Most sixes (but no fours) in an innings

While following WI batting against SL in a T20I on Mar 6, one wondered if Russell’s 6 sixes and no fours was a record. It isn’t, but we can see the records here:

The devaluation of T20I match records is well under way. However, among “serious” matches the record would be Morgan’s 7 against SA. The next among serious matches would be Russell’s 6.

Let us look at the corresponding records for ODIs:

Here the record is 6 (less than the T20I record!) by Collingwood and Neesham. Raina is one with 5 sixes. Another  was AD Mascarenhas, who scored 30 of his runs in 5 6s off an over from Yuvraj Singh.

And in Tests, the record is held by one of the rising tailend sloggers from India:

Umesh Yadav took over the record jointly held by Nixon Mclean, Flintoff and de Grandhomme. Further down, Keith Miller hit 3 sixes and no fours against India back in 1948. More recently, Southee and Bairstow also did this against India.

CA Walsh’s 18* included three 6s as the only scoring strokes in his 18-ball innings.

From India, others such as Kuruvilla, Shami and Sir Ravindra Jadeja have also tried their hand at this.

Footnote: NAM McLean was better known for his illustrious names (Nixon Alexei McNamara) than for his relatively modest performances.

India had a similar player named Napoleon Einstein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Einstein

When the tail wagged against India

Indian bowlers have often been frustrated by lower-order batsmen. This happened in the first Test of this series as well as the first innings of the second Test.

Here we list all scores in Tests of 70 and above from No 8-11 (sorry, 12) against India:

This includes several debut scores (including 137* by Neesham, 105 by BR Taylor, 103* by Samaraweera to begin with) as well as career-best scores of 173 by IDS Smith, 137* by Neesham, 107 by Christiani and numerous others such as MA Starc, MD Marshall, TT Bresnan and even Anderson and Muralitharan. The most recent entry is KA Maharaj with 72.

We also look at the averages (with a minimum of 10 innings) for those who batted at 8-12 against India:

Vettori, Broad and Starc have scored the most runs here. Starc, JO Holder and Broad have done well in recent years.

Finally, partnerships of 90+ from the 8th wicket onward against India:

Ironically the highest such partnership is for the last wicket, when Anderson scored his only Test fifty. From the current series we have Maharaj and Philander with 109 for the 9th, and Muthusamy and Piedt with 91 for the 8th.

 

 

High scores by debutant tailenders

In the middle of the Chennai Test, we see Liam Dawson’s 66* on debut while batting at No 8. We look at similar performances by debutant tailenders.

These details are at the close of play on 17 Dec 2016.

60 or more by debutants batting at No 8:

Dawson’s 66* is the highest for England here, taking over the record from the father of a current player: 59 by DL Bairstow in 1979, which was also against India. That was the Oval Test where Gavaskar’s 221 brought India close to victory.

India does have one century by a debutant at No 8, by RH “Deepak” Shodhan who passed away earlier this year. India’s next highest in this category is Stuart Binny’s 78 in 2014. There are several who have done well against India in this category, headed by current NZ player JDS Neesham.

We also take a look at scores of 60 or more by debutants batting at No 8 to 11:

Neesham again heads this list, batting at No 8. Then there is Abul Hasan with 113, the highest at No 10, Agar with 98 which is the highest by ANY No 11 in Tests, and finally the now-forgotten BS Sandhu with 71, the highest at No 9. For India, RH Shodhan has the highest score by a debutant tailender with 110 at No 8.

Dawson’s 66* is also the highest for an England tailender on debut, just edging ahead of Darren Gough’s 65 in 1994.