He is the model T20 opener but the other two formats are a work in progress

Alagappan Muthu and Mohammad Isam24-Dec-2023Finn Allen hits the ball like an epiphany at 4 in the morning. So very hard.His strike rate at the end of his first full T20 season (2020-21) was 193.93. Even now, having added 86 matches to those initial 11, it’s up at 167.78.Allen and others like him can play like this only because they make a conscious effort to devalue their wicket. Their job, instead, is to make the most of every ball that comes at them. He was at the crease for a mere four overs in the opening match of the 2022 T20 World Cup and it was enough to derail the defending champions. Australia’s net run rate took such a big beating that the captain Aaron Finch admitted “their fate was out of their hands.”Related

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Days like those, however, come at a price.Allen has made only six scores of 30 or more for New Zealand in 26 innings since then. He also missed out on a place in the ODI World Cup. “It’s obviously tough,” he told ESPNcricinfo in September. “It’s something you work towards for a long time and to get that news was obviously a little bit devastating. But you just get on with it.”Looking for the most runs off every single ball became Allen’s instinct and instinct is hard to curb. It’s like trying not to laugh at a good joke. Before you know it, you’ve already done it. This is why all-format excellence is rare. You have to be three different people in one, like AB de Villiers was or Jasprit Bumrah is. Allen’s idol probably fits in that bracket as well.”I definitely looked up to Kevin Pietersen. The way it kind of started was, I moved to Wellington and I guess they just wanted me to go out there and express myself in the T20 competition and I had never really done anything like that before so I guess I surprised myself a little bit. Now its just about developing that and as I said trying to be more consistent at that for longer.”

“I’ve found it a lot tougher in ODI cricket. Bowlers bowl a bit more attackingly. If they get hurt early on, they can still come at you aggressively because they’ve got time later in the game to pull their figures back and pull it back in the team. So I guess it’s been more of a challenge of my method if anything. The mental challenge around sticking at it for longer and being able to stick to your processes for longer”Finn Allen

That will invariably involve restraint. But how much? Allen is desperate for higher honours. “For sure, you have your setbacks. People have had far tougher roads in their career so who knows. It’s almost fuel to the fire, you know [every time you aren’t picked in the team]. You take time to process it. Grieve a little bit and yeah, we’ve got a big summer coming up and hopefully I can still make some strides.”But he does not want to lose his X-factor. He is actually prepared to risk everything for it. “Something I’m working on at the moment is around consistency in my game. Trying to figure out my method to be consistent but still strike at a high strike rate, I guess. You have to be okay with failure at times and you have to I guess be thick-skinned in a way because there’s going to be peaks and troughs along the way. The highs are going to be really high and the lows can be really low.”At the end of the day, we’re entertainers, right? We’re here to put a show on for the crowd and get their money’s worth and that’s the way I want to play my cricket.”In some ways, Allen came to internationals too soon. The allure of him smashing fast bowlers at the lower levels, where he seemed proficient on both sides of the wicket and against any length on offer, was too great. New Zealand had to try him out but once he was there, he realised he had a pretty decent plan A but no real fallback; or at least none that worked the way he wanted.Finn Allen smashed 168 off 110 balls in his first game of this year’s Ford Trophy•James McCully/Auckland Cricket Association”It’s been interesting. Obviously, played a bit of List A cricket back home, figuring out my method there and then trying to replicate that on the international stage is obviously challenging.”Take just the powerplay. Allen dominates it in T20Is, because success here is measured in strike rate and since his debut, only Nicholas Pooran (160.52) has a better one than his 153.86 (min 20 innings). In ODIs, though, a batter’s worth is measured in the weight of runs he makes and the way it shapes the team’s fortunes. For that, he has to spend time at the crease. Allen has played 21 innings in ODIs so far and in 13 of them he has not been able to survive the powerplay.”I’ve found it a lot tougher in ODI cricket,” he said. “Bowlers bowl a bit more attackingly. If they get hurt early on, they can still come at you aggressively because they’ve got time later in the game to pull their figures back and pull it back in the team. So I guess it’s been more of a challenge of my method if anything. The mental challenge around sticking at it for longer and being able to stick to your processes for longer.”Allen’s entire New Zealand career – two years, nine months and five days on Christmas – has been about finding a tempo that satisfied both the game and himself. He is still searching for that balance, but once again there have been some good signs at the domestic level.Last month, in his first-ever appearance for his hometown team, Auckland, he very nearly broke their record for the highest 50-over score (174 by Colin Munro) and he did it in a match where only two others, having faced more than 10 deliveries, could keep a strike rate above 80. Eight days later, he raised another century. A career tally that was only 1421 when this season’s Ford Trophy began is already up at 1808 – a 30% increase. And here’s the cherry on top: the last three months of 2023 witnessed three of his five longest innings across formats.Say it softly but Finn Allen is hitting the ball like good coffee on a bad morning. Just the right kind of hard.

Several of Australia’s red-ball specialists and fringe Test players are heading to England for the start of the County Championship season

Alex Malcolm02-Apr-2024 • Updated on 04-Apr-2024Nathan Lyon – LancashireThere was plenty of excitement in Manchester when Australia’s offspinner was set to join forces with Jimmy Anderson to give Lancashire an attack boasting more than 1200 Test wickets. Lancashire could not believe their luck when Lyon committed to a full season. That excitement has since been tempered due to Lyon’s decision to cut his stint in half and withdraw from the white-ball formats but it seems a shrewd move after Australia’s selectors convinced him to look after his body ahead of the seven Tests in 2024-25 with five against India and two in Sri Lanka. Still, he will enjoy bowling at Old Trafford for half a season having only played four Championship games previously for Worcestershire back in 2017. It will be intriguing to watch him bowl in tandem at some stage with Anderson, providing a once-in-a-lifetime challenge for opposing batters.Scott Boland – DurhamIt looms as a big northern summer for Boland. He toured England in 2023 with Australia’s Test team and his bowling was touted as ‘tailor-made’ for English conditions. He lived up to the billing in the WTC final against India but England’s batters ran roughshod over him on flat pitches in two Ashes Tests. He has not played Test cricket since but remains the likely next man in if Josh Hazlewood or Pat Cummins were to miss through injury. He will play Championship and T20 Blast cricket for Durham until the end of July before heading home to prepare for the home summer. It will be interesting to see how he responds to playing regular cricket again. Boland made his name as a workhorse for Victoria but since playing for Australia, he has been on restricted duties. He is someone who likes to bowl a lot and could thrive at Chester-le-Street.Marnus Labuschagne – GlamorganLabuschagne is headed back to his home away from home at Glamorgan for another Championship stint but he is not headed there until May after getting some well-needed rest at home in Brisbane. There have been suggestions within the Australian camp that Labuschagne could use an extended spell away from cricket given his preference to play year-round, and he has heeded that advice somewhat after finding some form at the back end of the New Zealand Test series. He knows how to score runs in the Championship having built a superb record for Glamorgan over four seasons, scoring eight hundreds in 26 matches and averaging 55.52. For Labuschagne, the English season will merely be about playing enough cricket to satisfy his needs to maintain his batting rhythm whilst not overdoing it ahead of an important home series against India where he will be needed to score big runs at No. 3 for Australia.Matt Renshaw – SomersetMatt Renshaw returns to Somerset where he has scored five hundreds•Getty ImagesIt looms as a huge couple of months for Renshaw and he is heading back to a place where he has had tremendous success. He played 14 matches for Somerset in Division One in the 2018 and 2022 seasons and piled up 1133 runs at 49.26 including five hundreds. He would love a return like that across the first seven games he is set to play this Championship season after a lean Sheffield Shield summer for Queensland. He was not given a Cricket Australia contract despite being the spare batter for the last two Test series against West Indies and New Zealand. Chair of selectors George Bailey has declared it is open season for the next batting spot that becomes available in Australia’s Test XI and the selectors will be paying close attention to Championship form this year.Marcus Harris – LeicestershireThe same applies for Harris after an equally lean season for Victoria. He lost his CA contract and was extremely frustrated to be overlooked for the Test opening spot that Steven Smith claimed when David Warner retired. Harris had long been the next cab off the rank having been the spare batter through the entire 2022-23 home Test summer and the 2023 tour of England. Some good fortune has fallen his way after he was not initially headed to England for the Championship season. Will Pucovski’s withdrawal through injury paved the way for Harris to take his five-game stint at Leicestershire. Harris had an impressive spell with Leicestershire in 2021, piling up 655 runs at 54.58 in just 13 innings including three hundreds. He has an excellent first-class record in England overall. Although Leicestershire are in Division Two, Harris will get to play matches at Headingley and Lord’s in his five-game stint, as well as two at Grace Road where he has scored three first-class centuries.Cameron Bancroft – GloucestershireBancroft was left equally aggrieved when he missed out on the Test opening spot post Warner’s retirement having felt like there was nothing more he could have done in the Sheffield Shield. His first-class record in home conditions is excellent but in England, he has not been as prolific as Harris and Renshaw. He has the chance to rectify that this season at Gloucestershire. He heads over hungry for runs after missing Western Australia’s Shield three-peat due to a bike accident. A good season for Gloucestershire would put a lot of pressure on Australia’s selectors to move him to the front of the queue as the most rounded option of the three contenders for when a Test opening vacancy does come up.Xavier Bartlett – KentBartlett’s signing with Kent looked like a coup for both the county and the Queenslander. He was due to arrive just weeks after gaining his first CA contract and is likely to play at least five Championship matches and eight T20 Blast matches in the early part of the season depending on fitness and workloads. However, on the eve of the season CA pulled him out of his four-day stint with Kent still awaiting confirmation of availability for the Blast matches. The caution is, perhaps, understandable given Bartlett’s history with back injuries. He is already on track to be part of Australia’s future white-ball plans and being talked off as a strong contender for the 2027 Ashes.Michael Neser – HampshireNeser was billed as the forgotten man of Australian cricket after he lost his CA deal last week. But the reality is he remains high up in Australia’s list of reserve Test quicks. The selectors showed how highly they regard him given he was the only spare quick available as a concussion substitute for the most recent Test in Christchurch. His batting and his fielding only add to his value and he will still be in the mix for the Australia Test summer if there are injury issues. Neser heads to a new county in Hampshire with nothing to prove after enjoying incredible success in recent seasons at Glamorgan with bat and ball. He has been signed mainly for an eight-game T20 Blast stint from May 30 to July 3 after an excellent BBL season with Brisbane Heat. But Hampshire could well pick him for some Championship cricket if there are any injuries to Kyle Abbott or Mohammad Abbas.Other Australians going to England: Wes Agar (Kent), Sean Abbott (Surrey), Peter Handscomb (Leicestershire), Daniel Hughes (Sussex), Nathan McAndrew (Sussex), Ben McDermott (Hampshire – T20 Blast), Daniel Sams (Essex – T20 Blast), Chris Tremain (Northamptonshire), Ashton Turner (Durham – T20 Blast)Beau Webster (Gloucestershire)*This story was updated after Xavier Bartlett’s withdrawal from his Kent four-day deal

Spread across 40-plus acres and with a capacity of 33,000, the ground is expected to host five of Kings’ seven games

Nagraj Gollapudi22-Mar-2024March 23 will be a significant day for Rishabh Pant. On Saturday, he is set to play his first competitive match after surviving a horrific car crash in December 2022 and will lead Delhi Capitals in their IPL opener in an away match against Punjab Kings. Pant’s return will happen at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, which is located in the village of Mullanpur (pronounced with ‘n’ silent), on the outskirts of Chandigarh, and is the new home base of Punjab franchise.Yadavindra Singh, who played a solitary Test for India in 1934, was the son of Maharaja of Patiala – Bhupendrasingh Rajendrasingh, who donated the Ranji Trophy, in honour of KS Ranjitsinhji, in 1933. However, the venue is popularly known as just Mullanpur or New PCA stadium.The Mullanpur venue, which in the last year received clearances from BCCI and ICC to host international matches, is expected to host five of Punjab’s seven home matches. Owned by the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), the approximately 33,000-seat ground is about 45-minute drive north of Mohali in northern Indian state of Punjab.Related

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Planned around 2010 by IS Bindra, former PCA and BCCI president, the Mullanpur venue has been in the making for several years after building works commenced in 2017. It was meant to be opened by 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic was among several other reasons behind the delay. While it has already hosted several domestic matches since 2021, including Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (23 matches in last two seasons) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (five in 2021-22 season) as well as one Ranji Trophy match this January, the venue will be officially inaugurated on Saturday.Incidentally, Bindra’s other brainchild, the eponymous IS Bindra stadium in Mohali, was the original all-stop cricket destination in Punjab. That venue, which is still functional, was a pioneer of modern cricket grounds in India when it opened in 1992. Low-level open-air seating, complemented with pace-friendly pitches prepared by former BCCI chief curator Daljit Singh had made cricket at Mohali an enjoyable experience.However, that ground, which housed 25,000 spectators and hosted several memorable matches, both bilateral and World Cup including the India-Pakistan semi-final in the 2011 World Cup, and individual records like Sachin Tendulkar overtaking Brian Lara as Test cricket’s leading run-maker in 2009, faced a few significant challenges on match days.Based in a residential area, crowd management and traffic control were a huge hurdle. Crowds were asked to walk for a couple kilometres at times to get an entry while their vehicles were parked roadside, thus creating a traffic snarl. The other big issue was that the old ground is located close to the airport. Consequently, the floodlights in IS Bindra stadium were positioned low to ensure they didn’t obstruct flights which frequently droned overhead during live cricket.Significantly, the low floodlights – which were 18 in total (due to low luminosity) – led to fielders being blinded while attempting high catches. The Mullanpur venue doesn’t have any such deterrents. With an expansive parking space that can accommodate over 1500 vehicles, the ground is located adjacent to the Baddi highway which PCA officials say is an easy drive from Chandigarh airport and some of the neighbouring cities – including Delhi, which is a three-plus-hour drive on clear-traffic days – as well as some of the towns in the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh.A cloud of dust trails you as you ride along the unpaved path leading to the ground. Unfinished road and construction work remains an eyesore both outside and inside the venue, but you can expect a finished product come the 2025 season.The size difference between Mohali and Mullanpur grounds is easily evident: while the former is spread across about 14 acres, this new venue is built on a 40-plus acres of what was originally a farm land. Acres of wheat gleams in the afternoon sun, ripe for harvest during Baisakhi, which is a festival celebrated in Punjab in mid-April.As you enter the ground, you immediately get the vibes of being inside a football stadium in England. It is an open-air ground right now which, according to PCA secretary Dilsher Khanna, will have canopies ready by 2025 IPL season. It begs the question: what happens to fans during peak summer in afternoon matches?Currently in the first set of the schedule released by the IPL, Mullanpur is hosting a solitary afternoon match – on Saturday. The spectator stands climb to three tiers with the walking terrace around the rim of the ground. The lower tier is designed close to ground level allowing the fan an intimate view of the field. Khanna boasts about the venue having 49 corporate boxes, probably the highest at Indian cricket grounds, which he says will allow “premium vision”.The ground is expected to host five of Kings’ seven matches•Nagraj Gollapudi/ESPNcricinfo LtdPlayers have to walk about 44 steps and down a fibreglass-covered ramp to get to the ground. The standout bit about the dressing room, which is housed in the Harbhajan Singh Pavilion, is the wide open terrace outside the change rooms which have a side-on view of the pitch. The artificial turf mat covering the floor of the terrace, which runs across both dressing rooms, is wide enough for players to engage in a throwdown.On Wednesday, when Capitals came for their first practice session, which was optional, the ground sparkled under the six towering floodlights. Ricky Ponting, Capitals’ head coach, twinkle-toed to test the two middle pitches of the overall seven. There are seven more on the B ground along with 11 practice pitches. However, the square where they are housed is not completely ready yet so both teams have been training on the four pitches in the main square.Just like the IS Bindra stadium, which was among the leading fast-scoring grounds in previous editions of IPL, Mullanpur pitches have also been batter friendly. In the 2023-24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (India’s domestic T20 competition), Mullanpur ranked fourth on the list of venues with highest overall run rates at 8.51 with a cut-off of five matches. IS Bindra was second at 8.87.Punjab Kings will hope that their fortunes change at their new home base following a poor home record at the IS Bindra, where they won just one out of the five home games in 2023 IPL.On Wednesday, the franchise conducted the traditional pooja [prayer] for a prosperous season on the field. PCA’s chief curator Rakesh Kumar is hopeful about the new venue’s prospects, “I wish the opening ceremony happens next IPL in Mullanpur. For that Punjab need to win the IPL.”Saturday is indeed a big day, not just for Pant but also for cricket in Mullanpur as a whole.

Also: how many sides have won a Test without a single player scoring 50 or more?

Steven Lynch14-May-2024Was Ravindra Jadeja the first man to be out obstructing the field in the IPL? asked K Ramnarayan from India

Ravindra Jadeja was given out in CSK’s chase against Rajasthan Royals in Chennai last weekend, after the umpires decided he changed direction while running to get in the way of Sanju Samson’s throw at the stumps. (Some of us are old enough to remember being coached to do this! But it’s officially frowned on now.)Jadeja was actually the third man to be given out obstructing the field in an IPL match. The first was Yusuf Pathan, for Kolkata Knight Riders against Pune Warriors in Ranchi in 2013. He kicked the ball while going for a run, an action judged deliberate obstruction by the umpires. It was a controversial decision which probably cost KKR victory – Pathan was going well at the time, with 72 from 44 balls, and his side eventually fell seven short.It also happened to Amit Mishra, for Delhi Capitals against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final eliminator in Visakhapatnam in 2019. With three balls left and two needed to win, Mishra was looking for a single to tie the scores, and was hit by the fielder’s return. Like Jadeja, he was deemed to have deliberately changed course to get in the way of the throw. It didn’t matter much: Keemo Paul hit the next ball for four to win the match.Four men have been given out obstructing the field in T20Is: Jason Roy, for England against South Africa in Taunton in 2017; Hassan Rasheed, for Maldives vs Qatar at Al Amarat (Oman) in 2018-19; Razmal Shigiwal for Austria vs Czech Republic in Vinor (Czech Republic) in 2022; and Abass Gbla for Sierra Leone vs Ghana at Benoni (South Africa) in 2023-24.There are also three instances in women’s T20Is, by Anuja Patil for India against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup final in Kuala Lumpur in 2018, Mary-Anne Musonda for Zimbabwe vs Uganda in Windhoek (Namibia) in April 2022, and Shanzeen Shahzad for Hong Kong vs Nepal in Kuala Lumpur in February 2024.Apparently there are five men who played more than 100 Tests who made their debut for England after Jimmy Anderson, but have already retired. And another (not a 100-Test man) who made his debut after Anderson’s 100th Test and has also retired! Who are these people? asked Nick McKenzie from England

There were quite a few such stats being banded around after Jimmy Anderson’s announcement last week that the forthcoming Lord’s Test against West Indies will be his 188th and last.Anderson made his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in May 2003 (and took 5 for 73 in the first innings). The five England 100-Test men who made their debut after Anderson and have now retired are Stuart Broad (167 matches starting in 2007-08), Alastair Cook (161 from 2005-06), Ian Bell (118 from 2004), Kevin Pietersen (104 from 2005), and Andrew Strauss (100 from 2004). Strauss retired in 2012. Joe Root (140 Tests to date), Ben Stokes (102) and Jonny Bairstow (100) also made their debuts after Anderson, but are still playing.Anderson’s 100th Test was in April 2015, against West Indies in Antigua. The man who made his debut for England after that but has since retired is the Surrey allrounder Zafar Ansari, who played three Tests in Bangladesh and India in 2016-17, but retired a few months later, aged only 25. You could make a case for saying Alex Hales belongs on this list too: he won the first of his 11 Test caps in 2015-16. But he has not played a first-class match since 2017, although he is still active in T20 matches around the world.I noticed that in a Test against Zimbabwe in Trinidad in 2000, West Indies were all out twice without anyone scoring a half-century – but still won. Has this happened anywhere else? asked Deepak Krishnan from India

Zimbabwe needed only 99 to win that match in Port-of-Spain in March 2000, but were bowled out for 63, with Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh taking 5 for 26 between them. It was the 11th time a team had been bowled out twice in a Test without any individual score of 50 or more but gone on to win, the first six of them before the First World War, when pitches generally were less well prepared. Perhaps the most famous of the others was England’s win over Australia at Edgbaston during the famous 1981 Ashes series, when their biggest individual contribution was skipper Mike Brearley’s 48 in the first innings (the highest score of the match).There have been two more instances since that one in Trinidad. West Indies repeated the trick against Pakistan in Providence (Guyana) in May 2011, when their highest score was 49 from Lendl Simmons. And India beat South Africa in Nagpur in November 2015, even though their highest score was just 40, by M Vijay.England’s famous win over Australia at Edgbaston is one of 11 Tests in which no player in the winning side had a score of 50 or more•Getty ImagesWho is New Zealand’s oldest Test player? asked Jamie Morrison from New Zealand

New Zealand’s oldest surviving Test player as I write is Trevor McMahon, a wicketkeeper from Wellington who played five matches in the 1950s. New Zealand currently has four other men over 90 years of age on the list of the oldest living Test players.If you mean the oldest man to play for New Zealand in a Test, the answer is legspinner Jack Alabaster, who was 41 when he played the last of his 21 matches in 1971-72, in Port-of-Spain, where his final Test wicket was that of Garry Sobers. Alabaster, who died earlier this year aged 93, was the only man to appear in all of New Zealand’s first four Test victories. Two other men have played for New Zealand when over 40: Bert Sutcliffe in 1965 and Bevan Congdon in 1978.I’ve become aware of cricket in Germany through the doings of our women’s cricket team. Have there been any men’s Test cricketers who were born here? asked Karl Pieters from Germany

You’re right that Germany’s women have been making a mark since acquiring T20 international status: for example, Christina Gough lies second on the list of the highest batting averages in women’s T20Is with 42.91, behind only Australia’s Tahlia McGrath (43.72).Turning to the men, there have been two Test players who were born in Germany, both while their fathers were serving in the English army there. Derbyshire’s Donald Carr, who appeared in two Tests in India in 1951-52, captaining in the second, was born in Wiesbaden in 1926, while Paul Terry of Hampshire, who won two caps in 1984, first saw the light of day in Osnabrück in 1959. Terry’s arm was broken by the West Indian fast bowler Winston Davis in his second game, at Old Trafford, and he was never selected again.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Also: what’s the highest team total to result in a follow-on in first-class cricket?

Steven Lynch07-May-2024Which bowlers are holding up best in this run-soaked IPL? asked Mamsa Fayyaz from India
You’re certainly right about the runs, as the Indian Premier League record book has been torn up this season: as I write this, with three weeks still to go, eight of the ten highest IPL totals (and ten of the top 14) have been made this season.Sunrisers’ 287 for 3 against Royal Challengers in Bengaluru last month has been exceeded in all men’s T20 matches only by Nepal’s 314 for 3 at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last September, after which they bowled Mongolia out for 41. In women’s T20s, Argentina amassed 427 for 1 against Chile (63) in Buenos Aires in October 2023.The leading wicket-taker currently is the Mumbai Indians fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, on 18 wickets, the undoubted bowling star of the tournament so far, who is also the most economical bowler on view this year, going for 6.2 an over, or just over a run a ball. Among bowlers who have sent down more than ten overs this season, Sunil Narine comes next, at 6.6 per over.What’s the highest batting average by someone who never made a Test century? asked Girish Netalkar from India
Given a minimum of ten innings, the highest batting average by someone who never managed a Test century is 51.25, by the between-wars Australian allrounder Alan Fairfax. He had 12 innings, four of them not-outs, and collected four half-centuries with a highest of 65, on debut against England in Melbourne in 1928-29. Wisden described him as “a steady and somewhat restrained stroke-player”.If you increase the qualification to 20 innings, the leader is the Pakistan batter Asim Kamal, who averaged 37.73: his eight half-centuries included 99 on debut, against South Africa in Lahore in 2003-04. And if you don’t have any qualification at all, Naveed Nawaz played one Test for Sri Lanka – against Bangladesh in Colombo in July 2002 – and scored 21 and 78 not out, for an average of 99.00. Here’s a list of batters who averaged over 30 in Tests with no hundreds (from ten innings or more).Matthew Wade is one of four male Australians to score hundreds in their first and last Ashes Tests•Getty ImagesDurham made 517 at Edgbaston recently, but still had to follow-on. Was this the highest total that still resulted in being asked to bat again? asked Richard Wells from England
Durham did score 517 at Edgbaston last month, but still had to follow-on as Warwickshire had already piled up the little matter of 698 for 3.There are three higher totals that were not enough to avoid the follow on, all of them in the English County Championship. Top of the list is Middlesex’s 544 against Lancashire (734 for 5) at Old Trafford in 2003, then come Somerset’s 530 against Derbyshire (801 for 8, after being 0 for 2) in Taunton in 2007, and Durham’s own 518 against Yorkshire (677 for 7) at Headingley in 2006. The highest outside England is Balochistan’s 485 against Sindh (644 for 6) in Lahore in 2022-23. (Thanks to Andrew Samson for his help with this one.)Apparently there was a Test player whose autobiography included a foreword by his dog! Is that really true? asked Keegan Manning from England
The man in question here is the former Yorkshire and England seamer Matthew Hoggard, of whom team-mate Andrew Flintoff apparently said “He’s mad as a box of frogs”. His 2009 autobiography Hoggy: Welcome To My World began with a “paw-word” by the “Hoggy Doggies”, Billy the Doberman and Molly the Border Collie.Hoggard’s zany persona masked a serious bowler, whose 248 Test wickets included 12 in a victory over South Africa in Johannesburg in 2004-05, and a hat-trick as West Indies were demolished for 94 in Bridgetown in 2003-04.Fur words: the introduction to Hoggard’s bookI read that Raman Subba Row, who died recently, scored a century in his first and last Ashes Tests. How many people have done this? asked Andrew Reynolds from England
Raman Subba Row was England’s oldest Test player when he died last month at the age of 92; another former Surrey man, Micky Stewart, is now England’s oldest survivor at 91. Subba Row, a left-hander, scored 112 in his first Test against Australia, at Edgbaston in 1961, and ended that series with 137 at The Oval. He then announced his retirement, at the early age of 29, and so played no further Test cricket.The only other England player to do this particular double was another left-hander, Yorkshire’s Maurice Leyland. He made 137 in his first Test against Australia, in Melbourne in 1928-29, and signed off with 187 in England’s 903 for 7 at The Oval in 1938.Four Australians have scored centuries in their first and last Tests against England. Reggie Duff hit 104 from No. 10 on his Test debut in Melbourne in 1901-02, and added 146 (his only other century) in his last Test, at The Oval in 1905. The prolific Bill Ponsford started his Test career with 110 against England in Sydney in 1924-25, and ended it with 266 at The Oval in 1934.Mark Waugh began his Test career with 138 in Adelaide in 1990-91, and made 120 in his last match against England, at The Oval in 2001. Finally, Matthew Wade hit110 in his first Test against England, at Edgbaston in 2019, and added 117 in the last match of that series, at The Oval.And there’s an update to last week’s question about players scoring Test centuries overseas, from Nagendra Prasad from India
“Australia’s Steve Smith has actually made eight Test hundreds in England – seven against England, plus 121 in the World Test Championship final against India at The Oval in 2023.” Thanks for that – I’d forgotten to take “neutral” matches into account. It moves Smith up to third on the list, behind Don Bradman (11 in England) and Jack Hobbs (nine in Australia).Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The left-arm spinner took 5 for 16 against India last year but has had precious little first-class cricket since then

Alex Malcolm01-Oct-2024There was a moment eighteen months ago when the world appeared to be Matt Kuhnemann’s oyster.It was March 2023. The Queenslander had made his ODI and Test debuts within the span of eight months. His first Test wicket was Virat Kohli. He took 5 for 16 in his second Test match in Indore to help Australia to a rare victory on Indian soil.However, following the fourth Test in Ahmedabad, Kuhnemann’s third, his first-class career has completely stalled through no fault of his own. He has played just four first-class matches since that India tour. Three came for Durham at the start of the 2023 County Championship season, but after bowling 94 overs in the first two matches, while bagging 12 wickets, symptoms of a stress fracture appeared during the third and a confirming scan ended his campaign in April.Related

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He returned to play for Australia A against New Zealand A in a four-day game in Mackay in September of 2023 but he has not featured in a single first-class game since despite being fully fit and available.His home state of Queensland opted to play just one spinner in their Sheffield Shield XI last summer, which was understandable given the pitch conditions at all Shield venues. It meant legspinner Mitchell Swepson was preferred ahead of Kuhnemann despite Australia choosing the left-arm orthodox ahead of the legspinner in India.So when Tasmania reached out during the off-season about moving south to be the No. 1 spinner in a side that had just finished runner-up in the Shield, the 28-year-old Gold Coast native had no qualms about braving the cold.”The move was quite an easy decision.” Kuhnemann told ESPNcricinfo. “I love cricket, and I want to try and play as many games as I can and I want to win a Shield. That was probably the main factor. I’ve had some international experience, had a taste of it. I’d love to get back in that arena. But to be honest, probably winning a Shield would be a massive highlight for me. To be part of that, it would be a dream come true. The opportunity arose and I jumped at it straight away.”

If it’s early in the game, or if it’s in the back end, trying to try to win the game for the boys, and trying to bowl into some foot marks, I think there’s definitely some overs to be bowled by a spinner Bellerive.Matt Kuhnemann on his new home ground

Far from being bitter about his lack of red-ball opportunities over the last 12 months, Kuhnemann feels like he still got plenty out of last summer and does not feel underdone coming into what will be his first full season as the No. 1 spinner in a Shield side.”I love training, so I bowled a lot in the nets,” Kuhnemann said. “Last year, I found myself bowling a fair bit to Marnus [Labuschagne] in the nets. And I was just working on probably more how I bowl in the subcontinent or Australia. So sort of just learning the art of spin bowling a bit more in the nets, and experimenting with a few more things.”