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And which bowler’s action was described as “all arms and legs… like a porn movie without the sex”?

Steven Lynch05-Jan-2021Has any bowler taken 100 wickets in ODIs against a single country? asked Mahesh Malhotra from India

No one has yet reached a century of wickets against a particular country in one-day internationals. Top of the list is Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 96 against Pakistan. Wasim Akram comes next, with 92 against Sri Lanka and 89 against West Indies, while his old sparring partner Waqar Younis collected 84 against Sri Lanka and 79 against New Zealand. The leading current bowler is Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, who has so far taken 74 wickets against Zimbabwe.It’s a different story in Tests, in which there are 39 instances of a bowler taking 100 or more wickets against a particular country. Shane Warne leads the way with 195 against England. He also took 130 against South Africa and 103 against New Zealand; Muralitharan dismissed 112 Englishmen, 105 Indians and 104 South Africans.The record in T20Is is held by the Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan, who has taken 34 wickets against Ireland. Next comes New Zealand’s Tim Southee, with 23 against Pakistan.What is the most runs scored by a batsman in a calendar month in Tests? asked Mike Harrison from England

The record currently stands at 665 runs, by Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan. In three Tests against West Indies in November 2006, he scored 192 in Lahore, 56 and 191 in Multan, and 102 and 124 in Karachi. This was the culmination of a remarkable sequence in which he scored seven centuries (four of them higher than 190) in seven Test matches. The record Yousuf broke was established by England’s Graham Gooch in July 1990, when he made 640 runs in just two Tests – 154 and 30 against New Zealand at Edgbaston, and 333 and 123 against India at Lord’s.Whose bowling action was described as “all arms and legs… like a porn movie without the sex”? asked Ian McKenzie from Australia

It seems that the man who came up with this colourful description was the distinguished Australian sports and feature writer Greg Baum, and he was describing the beanpole left-arm fast bowler Bruce Reid, who was over two metres tall and almost painfully thin. Reid picked up 113 wickets in 27 Tests for Australia, including 13 for 148 against England in Melbourne in 1990-91; in the following year’s Boxing Day Test at the MCG, he took 12 for 126 against India.Reid has one distinction, which I think is unique in Tests: in Wellington in 1985-86, he dismissed his cousin, John F Reid, who was playing for New Zealand. Sadly, John Reid passed away last week, aged 64. The only other pair of cousins who opposed each other in Tests, as far as I am aware, were the Hearnes – Jack played for England and Frank for South Africa in Cape Town in 1891-92, but neither dismissed the other. Frank’s brothers Alec and George also played for England in this match, the only Test for both of them.The 6’8″ Bruce Reid played 27 Tests for Australia and took 113 wickets•Getty ImagesI noticed that Hedley Verity took 14 wickets on one day of the 1934 Lord’s Test. Was this a record? asked John Kirkpatrick from Scotland

The Yorkshire slow left-armer Hedley Verity spun England to victory over Australia at Lord’s in 1934 with match figures of 15 for 104. Fourteen of those wickets came on a rain-affected pitch on the third day, when Australia lost 18 wickets for 200 runs in all. Verity had already removed Don Bradman on the second evening, and accounted for him again during next day’s carnage. The story goes that Verity had almost missed the start of play that day – on the way to the ground his car ran over a black cat, and a distressed Verity spent some time trying to locate its owner.The only man to take more in a day’s play in a Test is another England left-arm spinner, Lancashire’s Johnny Briggs, admittedly against less formidable opposition. On the second day of what was only their second official Test match, in Cape Town in 1888-89, South Africa collapsed for 47 and 43, with Briggs taking 7 for 17 and 8 for 11. Three seasons later, in Adelaide in 1891-92, Briggs took 12 Australian wickets on the third day as England set up an innings victory.There have been only seven other instances of a bowler taking ten Test wickets in a day, the most recent by Yasir Shah, for Pakistan against New Zealand in Dubai in 2018-19.Who scored three centuries in Kerry Packer’s “Super Tests” but none in official Test matches? asked Gordon Hamilton from Australia

The player with this peculiar record is the Australian opener Bruce Laird, whose three centuries in World Series Cricket “Super Tests” was exceeded only by Greg Chappell, who hit five hundreds, and Viv Richards, who made four. Laird had not played an official Test when he was signed up by Kerry Packer for WSC, but made his debut once peace was restored. He scored 92 and 75 in his first match, against West Indies in Brisbane in 1979-80, but never made it to three figures in 20 further Tests, although he did end up with 11 half-centuries.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Offspinner keen to continue development after “great experience” in India and Sri Lanka

Alan Gardner04-Apr-2021For any cricketer who has spent a winter touring with England and waiting in vain for their chance, the start of a new county season is bound to loom enticingly. For Amar Virdi, who was a reserve squad member in Sri Lanka and India, bowling in the nets for weeks in case of injury or illness affecting England’s frontline spinners, it will be an opportunity to be grasped with particular relish.A bouncy, bearded 22-year-old, Virdi has long been thought of as an England prospect, having emerged as an ever-present during Surrey’s 2018 Championship-winning season. Fitness issues limited his progress but, having trained in England’s Test bubble last summer, his merits as an attacking offspinner were on show during the Bob Willis Trophy, when he finished as Surrey’s leading wicket-taker.Virdi described his time with England on their trip to the subcontinent as a “great experience” but is now focused on a strong county showing with Surrey to push his case for a Test cap. April may be the cruellest month for spinners in England, but Virdi is eager to get back on the field and work out “a few different gameplans” for the grassier surfaces that are likely to predominate during the opening two-month block of Championship games.”The last time I played a game in April would have been when we won the Championship,” he said. “This time of year, as a spinner, it’s a bit of a new experience for me playing on these pitches. I haven’t really played on early-season pitches. I’ve always found you get a bit of grip when I played before, so I think this year might be a bit different.Related

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“It’s just a lot of excitement, everyone raring to go. You want to get out there, obviously with Covid and everything that happened we had a shortened season last year, so I think after a long winter like this you just want to get out there and play some games.”Even when considering what might likely be a holding role in the early part of the season, Virdi gave an indication of his approach to the spin bowler’s craft.”I think it’s not necessarily a case of being defensive. I wouldn’t say I’m a very defensive bowler,” he said. “I think it’s a case of finding other ways to attack. So it might be through maybe a defensive mindset, trying to bowl a lot of maidens and keeping things very simple and attacking in that way. I’m always looking to attack. I think I’ll always keep that mindset, regardless of the conditions.”Although England did not ultimately consider their spin-bowling reserves, which included Matt Parkinson and Mason Crane, for selection in Sri Lanka or India, Virdi was pleased with how his time as part of Joe Root’s touring party went. In particular, he said observing at close hand the level of control exhibited by India’s spinners, R Ashwin and Axar Patel, who claimed 59 wickets between them during the four-match Test series, had been instructive.”It was a great experience,” he said. “Quite a long trip, but I think it was very beneficial, being in an environment like that, that’s where I want to play. That’s where I want to be so getting an insight as to what it’s like bowling to guys like Rooty and [Ben] Stokes in the nets. It’s great practice, and I think it’s really helped my game.

“I think you’ve got to be prepared to bowl on any type of pitch. It’s a case of trying to be a well-rounded bowler and being able to bowl in different conditions”

“The big difference is there’s no room for errors. If there is, it’s very minimal, even when the conditions are perhaps in the favour of the bowler. You still need to have that consistency and I think that was one of [India’s] main strengths. You take Axar for example, just being able to land it in a certain area over and over again, and then relying on the pitch or allowing the pitch to do the work, seemed like the way forward. So, I think they did that very well. And I think that just overall in terms of consistency. I think it’s a very important part of Test cricket.”England’s struggles in India highlighted both the lack of depth in their spin bowling, as well an ability to counter it effectively – in turn raising the perennial debate about the nature of pitches for County Championship cricket.The Kia Oval has long been a ground where spinners have needed to play their part, and with the impressive left-armer Dan Moriarity also coming through the ranks, Surrey could be tempted to lean in that direction. However, asked whether his development could be aided by bowling on more helpful surfaces, as was the case with England’s incumbent spinners, Jack Leach and Dom Bess, Virdi said that he felt it was important to gain a grounding in a variety of conditions.”My experience with county cricket has been that I find a lot of pitches do turn around the circuit. You’re playing at Essex and it spins there, I’ve played at Hampshire and it spins there, I’ve played at Worcester and it spins there. So I think it really just depends on you as a bowler, what you can actually get out of the pitch. It might not turn straight away, but it may turn as a game goes on, or you get the footmarks to work with.Amar Virdi was part of England’s Test bubble last summer•ECB”I think you’ve got to be prepared to bowl on any type of pitch. If you’re always bowling on pitches in your favour, you could go to a Test game and pitch doesn’t turn for four days, then you’re used to bowling really wide outside off stump and trying to spin it through the gate – and you’re like ‘what do I do?’ So I think it’s a case of trying to be a well-rounded bowler and being able to bowl in different conditions.”You’ve just got a face what’s in front of you, I think that will keep you in good stead going forward. Speaking with Leachy and Bessy, we always have chats. I speak to Leachy quite a lot, he’s a great guy, but it’s not something I’ve spoken to him about necessarily, playing down at Somerset and how it’s aided his development. It’s more about different things as a bowler that you can do on different pitches and things like that.”With Bess enduring a difficult time in India, and Moeen Ali missing the opening chunk of Championship cricket while at the IPL, Virdi could soon have the chance to put pressure on Leach for a Test spot. But for now, Virdi’s chief concern remains attacking April with gusto and seeing where that takes him.”I’m just thinking about county cricket at the moment and having the best season I can. If I have a good season and I perform well, then I think that I can’t really control the things that come outside of that. So my focus is going to be on doing my best for Surrey and trying to win another Championship.”

How India’s historic win at The Oval reaffirmed the joy of Test cricket for this fan

Amit Bordia07-Sep-2021Choice of game
We now live at a stone’s throw from The Oval, so I wasn’t going to miss this game. With the series delicately in balance, an Indian team that must have been equally buzzing and hurting after Lord’s and Leeds, I was looking forward to a great time at the ground, and the prospects of enjoying the lunch break with aloo parathas at home.My commute regularly takes me to the road outside The Oval and for the last full year, I have seen it become a construction site, with a new stand being built. There was almost no cricket there in all of 2020. Often, I was left wondering how the feel of the ground would change. It was nice to be in the same stand, having seen them built slab by slab. They have been a great addition to the facilities and provide a modern touch to the gasholders in the backdrop.The build-up
Here we were – 4th Test, day five – with all the four results possible. I left for the stadium early and even then the streets from Vauxhall station were packed. The stands were full well before Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja started the proceedings. Schools and offices in the UK are now fully open – and one could sense that there were more than a few bunked classes, a few sick leaves and work-from-home requests that would have enabled those in the stands to be there.Related

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It was absolutely buzzing. By the end of day four, England had provided hope by their staunch resistance. While I knew that such a score has never been chased at The Oval, one of my earliest cricket memories was reading about India at the venue in 1979, and how Gavaskar’s 221 took India to 420 odd, just a few runs short of the target. Then there always was Headingley 2019 in the back of the mind! And of course, India did not have R Ashwin.The crowd
Whoever said Test cricket is on a decline needed to be at The Oval. Most of the fans were in their seats before the start of play. Not just the usual faithful but also young kids and families were all around. The stands were packed to the rafters all five days.The Indians get into a huddle as Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed walk out•Getty Images for Surrey CCCBetween shouts of support, it was normal to hear someone explaining to their kids how the ball could reverse. The more passionate Indian fans were still arguing about the inclusion of Ajinkya Rahane (a banner saying “oh Rahane- no more (excuses)” was a crowd favourite) and the exclusion of Ashwin – who was seen practice bowling in almost every break.I had been to a few games at the Hundred this summer and the buzz in the crowd in the last five days matched the best of those – and that speaks volumes of the love of Test cricket in these parts.The resistance from the England openers carried on through the first hour of the day. But just when the Indian supporters were starting to feel a bit down, the first couple of wickets fell. All hell broke loose.The Indian supporters were in full swing. Dhols (Indian drums), turbans, flags, and people dressed in all shades of blue – the dark-blue retro jerseys from the 1992 World Cup, the light blue ones from 1996 to 2007, and then the slightly darker versions that the World Cup champions wore in 2011 – were all there.An ode to The Oval
To a cricket fan, The Oval does not have the history and reverence that Lord’s enjoys, but it does almost always assure an incredible atmosphere and a buzz – slightly rebellious and much less formal than the “Home of Cricket”.It is also one ground where the dressing room is very accessible to the viewing public – and a seat at the Bedser Stand is one of my favorite spots in the world to watch cricket. For it not only provides a great behind-the-bowlers-arm view of the game, it allows a rare glimpse of the body language of those walking up and down on their way to battle, and those in the dressing rooms.My Bedser Stand favourites have included a near ring-side view as Inzamam-ul-Haq called his team from the field in 2006, as Kevin Pietersen waited to bat, sitting in a very contemplative mood, against South Africa in 2012, and as Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid made their way to the middle after following-on in 2011.Fans arrive at The Oval•Getty Images for Surrey CCCThe wow performance
By far, the best cricketing performance of the day belonged to the smiling assassin, Bumrah. He has such an energy about him – the way he bowls, and then turns almost hurrying to his mark and smiling all the way back – it is hard not to love him. In many ways, he is very similar to how Neil Wagner, another much-loved character, goes about his business.The six-over spell that Bumrah bowled was my defining cricketing memory of the day. Old ball, dead pitch, strong home support, good batting line-up, tired body – none of these seemed to have mattered to him.Fifty years on…
The last time India won at The Oval was when Bangladesh had just become a nation, Sunil Gavaskar had made his debut a few months back, India still played three-four spinners overseas, and my parents weren’t even married – and I am not young by any standards! By all measures, this was a historic win. But more importantly, it reaffirmed the joy of Test cricket – for how it unfolds over many sessions and days, and how a day (or two) at the cricket beats almost everything else. The Oval might not be the Home of Cricket, but for the last five days, for me and for many others – it was the “Heart of Cricket”!
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