Who has inflicted the most golden ducks in Test cricket? asked Stuart Broad on Instagram
The former England seamer Stuart Broad posed this question after seeing Australia’s Mitchell Starc remove India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal with the opening delivery of the second Test in Adelaide last week. It was the third time Starc had struck with the first ball of a Test, and the 19th time he had disposed of a batter for a golden duck. And I was amused to discover that on that score he’s level with… Stuart Broad!
They are a little way down the overall list, which is headed by Pakistan’s Wasim Akram, who inflicted 33 golden ducks in Tests. Next comes Broad’s long-time sparring partner Jimmy Anderson with 23, ahead of Glenn McGrath (21) and a distinguished quartet on 20: Curtly Ambrose, Anil Kumble, Muthiah Muralidaran and Waqar Younis. We don’t have full details of all Tests, but it seems unlikely that anyone else would feature on this list.
Gus Atkinson took a hat-trick at Wellington, to go with a century and a ten-for earlier this year. How many people have achieved this treble in Tests? asked Mike Wilkins from England
Gus Atkinson’s hat-trick for England against New Zealand in Wellington last week followed 12 wickets on his Test debut, against West Indies at Lord’s in July 2024, and 118 against Sri Lanka a few weeks later, also at Lord’s.
Atkinson is only the seventh man to achieve this notable treble in Tests – and he got there in his tenth match, easily the quickest. The others were the 19th-century England allrounder Johnny Briggs, who got there in his 18th Test in 1891-92, Irfan Pathan of India (who needed 26 matches), the England pair of Moeen Ali (40) and Stuart Broad of England (46), Wasim Akram of Pakistan (87) and India’s Harbhajan Singh (88). Spare a thought for Shane Warne, who took ten ten-fors and a hat-trick in his 145 Tests, but had a highest score of 99.
Zak Crawley hit a six in the first over of the Wellington Test. How often has this happened in Tests? asked Brian Watson from Scotland
The England opener Zak Crawley hit the sixth ball of last week’s second Test against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve, bowled by Tim Southee, for a straight six. Rather surprisingly perhaps, this appears to be only the second time anyone has hit a six in the first over of a Test: in Mirpur in November 2012, the West Indian opener Chris Gayle crashed the very first ball of a Test for six, and added another from the fourth delivery. The bowler that day, Bangladesh’s Sohag Gazi, was an offspinner making his Test debut – so Crawley is the first man to collect a six in the first over of a Test off a quick bowler.
There are 22 known instances of a six in the first over of other innings in a Test, including three from the first ball: by Aravinda de Silva off Kapil Dev for Sri Lanka vs India in Colombo in September 1985, Graeme Smith off Zaheer Khan for South Africa against India in Cape Town in January 2007, and David Warner off Dilruwan Perera for Australia vs Sri Lanka in Colombo in August 2016. De Silva did it in the fourth innings of the match, the other two in the second. (Thanks to the Melbourne statistician Charles Davis for these details.)
Harry Brook has scored seven centuries in his first ten away Tests. Has anyone else made such a start away from home? asked Chris Goddard from England
That blazing 123 by Harry Brook against New Zealand in Wellington last week was indeed his seventh century in ten Tests outside England. That’s the most by anyone in their first ten away Tests, beating the record of six established by the one and only Don Bradman in 1934, and later equalled by his fellow Australian Neil Harvey and the England pair of Ken Barrington and Chris Broad. Bradman did score more runs, though – 1732, with Brook second on 1519, well clear of Wally Hammond of England (1226), the West Indian Everton Weekes (1222) and and England’s Herbert Sutcliffe (1152).
I wondered about bowlers, too: the 19th-century England player George Lohmann leads the way there, with 76 wickets in his first ten away Tests. The contrasting West Indians Alf Valentine and Andy Roberts share second spot with 62 wickets, one ahead of another West Indian, Wes Hall, with Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif next on 60.
In a recent T20 international Zimbabwe fell from 37 for none to 57 all out. Was this a record? asked Hasan Ahmet from Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s loss of all ten wickets for just 20 runs against Pakistan in Bulawayo last week was the worst collapse by a Test-playing nation in a T20I: the old record was set earlier in 2024, when Bangladesh crashed from 101 without loss to 143 all out against Zimbabwe in Mirpur in May.
The recent decision to give full international status to all T20 games involving member nations of the ICC has made rather a nonsense of this list. Last month in Abuja, Ivory Coast declined from four for no wicket to seven all out against Nigeria, while in the women’s game there was an even more precipitous collapse for Maldives against Nepal in Pokhara in December 2019: they were sitting pretty at six for none, but all out for eight, seven of those runs coming from wides.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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