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Ask Steven

Who has the most runs, and wickets, in women's T20 World Cups so far?

And was India's 52 overs in Kanpur the fewest a team has faced in a Test win?

Steven Lynch
Steven Lynch
08-Oct-2024
India's and South Africa's players and staff pose with the trophy after India's win, South Africa vs India, 2nd Test, Cape Town, 2nd day, January 4, 2024

India batted only 46.5 overs in their win over South Africa earlier this year, the second-fewest overs faced after England's 46 in West Indies in 1935  •  Gallo Images/Getty Images

India batted for only 52 overs at Kanpur yet won the Test. Was this a record? asked Ahmed Narail from India
You're right that India's batters received only 52 overs during that impressive victory in the rain-affected second Test against Bangladesh in Kanpur last week. It's actually the fourth-fewest balls faced by a side winning a Test - and India already have a higher entry on this list from earlier this year: they faced only 46.5 overs in clobbering South Africa in Cape Town in January.
Top of the table is another rain-affected match, in Bridgetown in January 1935, when England faced only 46 overs - for totals of 81 for 7 declared and 75 for 6 - but beat West Indies by four wickets.
India didn't let Bangladesh bowl any maiden overs in Kanpur. How many times has a team bowled no maidens in a completed match? asked Sridhar from the United States
No Bangladesh bowler managed a maiden in the second Test against India in Kanpur last week. This is a good spot, as it turns out it has happened in only one other Test with a positive result: in Durban in January 1939 (the third match of the series, not the famous ten-day timeless fifth Test), England won by an innings after scoring 469 for 4 declared in 88.5 overs, none of which was a maiden. Eight-ball overs were used in that match, so it was harder to bowl a maiden. The recent Kanpur Test is thus the only one featuring six-ball overs in which the losing side failed to deliver at least one maiden.
I know that Jim Laker and Tony Lock took all 20 Australian wickets at Old Trafford in 1956. But in how many other Tests did two bowlers dismiss all 20 opposition batsmen? asked Daniel Hayward from England
The Surrey spinners Jim Laker (who took 19 for 90) and Tony Lock (1 for 106) famously shared all 20 wickets in the Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1956. It has happened in just five other Test matches, three of them also Ashes Tests. In Melbourne in January 1902, Monty Noble (13 for 77) and Hugh Trumble (7 for 87) took all 20 England wickets, while the boot was on the other foot at Edgbaston in May 1909, when Colin Blythe (11 for 102) and George Hirst (9 for 86) did the damage. And it happened again at Lord's in 1972, when Bob Massie took 16 for 137 and Dennis Lillee 4 for 140 against England; rather surprisingly perhaps as there have been more than 1800 Tests since, this remains the most recent instance.
The two non-Ashes occurrences were in Johannesburg in January 1910, when the South African spinners Ernie Vogler (12 for 181) and Aubrey Faulkner (8 for 160) accounted for all England's batters, and in Karachi in October 1956, when Fazal Mahmood (13 for 114) and Khan Mohammad (7 for 112) set up Pakistan's victory in their inaugural Test against Australia (this was only two Tests after the match at Old Trafford).
Who has scored the most runs - and who has the most wickets - at women's T20 World Cups? asked Natalie Grisham from England
The only woman with more than 1000 runs in T20 World Cups before this one got underway was New Zealand's Suzie Bates, who had 1066. She played in all the first eight tournaments, and has already added to her tally in this one. Australia's Meg Lanning, who has now retired, finished with 992 runs, but two players who are in the UAE this time started the tournament with more than 900: Alyssa Healy of Australia (941) and West Indies' Stafanie Taylor (926).
As for the bowlers, Shabnim Ismail of South Africa led the way with 43 wickets at T20 World Cups, before Australia's Megan Schutt caught up with her during the ongoing one. England's Anya Shrubsole has 41 and Australia's Ellyse Perr has 40 wickets, but since Perry and Schutt are both playing in this tournament, they may yet add to their tally.
South Africa's top six all reached 35 in a recent ODI against Ireland. How often has this happened? asked Eddie McCann from South Africa
South Africa's consistent display against Ireland in Abu Dhabi last week was the seventh instance of six batters all reaching 35 in an ODI innings. But only in two of the others did it involve the top six in the order: by Sri Lanka against Bangladesh during the Asia Cup in Dambulla in June 2010 - only six men batted, and the lowest individual contribution was 37 not out - and also by Pakistan against Sri Lanka in Colombo in July 2015 (again only six men batted; the lowest score among them was 35 not out).
There are no fewer than 35 further instances of five batters reaching 35 in the same ODI innings.
There's a solitary case of five men reaching 35 in a men's T20I innings, by Sri Lanka (215 for 3) against West Indies in Pallekele in November 2015. And there have been eight cases of five 35s in a women's ODI innings (and none in T20Is).
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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Steven Lynch is the editor of the updated edition of Wisden on the Ashes