Vorstellung » … Perhaps if he had left me to savour the memories, to mis

In a Championship match last week Essex made 569 without anyone scoring a century. Was this a record? asked Les Hall from England Essex 569 against Kent in Chelmsford last week, in which the highest score was Ravi Boparas 94, was the eighth-highest total in all first-class cricket not to include a century. Highest of all remains Namibias 609 in an ICC Intercontinental Shield match in Windhoek in September 2010, when everyone reached double figures; there were six half-centuries, but the highest was Ewald Steenkamps 87. There have been two higher century-less totals in the County Championship. Surrey scored 603 against Gloucestershire in Bristol in 2005 (highest score Azhar Mahmoods 89), while in Derby in 1899 Nottinghamshire made 581 against Derbyshire (William Gunn 90). The Test record is Indias 524 for 9 declared against New Zealand in Kanpur in 1976-77, when the highest individual score was just 70, by Mohinder Amarnath, one of six half-centuries in the innings. That record almost went in Perth in December 2009, when the highest score in Australias 520 for 7 declared against West Indies was 99, by Simon Katich.How many times have all 11 batsmen reached double figures in a Test innings? asked David Dookie from Trinidad and Tobago There have now been 13 Test innings in which all 11 batsmen reached double figures, the most recent by South Africa against England in Johannesburg in January, when last man Morne Morkel bottom-scored with 12. But the highest was just 46, by Dean Elgar, and South Africas total of 313 was easily the lowest to include 11 men in double figures, undercutting their own 358 against Australia in Melbourne in 1931-32. The first instance was also in Melbourne, in 1894-95, when all Englands batsmen reached double figures as they racked up 475 in their second innings, 400 more than they had managed in the first.Many years ago I recall seeing Russell Endean given out for handling the ball. How often has this happened in Tests? asked Gerrit Verschuur from the United States Thats a pretty long-ago memory, as it happened in the first week of January 1957. The South African batsman Russell Endean was the first man to be given out handled the ball in a Test, against England in Cape Town in 1956-57. Endean pushed out his leg outside the off stump to Laker in the second innings, reported Wisden. The ball rose high and might well have fallen on to the stumps had not Endean thrown up a hand and diverted it. There have been six more such dismissals since, involving Andrew Hilditch of Australia (1978-79), Pakistans Mohsin Khan (1982-83), Desmond Haynes of West Indies (1983-84), Englands Graham Gooch (1993), Steve Waugh of Australia (2000-01) and another England captain in Michael Vaughan (2001-02). For the full list of unusual dismissals in Tests, click here. Its worth noting that Endean was also the wicketkeeper impeded by Len Hutton in the only instance so far of a batsman given out obstructing the field in a Test, at The Oval in 1951. There have also been three instances of handled the ball in one-day internationals, by Mohinder Amarnath of India (1985-86), South Africas Daryll Cullinan (1998-99), and Chamu Chibhabha of Zimbabwe (2015-16). Who was the quickest to complete the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in ODIs? asked Ralph Hartley from England No fewer than 60 players have now completed this particular double in one-day internationals, the first to complete it being Ian Botham in 1985. It took him 75 matches - but four players have got there faster since then. Indias Irfan Pathan did it in 74 games, Lance Klusener of South Africa in 70, and Pakistans Abdul Razzaq in 69 - but the winner, by a nose, is another South African, Shaun Pollock, who completed the double in his 68th match. The slowest are Sourav Ganguly - who got there in his last match - and Tillakaratne Dilshan, who both needed 311 games. Only 13 players have managed the double of 2000 runs and 200 wickets: Kapil Dev was the first to do it, in 1991-92, but the quickest is Shakib Al Hasan, in 156 matches, six fewer than Heath Streak. The only four players to complete the 3000-run/300-wicket double are Shaun Pollock (who needed 280 matches), Wasim Akram (289), Shahid Afridi (314) and Sanath Jayasuriya (397).Whats the lowest ODI total to include a century? asked Jagdish Verma from India There are only seven all-out totals of less than 200 in one-day internationals which included an individual century. The lowest of all was Zimbabwes 172 against Afghanistan in Bulawayo last October, which featured 102 from Sean Williams. The others were South Africas 180 against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in 2014 (Hashim Amla 101), Australias 191 v New Zealand in Auckland in 1999-2000 (Damien Martyn 116 not out), Englands 192 against West Indies at Trent Bridge in 2000 (Alec Stewart 100 not out), Sri Lankas 193 v Australia in Colombo in 2003-04 (Kumar Sangakkara 101), Australias 194 against New Zealand in Auckland in 1981-82 (Greg Chappell 108), and Zimbabwes 199 v Bangladesh in Bulawayo in 2011 (Brendan Taylor 106). There have been seven lower totals in ODIs which featured a century, but the team was not all out: the lowest of all is Englands 159 for 3 - Dennis Amiss 100 - against New Zealand in Swansea in 1973.Who has won more Test series in England - India or Pakistan? asked Mohsin Munaf Patel from Canada India have played 17 Test series in England, including the one-off inaugural match in 1932. They have won three of them - in 1971, 1986 and 2007. England have won 13, and the 2002 series was drawn. Overall, England have won 30 of the 57 matches and India six, with 21 draws. Pakistan have played 13 series in England since their first one in 1954. They have also won three series - successive ones in 1987, 1992 and 1996. They drew in 1954, 1974 and 2001, and lost the other seven. Overall, England have won 20 of the 47 matches and Pakistan nine, with 18 draws.Send in your questions using our feedback form. Nike Shoes China . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. 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A day earlier, Kapil Dev had authored a cricketing miracle in Tunbridge Wells against Zimbabwe. My dad, my uncle and I were parsing the scorecard to get a handle on how the game had played out.We habitually disagreed on everything cricket, but the family quorum was unanimous on one point - Ravi Shastri, who had scored one run off six balls and given away seven runs in his only over, was a waste of good food.Our judgement was vindicated - he didnt play another game in that World Cup. My sister, who had a poster of Shastri on her bedroom wall - with two unsightly slits in the middle from when she had ripped it out of a magazine without regard to the staples - lost interest.The Benson & Hedges World Championship, two years later, reinforced our visceral dislike. When he scored 2 and 13 in the first two games, we nodded in agreement with common consensus - he was in the team only because of Sunil Gavaskar. When he scored 51 against Australia, we contrasted the 94 balls he faced against Kris Srikkanths innings of 93 off 115 - now thats how you do it. In the final against Pakistan, we vented in disgust as he used up nearly half the innings to stodge his way to 63 not out, mostly by flicking the ball off his hips, while at the other end Srikkanth buccaneered his way to 67 off just 77.My sister ooh-ed in delight as she watched Shastri collect the keys to the Audi that marked his coronation as the Champion of Champions. We three aah-ed in disgust. Dad thought Srikkanth should have got it; my uncle advocated Laxman Sivaramakrishnan; and I made an impassioned case for the charismatic Sadanand Viswanath. Anyone but Shastri, really. He is selfish, we agreed. Limited. Boring. Cant bat. Cant bowl. And in the outfield, god, by the time he condescends to bend down from that great height…Five years later I was a young editor at Mid-Day and Harsha Bhogle was our man in England. Shastri had responded to Graham Goochs monumental 333 in the Lords Test with a century of his own, but was shaded by Mohammad Azharuddins electric 121 off just 111 balls. Then, in the third Test, Shastri batted for nine-plus hours, faced 436 balls, and scored 187.It was a monument to true grit. So? Do you like grit in your eye?Watching Shastri bat is like admiring the Qutub Minar: tall, timeless, solid, Bhogle wrote then. You admire it for the virtues, not for its style.I clipped that piece and mailed it to Dad. I remember the response, in his laboured cursive: Have you seen the Qutub Minar? You can look at it for all of two minutes. After that, its just this thing thats there… In the mental gallery of cricketers I have followed, first as fan and then as reporter, that remark captions the image of Ravi Shastri - just this thing thats there. Who in hell admires something simply because it exists?And yet, even as I attempt to distil my atavistic dislike into words, a contrarian highlights reel plays out in the back of the mind. It starts with a 19-year-old landing in New Zealand on February 20, 1981 - one day before the first Test against Geoff Howarths side. His debut series, which began with a maiden to the New Zealand captain, saw him shade the likes of Richard Hadlee, Lance Cairns and Kapil as the highest wicket-taker on either side.In the space of the next 18 months his grit - that word again - saw him climb up the batting ladder from No. 10, through every single position, all the way up to No. 1. He joined forces with Mohinder Amarnath to save the first Test of the 1984-85 tour of Pakistan, and followed it up with a century, part of a 200-run partnership with Sandeep Patil, in the next. Back home, he scored what was only the second ODI century by an Indian, after Kapils iconic 175 not out against Zimbabwe. And he followed up that century against Australia, in Indore, with another hundred two months later, against England in Cuttack.His 142 in Bombay set up a Test win against England; his encore was another century in the third Test, in Calcutta, that anchored a record-setting 214-run partnership with Azharuddin. He batted on all the five days of that Test, his 111 taking him the better part of seven and a half hours.Thhose highlights sum up the quintessential Shastri - a monochromatic player whose monumental presence at one end allowed the stars the freedom to shine at the other.dddddddddddd But there was more to his play than that single note, just as there was more to his batting than the utilitarian push off the hips, enshrined in lore as the chapati shot. In a Ranji Trophy game in early 1985, he scored his first 100 off just 80 balls and then raced to his double-century in a further 43, including the storied over off left-arm spinner Tilak Raj that disappeared for six consecutive sixes. It was the fastest double-century in first-class cricket then; it remains the joint-fastest till date - who woulda thunk, huh? In the final of the 50th year of the Ranji Trophy, in 1985, he took a match-winning 4 for 91 and 8 for 91 to go with a fighting 76 in the second innings to earn Bombay their 30th title.I can get plenty of first violinists, ace conductor Leonard Bernstein once said. But to find one who can play second violin with enthusiasm - thats the problem. Yet if there is no one to play second fiddle there is no harmony.When he had to, Shastri could step up and lead the orchestra. But he was an equally committed second fiddle - to Srikkanth, Gavaskar, Viswanath, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin and Tendulkar among others with the bat; to the likes of Siva and Maninder Singh with the ball.The highlights reel spins its way to Bridgetown 1989, where Shastri was at the receiving end of one of the greatest sledges ever. It was on a venomous Kensington Oval track, against an attack led by Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, abetted by Ian Bishop, the most recent addition to the overstocked arsenal of brutal pace. Facing a 56-run deficit in the first innings, Shastri came out to bat with India 0 for 1 (Sidhu). Marshall, in the midst of a masterclass in the lethal beauty that is true pace, produced a ripper that bored into Shastris groin. The fielders crowded around Shastri as he writhed on the ground. Desmond Haynes bent low and, in a voice of infinite concern, said Ravi, that girl you were to date tonight, can I have her number? You are no use to her now, maan! Shastri laughed as he writhed in agony. And then he got back on his feet and played one of the most defiant knocks by an Indian, ever - an epic that lasted close to seven and a half hours, in which his first 17 runs took nearly three hours, even as Arun Lal, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin, Manjrekar and Kapil were scythed down at the other end. He took everything the pace quartet could throw at him, and ended with a Man-of-the-Match century in a lost cause.The reel winds down in a soft whirr of nostalgia, and the rational part of me recognises that enduring legends have been constructed of less compelling material. Perhaps if he had walked off into the sunset after that last Test, against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in December 1992… Perhaps if he had left me to savour the memories, to miss him a little on the innumerable occasions when the team could have done with a bit of his doggedness, his grit, his guts… Perhaps then, in the light of the rear-view mirror, admiration would have been unalloyed.But no, he came right back, an over-loud presence in the commentary box spraying a limited set of stock phrases, like so many tracer bullets, all over the action. And he reminded me of what he used to do on the cricket field - make very little go a very long way. A rare and valuable quality, no doubt - and I admire hate the man for it.Illogical, yes. Irrational, certainly. But that is how it is, and I cannot explain why. The closest I can get is to recall the English poet Tom Brown. Caught in some schoolboy mischief by John Fell, dean of Christ Church college in Oxford, and challenged to extemporaneously translate a famous Martial epigram to avoid expulsion, Brown produced this:I do not like thee, Doctor Fell The reason why, I cannot tell; But this I know, and know full well I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.Thats my problem - the reason why, I cannot tell. Maybe if this argument were to go right down to the wire… ' ' '