Who holds the record for most scores in the nineties without ever making a Test century?

Former India opener Chetan Chauhan who passed away recently, had two scores in the 90s, without ever making a three-figure score in Test cricket. My question is which batsman holds the record for most scores in the nineties without ever making a Test century? – S Kartik on Twitter

The Test record is two nineties by 13 players, of which Chetan Chauhan is one of them. Chauhan is the only Indian in the list given below:

Before Brian Lara made his 500-run score in FC cricket in 1994, who were the previous record holders? – Ajay Awasthi on Twitter

Ever since the first double century was registered in first-class cricket – the 278 by Englishman William Ward for the MCC against Norfolk at Lord’s Cricket ground in London on 25 July 1820, the record for the highest individual score has changed hands on seven occasions by six batsmen, with Australian Bill Ponsford being the only batsman to do it twice – both times for Victoria. The details are given hereunder:

For the record, since 1994, only three other batsmen have managed to come close to surpassing Lara’s effort. The first was Pakistani Naved Latif in November 2000, when he made 394 for Sargodha against Gujranwala. Then, Lara, himself looked all set to break his record, until he was forced to declare the innings with his score on 400 not out for the West Indies against England in the St John’s Test match in April 2004. The last and final attempt was made in October 2009 by South African Stephen Cook (son of Jimmy Cook) when he reached 390 for Lions against Warriors at East London. 

How many players have been stumped/run out in their 90s in international cricket? Which batsman has had this misfortune of doing so on most occasions? – V Somraj on Facebook

Sachin Tendulkar is the only batsman who's had this misfortune to being dismissed ‘stumped’ on three occasions. He was twice ‘stumped’ in ODIs and once in his Test career from 1996 to 2001. Tendulkar was also dismissed ‘run out’ for 99 in an ODI match against South Africa at Belfast in 2007. This makes him the only player in international cricket to be dismissed both stumped (3) and run out (1) on four separate occasions!

In all international cricket the following batsmen have been unfortunate to be dismissed ‘run out’ on three occasions:

Is there any Wisden Cricketer of the Year who did not appear in a first-class match? – Fazal Ali on Facebook

In 1916 and 1917 the awards for Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year were suspended owing to the First World War. The accolades resumed in 1918 and in both 1918 and 1919 they were presented to public school cricketers. One of the honourees was Harry Calder, who attended Cranleigh School and was named as one of the School Bowlers of the Year. Calder may have been a talented schoolboy cricketer but he remains the only Wisden Cricketer of the Year who never played first-class cricket. He played one match for Surrey Second XI against Minor Counties on 28–29 June 1920 and scored nought and eight not out. With the ball, he bowled four overs for 21 and had no wickets. He died at Cape Town on 15 September 1995, 77 years after his nomination. This is the longest period anyone has lived after being included in Wisden’s list. And interestingly, he did not learn of his inclusion until 1994.

When Nawab of Pataudi met with the car accident in 1961, how long did he take to make a comeback to first-class cricket and also the Indian Test side? – S Jayshankar on Twitter

When the car accident happened on 1 July 1961, Pataudi jr had not yet played Test matches for India. The accident happened on the night of 1st July on the opening day of Oxford University’s FC game against Sussex at Hove. He and a few of his Oxford University colleagues were returning after dinner when their car collided with another. Pataudi had fielded on the opening day (and held two catches!), but obviously could not bat in either innings and is shown in the scorebooks as ‘absent hurt’. His side lost the match by 183 runs. 

His next match was the Ranji Trophy encounter between Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir at the Feroz Shah Kotla from 31 October 1961. He made a 51 in Delhi’s only innings. This meant he could not appear in any cricket matches for four months for the whole of July to the end of October. Soon later, he was appointed captain of the Board President’s side to play the visiting MCC, led by Ted Dexter in the third week of November at Hyderabad. He made a 70 and a 13 not out in the match. A week later he appeared in a Ranji match against Services. He scored a 38 in the only innings he got to bat. Then three weeks later on 13 December 1961, he made his Test debut against England at the Kotla, just one month short of his 21st birthday!

All records mentioned above are correct and updated as on 30 August 2020

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