England chased down more than 250 to win successive Tests against New Zealand. Has any other country done this? asked Peter Gregory from England
England chased down 277 at Lord's and 299 at Trent Bridge to win the first two Tests against New Zealand. The only previous team to successfully chase more than 250 twice in the same series was also England, also against New Zealand, and also at Lord's (set 282) and Trent Bridge (284), in the first and third Tests in 2004.
The only other country to win successive Tests while chasing 250 or more was Australia, against South Africa in Johannesburg (target 292) and Bangladesh in Fatullah (307) in 2005-06. India won three successive Tests while chasing targets of more than 200, against Sri Lanka in Colombo in August 2010 (set 257), then Australia a couple of months later in Mohali (set 216) and in Bengaluru (207).
In 2008, South Africa successfully completed chases of 281 and 414 to beat England at Edgbaston, and Australia in Perth a few months later, but had three Tests in between in which they were not set such a target.
There were three individual tons in England's mind-boggling innings in Amsterdam the other day. Has this ever happened before in an ODI? asked Michael Trafford from England
The astonishing innings in Amstelveen last week was the third in one-day internationals to contain three individual centuries. The other two were both by South Africa: against West Indies in Johannesburg in January 2015, their 439 for 2 contained 153 not out from Hashim Amla, 128 from Rilee Rossouw and 149 (from 44 balls) from AB de Villiers, while against India in Mumbai nine months later, Quinton de Kock (109), Faf du Plessis (133 retired hurt) and de Villiers (a more sedate 119 in 61 balls this time) all reached three figures in a total of 438 for 4.
England's 498 for 4 not only broke the previous record for ODIs (England's 481 for 6 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2018), but also went past the record for any List A match - previously Surrey's 496 for 4 against Gloucestershire at The Oval in 2007.
Just to answer someone else's question briefly, England's 26 sixes in Amstelveen was another ODI record, beating their 25 in the World Cup match against Afghanistan at Old Trafford in June 2019 (Eoin Morgan hit 17 of them, still the most).
Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes put on 179 at nearly nine an over in the Trent Bridge Test. Was this the fastest partnership of such size in Tests? asked Daniel Stevens from England
That remarkable onslaught by Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes at Trent Bridge eventually amounted to 179 in 20.1 overs (121 balls), or 8.87 per six-ball over. The only faster partnership of a similar size in a Test was also, coincidentally, one of 179 - by Brendon McCullum (now England's coach) and Corey Anderson for New Zealand against Australia in Christchurch in 2015-16. That came on the first day of McCullum's 101st and last Test, and included the format's fastest century, from 54 balls. Their stand lasted 110 balls, so was even faster - 9.76 an over - than the Bairstow-Stokes alliance.
The only partnership of 100 or more known to have been scored at a faster rate in any Test was by another New Zealand pair, Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns, against England in Christchurch in 2001-02. They put on 118 for the last wicket in just 65 balls, a rate of 10.89 an over, to enliven the end of a match England won by 98 runs.
Six men were out for ducks in Bangladesh's first innings in Antigua. Was this a record? asked Milton James from Barbados
You're right that six Bangladesh players were out for ducks in the first innings of their first Test against West Indies in North Sound last week. This equalled the Test record, which has now happened seven times - the most recent occasion also being by Bangladesh, in their previous Test, against Sri Lanka in Mirpur a few weeks ago.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Bangladesh's innings was that Ebadot Hossain was not among the duck-collectors: he celebrated his promotion to No. 10 with a rare scoring shot, and added another run in the second innings, after going in at the giddy heights of No. 9. Prior to this match, Ebadot had held the Test record for the most successive scoreless innings - ten between 2019-20 and 2021-22 - but he has now been usurped by his team-mate (and replacement at No. 11), Khaled Ahmed, whose 0 and 0 not out in Antigua meant he has now failed to score in his last 11 Test innings (in fact he has had only one scoring shot - a four off New Zealand's Tim Southee - in his 13 innings to date).
New Zealand's latest cap Michael Bracewell was out for 49 at Trent Bridge. How many people have been out for 49 on Test debut? asked Kirk Harrison from New Zealand
The fourth and latest of his family to play Test cricket, Michael Bracewell was dismissed one short of a half-century in New Zealand's first innings at Trent Bridge. He was the eighth man - but the first from New Zealand - to suffer this fate on Test debut. The first was the great Australian Stan McCabe, against England, also at Trent Bridge, in 1930.
Azmat Rana, playing for Pakistan against Australia in Lahore in 1979-80, scored 49 in what turned out to be his only Test innings. South Africa's Senuran Muthusamy made 49 not out on debut, against India in Visakhapatnam in 2019-20. And we should also mention Saqib Mahmood, who top-scored with 49 from No. 11 in the first innings of his second Test, against West Indies in Grenada in March 2022, having not batted in the first.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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