Plus, MS Dhoni in chases, and most Test runs against England

Steven Lynch14-Apr-2015The final at Melbourne was the 400th World Cup match. Who won the 100th, 200th and 300th games? asked Steve Rafferty from the United States
The 2015 World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand at Melbourne was the 400th World Cup match in which there was play – there have been six additional games that were abandoned without a ball bowled due to bad weather or not played because of security concerns. Of the matches that started, the 100th was South Africa’s 64-run victory over West Indies in Christchurch in 1991-92. The boot was on the other foot when the 200th came up in 2003: West Indies beat South Africa by three runs in Cape Town. And the 300 was reached during England’s one-run victory over West Indies in Bridgetown in April 2007.Richie Benaud died at the age of 84. Was he Australia’s oldest surviving Test player? asked David Roberts from Australia
The much-missed Richie Benaud was 84 years 186 days old when he passed away last week. There are currently seven Australian Test players who are older than that: leading the way, at 93, is Arthur Morris, the free-scoring opener who was one of the 1948 “Invincibles”. Morris is the third-oldest surviving Test player from any country, after the South African Lindsay Tuckett (96) and Andy Ganteaume of West Indies (94). The other aged Australians are Len Maddocks (88), Ken Archer (87), Neil Harvey and Colin McDonald (86), Alan Davidson and John Rutherford (85). McDonald made his Test debut in the same match as Benaud, against West Indies in Sydney in 1951-52.How many Tests have been played at Viv Richards’ ground, and how many at the other ground in Antigua? asked Mark Castleton from Barbados
West Indies’ current Test against England is the fourth to be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua. The first one there was a drawn match against Australia in mid-2008. The previous three Tests on the ground have produced just one result – when West Indies beat New Zealand by nine wickets in July 2012. The other match there was the infamous ten-ball game against England in February 2009, which was abandoned soon after the start as the ground was unfit. That embarrassment led to an unexpected extra Test at Antigua’s previous Test venue, the Recreation Ground in St John’s: it was the 22nd match there since the first one in 1980-81, which was marked, almost inevitably, by a fine century from local boy Viv Richards.MS Dhoni has remained not out 66 times in one-day internationals. Is it true that India have won on all 66 occasions? asked Sudarshan Samra from Denmark
MS Dhoni does have 66 not-outs to his name in one-day internationals, but 26 of them came when India batted first (they won 15 and lost eight of those matches, one was tied and there were two no-results). Dhoni’s reputation as a “finisher” stems from the fact that of the 40 times he has remained not out at the end of a second-innings run-chase, India have won 38 of the matches and tied one (against Sri Lanka at Adelaide in February 2012). Only one of those games was lost – against Pakistan in Kolkata in January 2013. Set 251, India were shot out for 165 – Dhoni was left high and dry on 54.Who has bowled the most maiden overs in a Test match? asked Keith Jordan from England
The most maiden overs in a Test is 83, by the old Nottinghamshire medium-pacer William Attewell for England against Australia in Sydney in 1884-85. He followed 71-47-53-4 in the first innings with 58-36-54-2 in the second. These, though, were four-ball overs, which obviously made it easier to deliver maidens. The most six-ball maidens in one Test is 75, by the Jamaican slow left-armer Alf Valentine at Lord’s in 1950. He wheeled down 45-28-45-4 in the first innings, and 71-47-79-3 in the second. Valentine’s spin twin Sonny Ramadhin delivered 70 maidens in the same match – 27 in the first innings and 43 in the second – as West Indies completed a famous victory.Is Don Bradman still the only player to score more than 5000 Test runs against England? asked Melissa Gomes from Sri Lanka
Don Bradman remains well clear on this particular list: he scored 5028 runs in Tests against England, at an average of 89.78. Next, almost 1500 adrift, is Allan Border: he scored 3548 runs against England at 56.31, in 47 matches to Bradman’s 37. The first non-Australian is Garry Sobers, with 3214 runs (60.64) for West Indies, while Steve Waugh made 3200 at 58.18. A further 29 players have scored 2000 runs in Tests against England. The leading current player is Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had 2359 runs against them before the series started yesterday.