An irreverent look at cricket numbers

This is one heck of a "fun article": a completely irreverent look at cricket numbers. It is possible that the readers might get some additional insights. But that is not the objective. Time to have a chuckle, laugh, guffaw and look for your own number! Readers are encouraged to put in their own numbers and I will compile those, add some of my own and come out with a follow-up article on the same lines. The whackier the number is, the better.

I have selected, or rather I should say "the numbers selected themselves", 100 unique numbers and added descriptive elements for each. There is nothing structured about the selection. It has been done from all areas of cricketing numbers. Thus this allows you to do a similar thing and throw completely unexpected numbers at me. Of course, they should be verifiable. The 100th number in this article is a license given, only, to me. I stopped when I felt I had enough and the deadline approached, that is all.

0: The most famous zero in Test history. Bradman b Hollies 0 (2 balls). God's way of reminding us that everyone is fallible and imprinting the more romantic number 99.94 in everyone's minds.
 : Number of runs scored by Ajit Agarkar in seven consecutive innings against Australia.
 : Number of runs conceded by Brian Langford in a John Player League 40-overs match. His analysis was 8-8-0-0.
1: Runs needed by Tom Hayward to reach 2000 Test runs.
 : Number of runs conceded by Courtney Walsh while capturing five ODI wickets
 : Runs scored in six innings by Mohinder Amarnath.
1.008: India's scoring rate (RpO) in the Bridgetown Test during 1962. This was achieved over two days of batting and 185.3 overs.
1.31: William Attewell's Test career economy rate. Across 475 overs.
2.36: Chris Martin's batting average, in 104 innings.
3: Number of runs conceded by Phil Simmons against Pakistan in ten overs.
3.00: Scoring rate achieved by Kenya in a T20 match against Afghanistan during 2013.
4: Runs needed by Bradman in his last Test innings, to reach average of 100. Also the runs he fell short by.
4.15: Shahadat Hossain's Test career economy rate. Across 896 overs.
5: Number of times a batsman has been "timed out" in a first-class match.
5.803: Australia's scoring rate (RpO) in the Wanderers Test during 1902. This was achieved over 51 overs.
6: Number of times India crossed 400 in consecutive Test innings during 1986.
 : The innings total of "The Bs" against England during 1810. Declared a first-class match? There were 9 Bs, one W and one L (Good they found the W since John Wells top-scored with 4). Incidentally there was a team called "Over 38s" in this tournament.
7: Number of hat-tricks achieved by Doug Wright.
8: Number of maidens bowled by Bishan Bedi and Simmons in an ODI innings.
9: Number of wicketkeeping dismissals by Tahir Rashid/Wayne James in an innings.
9.41: Bowling average of Samuel Cosstick who captured 106 first-class wickets.
10: Runs conceded by Hedley Verity while capturing ten wickets against Nottinghamshire.
 : Number of catches taken by Wally Hammond in a match.
 : Number of first-class 400s scored so far.
12: Most sixes in a Test innings: By Wasim Akram.
 : Oxford University score vs MCC. Also Northamptonshire vs Gloucestershire.
 : Estimated number of days it would have needed for the RPS, Colombo Test during 1997 between Sri Lanka and India to have a result.
12.52: Runs per over conceded by Lasith Malinga in an ODI match vs India.
15.00: New Zealand's scoring rate (RpO) in the T20 match against Scotland: Across 6.0 overs.
15.83: New Zealand's scoring rate (RpO) in an ODI match against Bangladesh: Across 6.0 overs.
17: Number of sixes scored by Australia against Zimbabwe in a Test innings during 2003.
19: Balls required by Ernie Toshack to capture five wickets.
 : Number of times Glenn McGrath dismissed Mike Atherton.
20.50: R Ashwin's economy rate when he bowled two T20 overs against Australia.
21: Number of ODI matches Australia went through during 2003, undefeated.
22: Number of balls Bradman took to score 100 in a local match: 10x6s and 9x4s.
27: Number of Test matches West Indies went through during 1982-84, undefeated.
30: Number of players used by England in a five-Test series during 1921.
31: Number of innings Dera Ismail Khan would have needed to make Railways bat again. Scores: Railways 910. DIK 32 & 29.
32: Number of tied matches in ODI history.
34: Runs scored by Border against Natal, both innings put together in a match.
36: Pick a player: Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Garry Sobers, Yuvraj Singh or Herschelle Gibbs.
37: Number of 200s scored by Bradman.
49: Balls bowled by George Lohmann when he captured eight Test wickets.
52: Most fours in a Test innings. John Edrich 52x4s.
53: Balls Warwickshire needed to dismiss Hampshire.
62: The number of zeroes scored by Chris Martin.
67.34: Percentage of innings runs scored by Charles Bannerman in the very first Test ever played.
70.92: career bowling average of Mark Lawrence who captured 42 wickets.
72: Balls bowled by George Lohmann when he captured nine Test wickets.
76: Number of Extras conceded by Pakistan in a Test innings against India.
77: Runs conceded by Bert Vance in a single over on instructions from his captain in 1989-90.
 : Balls played by Geoff Allott while scoring 0.
78: Test innings played by AB de Villiers before first duck.
87: The number of bowlers who have captured 10 wickets in an innings.
90: Balls remaining when Sri Lanka won a T20 match against Netherlands during 2014.
95: Runs scored by Australia and Pakistan in a full day during 1956.
 : Number of c Marsh b Lillee dismissals.
109: Number of fours scored by Sri Lanka against India in a Test innings during 1997.
109.2: Total number of overs bowled in the Test won by Australia against South Africa during 1932.
140: Number of times Tich Freeman captured ten wickets in a match.
153: Number of runs scored by Brian Lara in the historic Bridgetown win against Australia.
168: Balls it took Nathan Astle to score 222.
175: Number of Kapil Dev runs at Tunbridge Wells. One of the greatest international innings ever.
189: The number imprinted in the minds of all cricket followers: Viv Richards' all-time classic at Old Trafford.
199: first-class hundreds scored by Jack Hobbs.
201.50: Bradman's average against South Africa in 1931-32.
216: Number of ODI matches played at Sharjah.
229: The lowest score at which a batsman is yet to be dismissed.
238: Most runs in boundaries in a Test innings. By Edrich: 52x4s + 5x6s.
247: The days taken for travel from Melbourne to Melbourne during the Australian tour of England in 1938. They left on Feb 25 and returned on Oct 29.
277: Balls remaining when England won an ODI match against Canada during 1979.
287: Highest debut innings ever: By Tip Foster.
290: New Zealand's record ODI win by runs over Ireland.
292: Runs scored by England when they won by innings and 202 runs.
299: For Martin Crowe, a never-to-be-reached target missed. For Bradman, only the third landmark missed.
303.00: Naeem Islam's Test bowling average. One wicket for 303.
304: Number of wickets captured in a single season by Tich Freeman.
307: Runs added by Alan Kippax and Hal Hooker for the tenth wicket.
331: Record partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in ODIs.
350: Number of balls Trevor Bailey took to score his fifty against Australia.
362: Runs conceded by Arthur Mailey while bowling 64 8-ball overs and capturing 4 wickets.
375.00: Not the number you are thinking of. Highest first-class bowling average. SM Krishnakumar captured 1 wicket for 375 runs.
432: Number of balls bowled by Denis Atkinson without capturing a single wicket.
418: Number of stumpings effected by Les Ames in his first-class career.
434: Record ODI score by Australia: Lasted for less than four hours.
438: Second occurrence of 400-plus ODI score: On the same day.
501: Forget about hundreds, let us talk of "half a thousand" by one player: Highest first-class score, by Brian Lara.
522: Balls bowled by Chuck Fleetwood-Smith while capturing a single wicket.
551: Number of runs by which Pakistan exceeded their first innings at Bridgetown during 1958.
579: Biggest Test-win by an innings in history.
588: Most balls bowled by Sonny Ramadhin in a single Test innings.
624: Record Test partnership of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.
625: Runs scored by Bradman in three consecutive Test innings.
654: England's record fourth-innings total in 1939.
675: Biggest Test win by runs.
737: Runs added for the loss of a single wicket: By Sri Lanka.
847: Number of balls played by Len Hutton during his 364.
907.5: Number of overs bowled in the "timeless" Test played in Durban during 1939.
974: Test runs scored by Bradman in the 1930 series.
981: Balls faced by Hanif Mohammad during his 337, arrived at using simple extrapolation.
1015: Minutes taken by Rajeev Nayyar in his innings for HP against J&K.
1107: Record Victoria score against New South Wales.
1110: Number of first-Class matches played by Wilfred Rhodes.
1710: Test runs in a calendar year by Richards - a record that stood for 29 years.
1788: Test runs by Mohammad Yousuf in 2006.
2376: Runs scored in one match: Maharashtra v Bombay.
2833: International runs scored by Ricky Ponting during 2005.
11273: The duration, in days, of the Test career of Wilfred Rhodes. He made his debut on 1 June 1899 and ended his Test career on 12 April 1930. His debut Test was also the debut Test of Victor Trumper and the last Test of WG Grace.
34357: Total Number of international runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar.
44039: Number of balls bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan.
61237: First-class runs scored by Jack Hobbs.
106996: Number of people who thronged Eden Gardens for the India-Pakistan Test during 1998-99. You do not agree with me? Prove me wrong! Quite tough, though, with no turnstiles. The official record says "around" 100000, not including the spectators who might have sneaked through various routes.

Articles like this are bound to have a follow-up one and I am certain there will be one. I would like that article to have as many reader contributions as possible. Let us go for another 100 numbers. Look for outliers and off-the-beaten-track ideas. For this article, I would any day prefer the 375.00 as Krishnakumar's average than 375 as Lara's record-breaker.

Now for the Bradman memorabilia. This time I have scanned Bradman's 1930 England tour matrix. Look and marvel at the extraordinary number of matches that were played. To view the scan, please click HERE. The visiting team played 34 matches over four-and-a-half months. Bradman batted in 28 of these and averaged over hundred runs per match.