this information?

Answer 1: India has won seven Test matches when Tendulkar has scored a hundred and none have come while chasing a target in the fourth innings. India has won on 24 occasions when Tendulkar has scored an ODI hundred. Of these 24 hundreds, 13 have come while batting second and chasing a target.

Name: Amar
Question: Among existing players, who are the best in Test cricket in terms of their overseas batting averages.

Answer 2: Best batting averages in away Test matches among current players are.

Player	Matches	Runs	Avg
A Gilchrist (Aus)	14	1081	63.59
R Darvid (Ind)	28	2272	56.80
S Waugh (Aus)	72	4857	55.19
D Martyn (Aus)	12	844	52.75
J Kallis (SA)	28	2080	52.00
A Flower (Zim)	31	2307	51.27
Younis Khan (Pak)	15	1051	50.05

Name: Concord
Question: Sir,How many cricketers have hit six sixes in one over in the history of cricket?

Answer 3: Two - Gary Sobers for Nottinghamshire, versus Glamorgan at Swansea in 1968; and Ravi Shastri for Bombay, versus Baroda at Bombay in 1984-85

Name: Jaighosh
Question: .A cricket quiz without Sir Bradman will be incomplete. My last question is a tribute to this great cricketer of all time. What reason, although later denied by Bradman, was circulated for his score of 0(2) in his last Test innings? *What is common to Lawrence Rowe, Brendon Kuruppu, Reginald Foster and Matthew Sinclair? *.Which wicketkeeper batsman has scored the most number of centuries in Test matches?

Answer 4: a) It is believed Bradman had tears in his eyes when he went in to bat in his last innings. Hence, he could not see the ball properly and was bowled second ball for a duck at the Oval in 1948.

b. Lawrence Rowe, Brendon Kuruppu, Reginald Foster and Matthew Sinclair - all scored a double hundred on Test debut

c. 12 hundreds by Zimbabwean wicket-keeper Andy Flower.

Name: Ravindra Kumar
Question: If a bowler takes two wickets in two consecutive deliveries of the last two balls of the match and takes another wicket with the very first ball in the next match, will this be considered his hat-trick or not? Are the rules with regard to this the same for one-dayers and Tests.

Answer 5: If it is two different matches, it will not be considered as a hat-trick. These rules apply to any form of cricket.

Name: Sanjay Sharma
Question: What his the highest and lowest average Sachin Tendulkar has reached in both Test and ODIs after a certain point [maybe, after 2000 runs]

Answer 6: After aggregating 2000 Test runs, the highest batting average achieved by Tendulkar was 58.88 after his knock of 176 against Zimbabwe at Nagpur in 2002. He was then playing in his 90th match and 144th innings and had an aggregate 7595 runs. The lowest was the 49.04 after the first innings score of 7 against the West Indies at Kingston in 1997. He was then playing in his 49th Test match and 75th innings and had an aggregate of 3335 runs.

After aggregating 2000 ODI runs, the highest batting average achieved by Tendulkar was 44.16 after his knock of 87 not out against England at Kanpur on 28-1-2002. He was then playing in his 284th match and 276th innings and had an aggregate 11039 runs. The lowest was the 32.06 after his innings of 8 versus West Indies at Madras on 23-10-1994. He was then playing in his 83rd match and 80th innings and had an aggregate of 2244 runs.

Name: Rajender Reddy
Question: Dear Sir, We want to know what are the best bowling figures till date in both the Tests and ODIs, and who holds those record. What are the figures by an Indian player for the same?

Answer 7: Best bowling in Tests - 10-53 by England off-spinner Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester 1956 (Best for India is 10-74 - by Anil Kumble v Pakistan at Delhi 1998-99) Best bowling in ODIs - 8-19 by Sri Lankan Chaminda Vaas v Zimbabwe at Colombo 8-12-2001 (Best for India 6-12 by Anil Kumble v West Indies at Calcutta, 27-11-1993)

Name: Sumit
Question: Are there any bowlers who got a wicket off their first delivery in international cricket (Tests as well as ODIs)?

Answer 8: No bowler has so far taken a wicket off his very first delivery in both Tests and ODIs. However, the closest any bowler has come in achieving such a feat has been England's Chris Cowdrey, in 1984-85, when he claimed wickets of his first over in both Tests and ODIs.

Name: A Vinod
Question: In a recent TV interview, Sachin Tendulkar admitted that he was not faring well in the fourth innings in his Test career. What is his record in the fourth innings of a Test match

Answer 9: In comparision to his impressive overall Test career record of 7673 runs (avg. 58.57) in 91 Tests, with 29 hundreds and 30 fifties, his record in the fourth innings of a Test match is quite disappointing. In 28 innings (& 8 not outs) he has managed to aggregate just 671 runs (avg. 33.55) with just two hundreds and one fifty.

Name: Sujeet
Question: Who was the first batsman to aggregate 500-plus runs in a Test series

Answer 10: It was Australian Joe Darling, who made 537 runs (avg. 67.13) in the five-match Test series against England in 1897-98.

Mail Cricket Editor