Was Virat Kohli's 76 last Saturday the highest score in a T20 World Cup final? asked Armugam Lokesh from India
That important innings of 76 by Virat Kohli was the highest of the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Bridgetown, but there have been five higher scores in the course of the previous eight such finals - including Kohli's own 77 against Sri Lanka in Mirpur in 2014.
There have been two scores of 85 in T20 World Cup finals. The first, which was not out, was by Marlon Samuels, for West Indies against England in Kolkata in 2016; New Zealand's Kane Williamson was out for 85 against Australia in Dubai in 2021. Samuels also hit 78 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2012.
Was Louis Kimber's double-century the other day the fastest ever in terms of balls received? asked David Powell from England
That astonishing onslaught by Leicestershire's Louis Kimber broke several records, for the English first-class game at least. Kimber blasted 243 against Sussex in Hove last week, and reached his double-century in just 100 balls, the fastest in England (beating 123 by Aneurin Donald for Glamorgan against Derbyshire in Colwyn Bay in 2016). The only faster double-century in all first-class cricket came from 89 balls, by the Afghanistan batter Shafiqullah Shinwari, playing for Kabul against Boost in Kunar in 2018.
During his innings, Kimber smote no fewer than 21 sixes, surpassing the County Championship record of 17, established two years ago by Ben Stokes for Durham against Worcestershire at New Road. In all first-class cricket the record remains 26 sixes, by Tanmay Agarwal during his 366 for Hyderabad against Arunachal Pradesh in Secunderabad in January 2024.
Kimber had come in at No. 8, at 144 for 6, with Leicestershire still 320 short of their target of 464, but took them agonisingly close - when he eventually dragged the ball into his stumps, only 19 more runs were needed. The only higher scores from No. 8 in first-class cricket are Cecil Maxwell's 268 for Sir Julien Cahn's XI against Leicestershire in West Bridgford in 1935, and Wasim Akram's unbeaten 257 for Pakistan in a Test against Zimbabwe in Sheikhupura in 1996-97.
The 59th over of Leicestershire's innings, delivered by the England Test seamer Ollie Robinson, cost 43 runs. The sequence was 6,4,4,6,4,4,4,4,1, the second, sixth, and eighth deliveries being no-balls that also incurred two-run penalties. The only first-class over to leak more runs was the somewhat contrived instance of 77 by Wellington's Bert Vance, in a New Zealand Shell Trophy match against Canterbury in Christchurch in 1989-90: he bowled 17 deliberate no-balls, most of them inviting full-tosses, in an attempt to keep the opposition interested in chasing their target. In the end the umpires and scorers lost count: there were only five legitimate balls in the over, and Canterbury finished just one short of victory, as this article recalls. John Morrison, Wellington's captain, said: "I nearly had heart failure when I learnt a little time after the game that Canterbury only needed one to win."
Has any World Cup final featured two teams who were undefeated in the lead-up to the final, as the 2024 T20 World Cup did? asked Prithvi Sreenivasan from the United States
You're right that both India and South Africa were unbeaten on the way to the T20 World Cup final in Bridgetown last weekend. This hadn't happened in a men's T20 World Cup before but, in the days when there were fewer preliminary matches, it was the case at the 60-over World Cup in England in 1979, when England and West Indies were both unbeaten before meeting in the final at Lord's.
In the women's game, it happened during the T20 World Cup in 2009 in England, when the hosts and New Zealand both won all their group games then prevailed in the semis. England won the final at Lord's. A similar thing took place a year later in the West Indies: Australia and New Zealand won all their group games, then the semi-finals, before Australia squeaked a three-run win in the final in Bridgetown.
Arguably it also happened at the women's World Cup in India in 1978, when both England and Australia were undefeated before the last round-robin game in Hyderabad, which decided the trophy as there was no actual final. Australia won by eight wickets after England managed only 96 for 8 in their 50 overs.
Has anyone ever taken all ten wickets in an innings on their first-class debut? asked Tahir Rashid Ahmed from Pakistan
The only man to achieve this did it a long time ago: seamer Albert Moss took all ten wickets for Canterbury against Wellington in his maiden first-class match, in Christchurch in 1889-90. Moss, who was 26, had not long emigrated to New Zealand from his native Leicestershire. He played only three further top-level matches, and finished with 26 wickets, the fewest of any of the 83 men who have taken ten wickets in a first-class innings.
I saw that Geoff Boycott once carried his bat for 99 not out in a Test. Has anyone else done this? asked Michael O'Sullivan from England
Geoff Boycott carried his bat for 99 through England's innings of 215 against Australia in Perth in 1979-80. The last man out was Bob Willis, who turned down the run that would have taken Boycott to three figures, because he wasn't keen on facing Dennis Lillee. "I asked him why," wrote Boycott, "and he said 'Because he will get me out.' I don't suppose there is any answer to that, but I thought that Geoff Dymock from the other end, slanting the ball across the right-hander, represented just as big a threat to him." He was right: Willis fell in the next over to Dymock for a duck, giving Australia victory.
There are six other instances of a player scoring 99 not out in a Test, but none of those was by a player who also carried his bat. There have been five other cases of an opener carrying his bat for 99 in first-class cricket.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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