Headed by Warne and Lillee. Current players are headed by Broad (131), Anderson (112) and Lyon (101).
Best innings bowling (including all 8wi or more):
Headed by Laker. SCJ Broad is in 4th place with 8-15 in 2015. No one else from recent times, unless you count McGrath’s 8-38 in 1997.
Best match bowling (including all 12wm or more):
Laker heads this table as well, with Massie’s freak debut in second place. From recent years the best is 12-246 by Warne in 2005.
Best bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls, 25.00 or less):
Here we do have some current players such as PJ Cummins (20.75) and Hazlewood (24.45).
Lohmann has the best bowling average (13.01), Attewell the best economy rate (1.31) and Ferris the best strike rate (42.2)
Now we look at
Fielding:
Most dismissals (40 or more):
Headed by RW Marsh (148), though there are several current players such as Paine, SPD Smith and Bairstow. The specialist stumper Oldfield has 31 stumpings besides 59 catches. Among fielders, the highest is 61 by GS Chappell. Current players include SPD Smith (46).
Most dismissals in an innings (5 or more):
Several keepers have taken 6 in an innings. No fielder has more than 4. Oldfield has 4 stumpings.
In this series, Carey and Billings each took 5 catches on debut.
Most dismissals in a match (7 or more):
Several keepers have taken 9 in a match. Also note GS Chappell’s 7 as a fielder. He was the first Test player to achieve this, although several others have equaled this (and India’s Rahane has taken 8).
In this series AT Carey took 8 dismissals on debut. All 8 were catches, which is a record in all Tests. Others have taken 8 on debut but included one or more stumpings.
Australia won this series 4-0 and came within one wicket of making it 5-0. They had already achieved this against England in 1920-21, 2006-07 and 2013-14.
Last-wicket pairs thwarting defeat are more common than one would imagine. Here is a complete list of these instances in Tests:
This was only the second such instance in Aus-Eng Tests. The earlier one was at Manchester in 2005.
India also appears a number of times in this list, both as thwarter and thwartee.
Here is the summary of matches between Australia and England. Remember that there are some Tests which are not considered as Ashes contests.
Australia’s dominance at home is clear, and they almost lead England in England as well.
We now look at individual performances, starting with
Batting:
Most runs (2000 and more):
Many famous names here. Bradman has the most centuries (19) followed by Hobbs with 12.
Bradman also has the most 50+ scores (31) followed by Border with 29.
You will struggle to find current players here. They are SPD Smith with 3044 with Root just scraping in with 2016. Going a little further back there is Cook with 2493.
Highest innings (200 or more):
In recent years there are 244* by Cook (2017), 239 and 215 by Smith (2017 and 2015).
Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 45.00 or more):
SPD Smith is No 4 (after Bradman, Sutcliffe and Barrington). No one else from the last few years, unless you count CJL Rogers who played a few Tests in 2013-2015.
Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, 50.00 or more):
Oddly enough, SCJ Broad has the 4th highest strike rate (after Gilchrist, Flintoff and Prior). And Warne is 5th. Warner, SPD Smith and Stokes are also here.
Boucher leads by a large margin (60) followed by de Villiers (40).
de Villiers has the most catches by a fielder (25) besides 15 catches as a keeper. Next among fielders is Kallis with 23. Note that K Verreyne has 14 in just 2 Tests.
Current players here include Saha, de Kock, Pujara and Rahane.
Most dismissals in an innings (5 or more):
Saha (twice), de Kock and newcomer Verreyne represent the current players.
Most dismissals in a match (7 or more):
Saha has the most, with 5 catches in each innings. Other current players are de Kock, Pant and Verreyne.
Most dismissals per innings (Minimum 20 innings, 0.60 or more):
Boucher leads by a large margin over Dhoni.
Apart from the “hybrid” de Villiers who played both as a keeper and fielder, GC Smith has the highest dismissal rate among fielders.
Rahane is the only current player here.
Finally: All-round performance:
Overall performance (see criteria in table):
Only SM Pollock can be called a genuine all-rounder. Kallis is not here as he bowled less than 2000 balls against India.
Match performance (at least 50+ and 5wi+):
The best of these match performances seems to be by N Boje.
Tail piece:
AK Markram has now played 29 Tests. 18 of them were won by SA and 11 were lost. None were drawn. He thus continues to hold the record for playing in the most Tests without a draw. Next is England’s GA Lohmann of long ago who played in 18 Tests (15 wins, 3 losses).
The series in 2021-22 resulted in a 2-1 win for South Africa, after India won the first Test. India has failed to win a Test series in SA, although they have won at least one series in all other countries. The best India has done there is an 1-1 draw in 2010-11. The 2021-22 series followed the pattern of 2006-07 where India won the first Test but lost the next two.
Here is an overall summary of Tests between these two countries:
SA leads India 17-15 overall. Both sides appear to have strong home advantages.
We now look at individual performances, starting with
Batting:
Most runs (500 or more):
Led by Tendulkar and Kallis.
These two have the most centuries (7)
Amla, Kallis and Tendulkar have the most 50+ scores (12).
From the above table, the best by current players is 1236 by Kohli, followed by Rahane, Pujara and Elgar with 800+. RG Sharma is further down.
Highest innings (125 or more):
The highest by current players are 254* by Kohli, followed by double centuries by MA Agarwal and RG Sharma. But no one crossed 125 in this series.
Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):
Kallis has the highest average, followed by Kohli at some distance. Other current players here are Rahane, Elgar and Pujara.
Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, all instances):
Sehwag and Azharuddin lead here. Among current players there are RG Sharma (in 3rd place), Kohli and Rahane. Also note Dravid at the bottom of this list.
Bowling performances:
Most wickets (12 or more):
Led Kumble, followed by Steyn and Srinath at a distance. Ashwin (56) has the most by a current player, followed by Shami, Rabada and Jadeja. Also note M Jansen with 19 in his debut series.
The most 5-fors are 5 by Steyn and Ashwin. No one has taken more than one 10-for.
Best innings bowling (includes all 6wi and more):
The best performance was an 8-for by Klusener on his debut.
Current players here include SN Thakur, Ashwin and Ngidi.
Thakur’s 7-61 in this series is the best for India against SA, surpassing the earlier record of 7-66 by Ashwin (Nagpur, 2015) and 7-120 by Harbhajan (Cape Town, 2011) which was India’s best in SA.
Best match performances (includes all 8wm and more):
Led by Ashwin and Donald with 12-fors, and 10-fors by Steyn, Pollock and V Prasad.
Current players here include Ashwin, Jadeja and Ngidi.
Best bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls bowled, all instances):
Headed by Donald and Jadeja (!) Current players here include Jadeja, Shami, Ashwin and Rabada.
Concluding this set of posts with some more videos and pictures of this route, with emphasis on the Dorabavi viaduct and its remnants. The remnants can be seen near the Bogada tunnel in the direction of Chelama (or Nandyal).
First, the mileage details from a current railway website:
New stations at Nandipalli and Kistamsettipalli have come up in recent years.
Here we have a rather detailed video which covers the Nandyal-Giddalur section, which gives a reasonable view of the forests. It does show all the stations listed above.
One thing this vlogger missed was the remains of the Dorabavi viaduct, which can be seen on the other side of the track.
Doubling of the track between Nandyal and Giddalur is expected to start in 2022 and may take a few years.
Basic details of the viaduct from a website of the railways:
Here a guide takes you around the remains of the viaduct (Commentary in Telugu with English subtitles. Among other things, you get a good view of the present line from a height and can see a long goods train passing).
There are, of course, a wide variety of blogposts and videos covering the Nallamalla region along the rail line. In this and earlier posts I have included some which I felt were more useful.
As there is a lot of interest in my earlier post from 2020, I am giving a list of all 4th-innings scores of 150 and above at Cape Town for all Test teams. This may help you to assess the chances of SA (and India) in the ongoing Test.
All scores of 150 and above in the 4th innings of Tests at Cape Town:
From this table, we can see that:
The highest winning score is 334/6 by Australia in 2002.
The highest drawn score is 354/5 (chasing 441) by the West Indies in 2004.
The highest losing score is 335 (chasing 408) by South Africa against New Zealand in 1962.
This two-test series marked an important landmark, as Bangladesh won their first Test against New Zealand in their 16th attempt. The series was drawn 1-1.
Resultsof all Tests between NZ and BD:
Overall: 17 tests: NZ lead 13-1, 3 draws
In NZ: 11 tests: NZ lead 10-1
In BD: 6 tests: NZ lead 3-0 with 3 draws.
Most runs (minimum 350):
Tamim Iqbal leads with 908, followed by Shakib (763) and newly-retired R Taylor (746).
Highest individual scores (Minimum 110):
TWM Latham’s 252 in the second Test is the highest for NZ against BD, surpassing the 202 by SP Fleming at Chattogram in 2004. Their previous best in NZ was 200* by Williamson at Hamilton in 2019. Also note that Shakib had made 217 at Wellington in 2017.
Incidentally Latham is the first player to score 252 in a Test.
While there is not enough data for meaningful batting averages, we have some strike rates:
Highest strike rates (Min 1000 balls faced, all instances):
Not surprisingly, R Taylor has the highest strike rate. Williamson and Shakib are slightly lower.
Bowling:
Most wickets (Minimum 10):
Vettori (51) is followed by the current trio of Wagner, Boult and Southee.
The most 5wi are 5 by Vettori and 3 by Wagner.
The only 10wm is by Vettori.
Best innings bowling (including all 6wi):
Shakib has BD’s best innings figure of 7-36 at Chattogram in 2008. In this series, Ebadot took 6-46 which is BD’s best innings figure in NZ. The previous best for BD in NZ was 5-166 by Rubel Hossain at Hamilton in 2010.
Best match bowling (7wm and above):
Vettori’s 12-170 at Chattogram is the best performance here.
Ebadot’s 7-121 is BD’s best match figure in NZ. The previous record was 5-88 by Mashraf Mortaza at Dunedin in 2008.
There is not enough data for meaningful bowling averages etc, as Vettori is the only one with over 2000 balls bowled.
Fielding:
Most dismissals (Minimum 8):
McCullum (28) and Watling (26) have the most dismissals.
Watling (26) and McCullum (24) have the most catches by a keeper.
Mc Cullum (4) has the most stumpings.
R Taylor (17) and Sinclair (12) have the most dismissals by a fielder.
Most innings dismissals (Minimum 4):
Imrul Kayes has the most catches by a keeper in an innings (5)
During this series Shadman Islam and TWM Latham both took 4 catches as fielders.
Most match dismissals (Minimum 5):
Watling (7) has the most dismissals by a keeper in an innings (all caught). Next is McCullum with 6.
The most catches by a fielder is 6 by Latham in this series. Next are Sinclair and Shadman with 5.
All-round performance:
50+ and 5wi in a match:
Vettori’s 55*, 76 and 9-133 at Chattogram in 2008 is clearly the best. If he had taken one more wicket, he would have become one of the only five players to score 100 runs and take 10 wickets in a test (The others are Davidson, Botham, Imran and Shakib).
Here we concentrate on the information about the railway stations on this route.
In 1935, distances are given in miles:
1935
Miles
Miles from
previous
Nandyal
0
Gazulapalli
9
9
Chelama
20
11
Diguvametta
35
15
Giddalur
42
7
In 1976, the route is still metre gauge but distances are in kilometres:
1976
Km
Km from
previous
Nandyal
0
Gazulapalli
14
14
Chelama
32
18
Diguvametta
57
25
Giddalur
68
11
This matches the miles from 1935.
After conversion to BG, these are the distances in kilometres:
2021
Km
Km from
previous
Nandyal
0
Gazulapalli
14.6
14.6
Chelama*
25.4
10.8
Diguvametta
42.1
16.7
Giddalur
53.6
11.5
* At new location
Note that Basavapuram and Bogara stations were not listed in the timetables in 1935 and later.
Comparing 1976 and 2021:
Distance from Nandyal to Gazulapalli practically same. (2021 data is more accurate).
Distance from Gazulapalli to Chelama* is 10.8 km vs 18 km to old Chelama.
Distance from Chelama* to Diguvametta is 16.7 km vs 25 km from Old Chelama
Distance from Diguvametta to Giddalur is 11.5 km is practically the same.
Thus, in the entire Nandyal-Giddalur section there is a saving of about 14.4 km.
Many of the curves have been removed.
The line is BG and electrified, but not doubled yet.
A sketch of the new and old alignments (based on the Great Indian Railway Atlas, 2015):
I have tried to fit in the most relevant items.
Dorabavi viaduct (about 1 km) between Chelama (old) and Bogara, near the latter.
Bogada tunnel on BG, about 1.6 km long, between Chelama (new) and Diguvametta.
Chelama tunnel on BG , about 0.28 km long, a little west of Chelama (new).
The old and new alignments diverge west of Gazulapalli, and east of Diguvametta. However, the pillars of the Dorabavi viaduct can be seen to the north just west of the Bogada tunnel on the BG line.
Here is a video taken from the brake van of a west-bound goods train starting from a point near Diguvametta, passing through the Bogada tunnel, Chelama (new) station and the shorter Chelama tunnel. It ends short of Gazulapalli. From around 4.15 to 4.50 (just after the tunnel) you can see the pillars of the viaduct. Also note the musical accompaniment.
Enjoy this:
Will wrap up with some more details in the next instalment.
Ollie Pope is one of the regulars in England’s team, although he was dropped for the 4th Test at Sydney. However, he acted as a substitute wicket-keeper when both Buttler and Bairstow were injured. In doing so he had a share in two Test records in fielding:
Most catches in an innings by a substitute fielder:
It should be noted that dismissals by keepers and non-keepers have been mixed up here.
In the innings records, WP Saha and OJ Pope both took 4 dismissals in an innings as keepers, while Younis Khan was a fielder. Interestingly, Saha and Pope both achieved this at Sydney a year apart.
In the match records, Saha and Pope are the only keepers with 4 dismissals.
The fielders with 4 catches in a match are Gursharan Singh, Younis Khan, V Sehwag and JM Bird.
And KS Bharat (3 dismissals) is the only one in these two lists who is yet to play a Test.
It may be recalled that he is one of only 3 substitutes to make a stumping.
One stretch of railway which received much attention from KA was the then metre-gauge section between Nandyal and Giddalur. We start with the map provided in the story “The Killer from Hyderabad”.
Going west to east one starts from Nandyal. The area of interest starts from Gazulapalli station. From there the line turns north-east to Basavapuram station, makes an U- turn to Chelama station and then eastwards to Bogara station, which seems to be near the highway.
After a sharper U-turn you reach Diguvametta and continuing east you reach Giddalur. There is another story centred around Diguvametta.
Here is a survey map of around the same time:
You may have to strain your eyes a bit, but you should be able to make out that all the stations (except Bogara) are marked.
But the line was converted to broad gauge in the mid-1990s and the section was realigned to give a straighter route. It has also been electrified.
Here is a basic map showing the old and new alignments:
This is from “The Great Indian Railway Atlas”, 2015 edition. While this is the best map of the Indian Railways available to the public, it has one flaw in that it does not show the OLD location of Chelama station but only the NEW station. One would expect the station to be named New Chelama, which is the practice followed in the railways elsewhere in India. The old station, as you can guess, lies between Basavapuram and Bogara as shown in the old map.
Also, I have seen timetables of various periods from the 1930s onward. The stations of Basavapuram and Bogara do not appear anywhere. Perhaps they functioned only for a short period. Or perhaps they were “non-commercial” stations which existed only for operational purposes (e.g. crossing) but had no passenger services.
In the 3rd and 4th parts, I will add some more information and videos about the points of interest along the new line. Of special interest are the remains of the Dorabavi Viaduct which was between Bogara and Diguvametta and about 1 km long
Numerous pictures and Youtube videos can be seen on the net covering these places. Also try “Nallamalla Hills” and “Dorabavi” as keywords. Most of the videos have commentary in Telugu, though some have English subtitles.
SS Iyer and Abdullah Shafique scored 50+ in both innings.
80 or more runs in a match:
Bowling:
4 or more wickets in an innings:
Headed by SM Boland’s 6-7 at the end of the year. There are others who have made 7wi and 8wi on debut, but this would probably be the most influential bowling performance by a debutant-as it reduced England to 68 all out and secured the Ashes for Australia.
7 or more wickets in a match:
P Jayawickrama took 11 wickets on debut, while Boland had the best figures of those who took 7 wickets.
Fielding:
2 or more dismissals in an innings:
Note AT Carey’s 5 and 3 in the same match.
3 or more dismissals in a match.
AT Carey took 8 dismissals, equalling the record by HB Taber and CMW Read.
However, Carey is the only one to take 8 catches on debut, as the others had 7 catches and a stumping.
Several fielders (including Boland again!) took 3 catches in a match.
All-round performance:
50 runs and 4 wickets in match:
Only one instance, and he has not played for the past few months.
50 and 3 dismissals in match:
Note that Abdullah Shafique made two fifties in the match, besides taking 3 catches.
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