On the first day of their Test against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh lost all the wickets in scorecard order, with No. 11 left not out. How rare is this? asked "The Voice of Steven" (no relation!) on X
That's a good spot, as Bangladesh very neatly lost all ten wickets in scorecard order in the first innings in Harare at the end of last month. Zimbabwe went on to complete their biggest Test victory, by an innings and 85 runs (and their second innings win in a row, after defeating Afghanistan in Harare last October).
It was actually the fifth time that all ten wickets in a Test innings had fallen in scorecard order from No. 1 to 10, with No. 11 remaining not out. England did it against South Africa in Cape Town in 1910, and again at Ellis Park in Johannesburg in 1948, and it also happened to Australia against West Indies in Georgetown in 1965, and Pakistan against England at Old Trafford in 2001.
There are three such instances in men's ODIs: by India against Australia in Visakhapatnam in 2001, West Indies vs South Africa in Grenada in 2001, and New Zealand vs Pakistan in Karachi in 2023. It's happened four times in T20Is: by Sri Lanka against Pakistan in Colombo in 2009, India vs West Indies in St Kitts in 2022, Malawi vs Botswana in Benoni in 2023, and Japan vs Oman in Al Amerat in 2025.
There has been only one instance in a women's one-day international (by Pakistan against South Africa in a World Cup match in Vadodara in 1997), and two in T20Is: by Mexico against Argentina in Lima in 2019, and UAE vs Qatar in Bangkok in 2025. That was a strange one, as with bad weather forecast all the UAE batters retired out after an opening stand of 192 in 16 overs. They correctly judged they had enough: Qatar were bowled out for 29.
When Ben Stokes opened at Trent Bridge it meant he had batted in every position for England from No. 1 to 11. How many others have done this in Tests? asked Mark Jefferson from England
There were suggestions after Ben Stokes went in at No. 2 in the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge that he had done so because it was the only position in which he'd never batted in a Test. I don't really think that's very likely - I'm fairly sure Ben doesn't spend hours fiddling with Statsguru - but it's true that he was only the fourth player known to have batted in all 11 positions in Tests, following Syd Gregory of Australia, Wilfred Rhodes of England, and Vinoo Mankad of India.
The Pakistan allrounder Nasim-ul-Ghani opened in one Test innings (he never went in at No. 1), and also batted in every position from 3 to 9 in the order. There are 11 other men who batted in 10 of the 11 positions: Jack Blackham and Ian Johnson of Australia batted everywhere except No. 4; Shujauddin (Pakistan) and Hugh Trumble (Australia) never entered at No. 5; Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu never went in at No. 8; VVS Laxman (India) not at No. 9; Australia's Warwick Armstrong never No. 10; while Farokh Engineer (India), Sammy Jones (Australia), Ravi Shastri (India) and Guy Whittall (Zimbabwe) batted everywhere except No. 11. Jones, who played a dozen Tests in the 1880s, is particularly worthy of mention since he only had 24 innings in all.
There's another small group, mainly regular nightwatchmen, who batted everywhere from No. 3 to No. 11 but never opened: Jimmy Anderson (England), Lance Gibbs (West Indies), Matthew Hoggard (England), Syed Kirmani (India), Kemar Roach (West Indies), Ishant Sharma (India), Derek Underwood (England) and Daniel Vettori (New Zealand).
Kemar Roach reached 300 wickets in his 89th Test. Has anyone taken longer to get to 300? asked Mikey Branson from Barbados
Kemar Roach became the fifth West Indian to take 300 Test wickets when he dismissed Asitha Fernando during the innings victory over Sri Lanka in Antigua last week. Roach was the 41st bowler from all countries to get to 300, but only three needed more Tests than his 89: Chaminda Vaas reached 300 in his 90th match, Daniel Vettori in his 94th, and Ishant Sharma in his 98th. The fastest to 300 in Tests was R Ashwin, who needed only 54 Tests, two fewer than Dennis Lillee.
What's the highest total in a T20 international? I saw that Austria scored 322 the other day! asked Mahesh Sundaram from India
Austria piled up 322 for 7 against Hungary in Szodliget (just north of Budapest) last week. That's the second-highest total in all men's T20Is, behind Zimbabwe's 344 for 4 against Gambia in Nairobi in 2024.
There have now been six totals in excess of 300 in men's T20Is: the only one in a match between two Test-playing countries is England's 304 for 2 against South Africa at Old Trafford last September.
There has been an even bigger total in a women's T20I: during a very one-sided series in 2023, Argentina piled up 427 for 1 against Chile in Buenos Aires. Two days later they made 333 for 1, the second-highest score. There have been three other totals of 300-plus.
India were all out for 402 against Afghanistan recently. Was this the highest score in an ODI by a team that was bowled out? asked Atul Srivastava from India
India were bowled out for 402 with a ball to spare by Afghanistan in Lucknow last month. It was the 31st total of 400-plus in a one-day international, but the first time a team had been bowled out.
The previous-highest all-out total in an ODI was West Indies' 389 in Grenada in 2019 (England had scored 418 for 6, so West Indies still lost). Australia were bowled out for 388 against New Zealand in a World Cup match in Dharamsala in 2023, which was enough to win by five runs.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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