Seymour Nurse’s odd record (Updated in Dec 2019)

Back to old-fashioned cricket.

Seymour Nurse passed away earlier this year: http://www.espncricinfo.com/westindies/content/player/52636.html

He was one of the reasonably strong members of the West Indies invincibles of the 1960s, playing 29 Tests between 1960 and 1969.

And he was one of the few to score a double century in his last Test, which was https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17283/scorecard/63038/new-zealand-vs-west-indies-3rd-test-west-indies-tour-of-new-zealand-1968-69

These are the few who achieved this:

As we can see, Warner, Sandham and Ponsford scored more than Nurse’s 258 in their final Tests.

Spare a thought for Sandham. He was the first to score a Test 300, and his match total of 375 was a record until 1974 when Greg Chappell overtook it. But an average cricket fan of today (or, indeed, from the 1940s onward) probably would not have heard of him unless they were deep into history.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/20058.html

Now we see that Sandham scored 325 and 50 in his last Test: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17590/scorecard/62579/west-indies-vs-england-4th-test-england-tour-of-west-indies-1929-30

And Ponsford likewise scored 266 and 22 in his last Test (with Bradman making 244 and 77): https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17565/scorecard/62623/england-vs-australia-5th-test-australia-tour-of-england-1934

It was not often that Bradman made a double century but was outscored by a team-mate.

So we see that SM Nurse, who made 258 in his only innings in his last Test, holds the record for the highest last innings score in all Tests.

Others to score a double century in their last Test innings are:

Aravinda de Silva; 206 in his last first-class match.

JN Gillespie; 201* as a night-watchman batting at No 3 instead of his usual 9.

Warner and Root will be around for a while.

For India, the answer to this is VM Merchant, with 154 vs England in 1951-52. VS Hazare outscored him with 164*. Other Indians with a century in their last Test innings are VL Manjrekar (102* vs NZ in 1964-65) and M Azharuddin (102 vs SA in 1999-2000).

 

 

A summary of India-Ireland cricket

Here is the short, short history of T20Is between India and Ireland:

The match in England in 2009 was during the T20 World Chapionship.

And here is the equally short history of ODIs between these teams:

The 2011 and 2015 matches were in the course of the World Cups.

Apart from these matches, India played South Africa in a bilateral series called the Future Cup in 2007, winning 2-1:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=2007;view=season

A quick look at T20I records between these teams:

Highest innings:

Best innings bowling:

Best innings fielding:

Allround performance: 20 runs and 2 wickets in a match:

No instances.

India has visited Ireland a number of times in the past, as the usual practice has been to tag on short visits to Ireland whenever there is a major tour of England. Most of these matches have been one or two day matches which have neither List A nor first-class status.

India’s maiden tour of England in 1932 seems to have included matches against almost all the counties as well as other teams, but did not include a visit to Ireland.

However, India did play one first-class match against Ireland in 1936. The scorecard is worth recalling as it captures the essence of that tour:

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1936/IND_IN_ENG/IND_IRELAND_09-11JUL1936.html

Points to note:

Vizzy captained in this match and made his customary single digit score.

Lala Amarnath did not play.

India won by 10 wickets, thanks mainly to CK Nayudu (7wi and 10wm) and Merchant (71*).