What is the most number of balls a batter has spent in the nineties before going on to make a hundred in a Test? And what's the longest time someone has spent on 99 before reaching 100? asked Ben Cox from Australia
This is one of those questions that is difficult to answer definitively, because we lack ball-by-ball data for a lot of early matches - and the increased rates of scoring these days means, according to the Australian statistician Charles Davis, that records for slow scoring are more likely to be incomplete as they are more likely to involve the older matches for which we don't have full details.
Given that, the longest spell known for a batter in the nineties is 75 balls, by the England opener Cyril Washbrook, in the third Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge in 1950. Remarkably enough, Washbrook is also in third place on this list, as he'd warmed up in the previous Test at Lord's by spending 68 balls in the nineties. Charles warns: "For him the number of balls could be plus or minus two or three owing to unmarked leg-byes in the scorebook."
In between comes Jack Hobbs, with 72 balls in the nineties for England against Australia at Lord's in 1926. Another England player, Michael Vaughan, spent 68 balls in the nineties against Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2003. The leading non-Englishman is Bruce Mitchell, with 67 balls in the nineties against England in Cape Town in 1949.
In Kandy, Vaughan spent 87 minutes in the nineties, a time that looks to have been exceeded only by Saqlain Mushtaq, who was in the nineties for around 98 minutes (66 balls, including 17 on 99) while approaching his only Test century, against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2001.
When Glenn Turner reached the first of his twin centuries for New Zealand against Australia in Christchurch in 1974, he spent only 43 balls in the nineties, but a record 36 of them came while he was on 99. England's Derek Randall was stuck on 99 for 28 balls against New Zealand in Wellington in 1984. The New Zealand opener John Wright spent 17 balls on 99 against England in Christchurch in January 1992, being stumped off the last of them and not reaching his century.
At the other end of the scale, Ben Stokes uniquely spent just one ball in the nineties against Australia at Lord's in 2023, going from 88 to 100 with successive sixes off Cameron Green.
R Ashwin not only took 537 wickets in Tests but also scored six centuries. Who's the next-highest wicket-taker with six hundreds under his belt? asked Gawtham Patel from India
You're right that R Ashwin finished his Test career with 537 wickets and six centuries (and a total of 3503 runs). Another Indian, Kapil Dev, finished with 434 runs and eight hundreds in Tests, while Ian Botham ended up with 383 wickets and 14 centuries.
In all, seven men who scored six or more Test hundreds also reached 200 wickets. The figures of Jacques Kallis are pretty remarkable - 292 wickets and 13,289 runs, with no fewer than 45 centuries!
Yashasvi Jaiswal has reached 100 four times in Tests now, and gone on to 150 each time. Is this a record? asked Nikhil Shrestha from India
You're right that Yashasvi Jaiswal has converted all four of his Test centuries to date to 150s: he started with 171 on his debut, against West Indies in Dominica in 2023, and has added 209 against England in Visakhapatnam in 2024, an undefeated 214 in the next match in Rajkot, and 161 in the first Test of the current series against Australia in Perth.
The only other man to do this was another left-hand opener, South Africa's Graeme Smith. His first four Test centuries were 200 against Bangladesh in East London in 2002, followed by 151 against Pakistan in Cape Town in 2003, and innings of 277 at Edgbaston and 259 at Lord's in the first two Tests against England in the summer of 2003. Smith's run was broken when he was out for 132 against West Indies in Johannesburg in 2003: Jaiswal's run is still ongoing.
Has anyone younger than Sam Konstas opened the batting for Australia in a Test? asked Davey Moore from Australia
If he makes his Test debut for Australia against India in Melbourne on Boxing Day, the precocious New South Wales batter Sam Konstas will be 19 years 85 days old. There have been only three younger Australian Test players: Ian Craig (17 in 1953), the current captain Pat Cummins (18 in 2011), and Tom Garrett (18 in the first Test of all, in 1877). But none of them opened the batting as teenagers: at the moment the youngest man to go in first for Australia remains Archie Jackson, against England in Adelaide in 1929 - and he marked his Test debut with a memorable 164. So if Konstas plays - and opens - in Melbourne, he will indeed be the youngest to do so for Australia.
Overall, he is quite a way down the list. The youngest man to go in first in a Test match is Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh, who was 17 years 188 days old when he opened in the second innings against Pakistan in Dhaka in 2002. Four other 17-year-olds have opened in Tests: Vijay Mehra and Parthiv Patel for India, Hanif Mohammad for Pakistan, and Ibrahim Zadran for Afghanistan.
How many people have been out for 99 in their first Test? And anyone in their last? asked Andrew Lucas from England
Only three men have been out for 99 on their Test debut. The first was Arthur Chipperfield, for Australia against England at Trent Bridge in 1934, and he was followed by Robert Christiani of West Indies, also against England, in Bridgetown in 1948. The most recent case was by Asim Kamal, for Pakistan against South Africa in Lahore in 2003. Chipperfield and Christiani did later reach three figures in a Test, but the unfortunate Asim never did.
Only one woman has fallen for 99 on her Test debut: Jess Jonassen, for Australia against England in Canterbury in 2015.
The only man to be out for 99 in his final Test was the South African Bruce Mitchell, against England in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in March 1949. Alyssa Healy was out for 99 in her most recent Test, for Australia against South Africa in Perth in February 2024, but she will presumably play again.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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