Was Ibrahim Zadran's 177 the other day the highest score against England in an ODI? asked Muhammad Sarfaraz from Pakistan
There have been only three individual innings against England in one-day internationals higher than Ibrahim Zadran's sparkling 177 in Lahore last week.
Joint top, with 189 not out, are Viv Richards (for West Indies at Old Trafford in 1984), and Martin Guptill (for New Zealand in Southampton in 2013). Another New Zealander, Ross Taylor, hit 181 not out against England in Dunedin in 2018.
Zadran's innings was the highest individual score in ODIs for Afghanistan, beating his own 162 against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in 2022, and easily their highest against England, which previously was Rahmanullah Gurbaz's 80 in Delhi during the World Cup in 2023 . It was also the highest individual score in the Champions Trophy, beating Ben Duckett's 165 for England against Australia in Lahore four days previously.
Josh Hazlewood has a big percentage of his Test wickets caught behind. Is he the leader by that yardstick? asked Jared Marshall from Australia
You're right that Australia's Josh Hazlewood seems to pick up a lot of caught-behind dismissals in Tests: of his 279 wickets so far, 90 have been caught by the wicketkeeper. That's 32.25% of his victims, the highest percentage for anyone with more than 100 Test wickets: next, with 31.70% (39 of 123 wickets) comes Ewen Chatfield of New Zealand. Third at the moment is India's Mohammed Siraj at 31% (31 of exactly 100 Test wickets so far).
If we lower the requirement to 50 Test wickets then Pakistan's Wahab Riaz comes out on top at 40.96% (34 of his 83 wickets), just ahead of Chris Tremlett of England at 39.62% (21 of 53).
Adil Rashid took four wickets in five balls in an ODI in 2018-19 without taking a hat-trick - has anyone else done this? asked Jamie Campbell from England
The England legspinner Adil Rashid achieved this unusual feat in St George's(Grenada) in 2019 . It transformed the match: West Indies had started the 48th over needing 32 with four wickets left and Rashid nursing figures of 1 for 83. After the first ball was hit for two, the rest of the over went WW0WW: West Indies were all out for 389, and England had won by 29 runs.
Rashid finished with 5 for 85, still the most expensive five-for in ODIs. He's the only player to take four wickets in five balls in an ODI without a hat-trick: the four-in-fives of Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan vs Zimbabwe in Peshawar in 1996) and Dane van Niekerk (South Africa Women vs West Indies Women in Basseterre, St Kitts, in 2013) both did feature a hat-trick.
Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka uniquely took four wickets in four balls against South Africa in Providence (Guyana) during the 2007 World Cup.
I noticed that in Barbados in 1983, West Indies needed just one run to win in their second innings, and it came from a no-ball. Are there any other instances where all the runs in a successful fourth-innings chase were extras? asked Chris Goddard from England
The match you're talking about was the fourth Test against India in Bridgetown in 1983: West Indies needed one to win, and the visitors' wicketkeeper, Syed Kirmani, was entrusted with the ball for the first time in a Test. Almost immediately he sent down a no-ball, and the match was over. Kirmani had two more bowling spells in his 88-Test career, and even took a wicket - of Azeem Hafeez of Pakistan in Nagpur a few months later.
There's only one other Test in which all the runs in a successful chase came from extras. In Mirpur in 2010 , India needed two to beat Bangladesh: the second ball of the innings, from Shakib Al Hasan, kept low, was missed by batter Virender Sehwag and wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, and scooted away for two byes to end the game.
This is not quite the same question, but there are 19 completed innings in Tests in which the highest contribution came from extras. The highest total involved is England's 339 against West Indies in Kingston in 2004, which included 60 extras.
Abid Ali scored 225 in a total of 346 in a domestic match in Pakistan recently. Was this the lowest completed total to include a double-century? asked Ishaq Siddiqui from Pakistan
The former Pakistan Test batter Abid Ali carried his bat for 225 in Sui Northern Gas Pipelines' total of 346 against Eshaal in a President's Trophy match in Karachi last week. Rather surprisingly perhaps, this is quite a long way from the record for a completed innings: Namibia's 282 all out against Kenya in an Intercontinental Cup match in Sharjah in 2008 included 230 from Gerrie Snyman (the next-highest score was 13).
The only lower first-class innings to contain a double-century was Oxford University's 280 for 1 (Micky Walford 201 not out) to beat MCC at Lord's in 1938. The Test record for a completed innings is India's 329 against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2008, when Virender Sehwag carried his bat for 201.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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