What's the most Tests a country has played on a ground while maintaining a 100% winning record? asked Daniel J Hill via Facebook
That's an intriguing question, and I'm pleased to say there's a clear winner: England played six Tests in Chester-le-Street between 2003 and 2016, and won them all. Perhaps after learning of that record the ECB might reconsider their decision not to play any more Test matches at Riverside!
South Africa have won all five Tests they have played at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein, and they have also won all four of their Tests at the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe. Equalling that for the best performance by an away team, Sri Lanka have won all their four Tests at Bangladesh's national stadium in Mirpur. Here's the full list of most Tests played and won at a venue.
In one-day internationals, New Zealand have played ten at the University Oval in Dunedin and won them all, while Pakistan have won seven out of seven at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad. Ireland have played seven at the ICC Academy ground in Dubai, winning six with one no-result; Bangladesh have a similar record in Sylhet.
Your question set me wondering about the worst such percentages, and New Zealand have a 0% record in Tests in Galle: six matches, six defeats. Pakistan have played five Tests at the WACA in Perth and at Newlands in Cape Town, and lost them all, while Sri Lanka have lost all their five Tests at Supersport Park in Centurion, South Africa. New Zealand have lost all seven ODIs they have played in Centurion, while Zimbabwe are 0 for 7 at Ahmedabad, Chattogram, Hobart and the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
I saw a claim that Virat Kohli improved his highest score 15 times in Tests. Is it true? And is it the record? asked Manoj Prajapati from India
It is indeed true - and a record. Virat Kohli scored 4 in his first Test innings, against West Indies in Kingston in 2011, and improved that to 15 in the second innings. He made 27 and 30 in the next two Tests; then against West Indies in Mumbai in November 2011 he made 52 and 63, before hoisting his highest score to 75 in Perth two months later.
Kohli's first Test century was 116 in Adelaide in 2012, and he successively improved that to 119, 141 and 169. In July 2016 he reached 200 for the first time, against West Indies in Antigua. More improvements followed: 211, 235 and 243, before his career high of 254 not out against South Africa in Pune in October 2019.
The previous record was held by another Indian, Dilip Vengsarkar, who improved his Test-best 11 times. Five men improved their Test highest score on ten occasions: Jacques Kallis, Damien Martyn, Kumar Sangakkara, and the Pakistan pair of Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mushtaq Ahmed (quite an achievement considering his career-best ended up as just 59, from 43 innings).
I noticed that Allan Border played a lot of Tests alongside nine players who made their debuts under his captaincy. Is there anyone with ten? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England
For this answer I've ignored the people who captained their countries' first Tests, as they were nearly always accompanied by ten debutants. There's also the anomaly of Kepler Wessels, who captained South Africa in 1992 in their first Test for 22 years: unsurprisingly, he was also accompanied by ten debutants. Wessels led South Africa in 16 Tests in all, winning five.
Apart from that, Allan Border is one of only five men who captained teams that included nine players who made their debuts under him in more than eight Tests (there are quite a few with one or two). Border captained in 20 such Tests, winning nine. Clive Lloyd has the best record in this respect: he played 17 Tests with nine men who'd started under him, won 12 and only lost one. Graeme Smith won 11 of the 19 Tests in which he played with nine players who debuted under his captaincy, while MS Dhoni won three out of eight. John Reid captained 14 such New Zealand teams - and didn't win with any of those matches.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has an astronomical strike rate in this year's IPL. Has anyone done better over a season? asked Mahesh Kanwalkar from India
It's the second week running that the teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has featured in this column - and I'm willing to bet he'll make several more appearances in years to come. One who would probably agree with that is the former England captain Michael Vaughan, who recently said: "I think Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is the purest striker of a cricket ball I have ever seen - and he's 15!"
In last week's Ask Steven we looked at the leading six-hitters in an IPL season. Sooryavanshi had 43 when the column came out - and added ten more later that day, leaving him just six behind Chris Gayle's season record of 59 in 2012. Sooryavanshi drew a blank in the last game of the group phase, scoring just four runs from six balls - but as Rajasthan Royals won the match to claim a playoff place, he will have at least one more chance to catch Gayle up.
Sooryavanshi's strike rate before the final match in the league phase was an eye-watering 236.32 runs per 100 balls, but it dropped to 232.27 after that final group game. That put him just behind the Australian Jake Fraser-McGurk, whose 330 runs for Delhi Capitals in 2024 came at a strike rate of 234.04. Again, Sooryavanshi will have at least one more chance to go back in front.
There have been only 14 instances of a player scoring more than 100 runs in an IPL season at a strike rate in excess of 200 - and one of those was the 14-year-old Sooryavanshi last year, when he hit 252 runs in seven matches at 206.55.
Mahmudullah has a century, a five-wicket haul and a stumping in Tests. Has anyone else done this? asked Tonoy Adkikary from Bangladesh
The Bangladesh allrounder Mahmudullah scored five Test centuries, to go with 5 for 51 on his debut against West Indies in St Vincent in 2009, and a stumping while deputising as wicketkeeper for his injured brother-in-law Mushfiqur Rahim against Pakistan in Khulna in 2015.
Surprisingly perhaps, there is one other Test player who has achieved this treble: the former New Zealand captain John Reid scored six Test centuries, took 6 for 60 against South Africa in Dunedin in 1964, and picked up a stumping (the England opener Peter Richardson) while deputising for Eric Petrie at Old Trafford in 1958. Reid had previously played one Test as New Zealand's designated wicketkeeper, against England at The Oval in 1949, but did not manage a stumping then.
Clyde Walcott, one of the legendary Three Ws of West Indian cricket, didn't quite achieve this treble, as he never managed a five-for with the ball. But he did uniquely reach double figures in Tests for centuries (15), wickets (11) and stumpings (11).
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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