Was Ben Duckett’s big hundred against Australia the highest score in the history of the Champions Trophy? asked Andrew Davison from England
That eye-catching innings of 165 by Ben Duckett in England’s opening match of the Champions Trophy against Australia in Lahore at the weekend was comfortably a record individual score for any Champions Trophy match.
As the Champions Trophy is going on, what records are there to be shot at? Who’s scored the most runs and taken the most wickets in one tournament? asked Michael Orange from England
Chris Gayle set the record for the
most runs in one edition of the Champions Trophywith 474 in India in October-November 2006. He was helped because West Indies had to pre-qualify for that tournament – in which they went on to reach the final – so he had eight matches compared to the usual five or so. Another attacking left-hand opener, India’s Shikhar Dhawan, is second on the list, with 363 runs in five matches in England in 2013. Dhawan was also the leading scorer at the 2017 Champions Trophy in England with 338, which puts him fourth on the list, behind his compatriot Sourav Ganguly, who hit 348 in just four matches in Kenya in October 2000.
Gayle
leads the way overall with 791 runs in all Champions Trophy matches, ahead of Mahela Jayawardene with 742 and Dhawan with 701 in the two editions in which he played.
Harshit Rana got caps in Tests, ODIs and T20Is in the space of four international matches (two of the four were Tests). Has anyone completed their “full set” quicker than that? asked Graham Burt from Australia
Your right that by the time India’s Harshit rana had played four international matches, he’d appeared in all three formats: two Tests in Australia late in 2024, then a T20I and a one-day international against England early this year.
I knew that
Joe Root had completed his set quicker, as his first three international matches were a T20I, an ODI and a Test,
all in India in 2012-13. But I was surprised to discover there were nine others who fitted the three-match bill, including the Afghanistan legspinner
Qais Ahmadwho took more than two years to do it. The others were Daniel Flynn (New Zealand, 2008), Ajmal Shahzad (England, 2010), Kyle Abbott (South Africa, 2013), Liam Dawson (England, 2016), Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan, 2019), Mohammad Musa (Pakistan, 2021-22), Gudakesh Motie (West Indies, 2021-22) and Rehan Ahmed (England, 2022-23).
Rana was the 24th man to do it in the space of four matches. Among that group is the Indian wicketkeeper Naman Ojha, who took more than five years to complete his set, between June 2010 (when he played two ODIs and a T20I in Zimbabwe) and August 2015, when he made his only Test appearance, against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Which batter has been out three times for 99 in Tests? asked Saurabh Mehrabi from India
Actually no one has been dismissed for 99 three times in Test matches: MISBAH-U-Haq of Pakistan had three scores of 99, but one of them was not out. That was against West Indies in Kingston in April 2017; in the first innings of the next Test, in Bridgetownhe was out for 99.
Misbah is one of nine men who have been out twice for 99 in Tests. The others are Mike Atherton (England), Greg Blewett (Australia), Sourav Ganguly (India), Simon Katich (Australia), Richie Richardson (West Indies), Saleem Malik (Pakistan), Mike Smith (England) and John Wright (New Zealand). Two others – the Yorkshire and England pair of Geoff Boycott and Jonny Bairstow – were out once for 99 and also had a 99 not out.
There is one man who has been dismissed for 99 three times in international cricket.
Sachin Tendulkar suffered this fate three times in ODIs, all in the space of five months in 2007: run out
against South Africa in Belfast in June, caught behind off an Andrew Flintoff bouncer
in Bristol in August, and caught behind
against Pakistan in Mohali in November. Boycott and Richardson also had a 99 in an ODI to go with two in Tests (Richardson’s one-day 99 was not out; Boycott had a 99 not out in a Test, as mentioned above).
For the list of 99s in men’s Tests,
click here. There have been five 99s
in women’s Testssix by women
in ODIs (one not out), and one case of 99 not out in a
women’s T20I. No one has made more than one score of 99 in all women’s internationals.
There have been two higher partnerships in
women’s T20Is. Opening for Argentina
against Chile in Buenos Aires in October 2023, Lucia Taylor (169) and Albertina Galan (145 not out) put on 350. Two days later, also
at the St Albans clubArgentina’s second-wicket pair Veronica Vasquez (107 not out) and Maria Castiñeiras (155 not out) shared an unbroken stand of 290.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.