Benedict Bermange - Sky Sports Expert

Somerstats

Posted: 13th May 2008 10:18

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Marcus Trescothick Justin Langer Somerset

Trescothick & Langer

Sky Sports' cricket stats man Benedict Bermange has teamed up with skysports.com to bring you statistical highlights from our cricket coverage of the past week.

The glorious game will be brought to you in numbers every week as Benedict unearths relevant historical facts that have arisen from the past seven days in the world of cricket.

He will also be on hand to answer your statistical cricketing questions, be it about an existing record, player, team, ground, umpire, laws of the game or whatever your query may be.

If something has been puzzling you, or you have come across a fact or stat during Sky Sports' cricket coverage that you must have verified to cure your insanity, then ask Benedict.

Or maybe if you have been stumped by a quiz question down the local, just email Benedict here or fill out the comment form at the bottom of the page and he will answer your questions.

Somerstats

Somerset's total of 654 for six declared against Hampshire at Taunton is their highest ever in the second innings of a first-class match, surpassing their total of 630 against Yorkshire at Leeds in 1901. Here are their top five second innings totals.

SCORE AGAINST VENUE SEASON RESULT
654-6d Hampshire Taunton 2008 Drawn
630 Yorkshire Leeds 1901 Won
523-3d Middlesex Taunton 1999 Drawn
498 Derbyshire Derby 2006 Lost
475 Surrey Taunton 1998 Won

The difference between Somerset's first innings (126) and their second innings was 528 runs. This is the fourth-largest difference between a team's two innings in a match in the county championship. The only higher differences are below:

TEAM AGAINST VENUE SEASON INNS 1 INNS 2 DIFFERENCE
Middlesex Essex Chelmsford 1983 83 634-7* 551
Somerset Yorkshire Leeds 1901 87 630 543
Northamptonshire Glamorgan Northampton 1998 172 712 540

The partnership of 272 between Marcus Trescothick and Justin Langer is a new record for Somerset's second wicket against Hampshire, surpassing the 245 added by Archibald Young and Malcolm Lyon at Bath in 1924.

Kent's comeback

Kent recovered spectacularly well to beat Nottinghamshire in the championship at Trent Bridge. At one stage they were 5 for four in their first innings, chasing the home side's all-out score of 202. Martin van Jaarsveld helped them to their final target of 244 with an innings of 63 - his hundredth first-class score of fifty or more.

Kent became just the sixth team to win a championship match when they had lost their fourth wicket in their first innings on a total of five or less. The full list is:

FALL OF 4TH SCORE TEAM AGAINST VENUE SEASON
2 102 Worcestershire Northamptonshire Northampton 1999
4 182 Middlesex Essex Ilford 1935
5 15 Hampshire Warwickshire Birmingham 1922
5 54 Gloucestershire Northamptonshire Northampton 1926
5 236 Yorkshire Warwickshire Bradford 1936
5 238 Kent Nottinghamshire Nottingham 2008

Cow corner

The fall of Charl Langeveldt's wicket in Derbyshire's first innings against Warwickshire at Derby had special significance for both bowler and fielder. It was Neil Carter's 200th first-class wicket, and Ian Salisbury's 200th first-class catch.

In the course of his first-innings score of 48 against Derbyshire, Ian Bell passed 5,000 first-class runs for Warwickshire in his 129th innings. Only two batsmen have reached that landmark in fewer innings for the Bears - West Indian Rohan Kanhai who took 111 and Sky Sports' own Nick Knight, who took 118.

When he had New Zealand's Jacob Oram caught behind by Matt Prior, England Lions bowler Chris Tremlett took his 250th first-class wicket.

Benedict's bumpers

The Friends Provident Trophy match between Gloucestershire and Somerset was unique in the annals of English One-Day cricket. It is the only match in which the seventh wicket partnerships for both teams exceeded one hundred runs.

Essex's total of 391 for five against Surrey at The Oval was their highest ever in one-day cricket, surpassing their 386 for five in the 1988 Nat West Trophy against Wiltshire at Chelmsford.

The opening partnership of 269 between Mark Pettini and Jason Gallian was a new Essex record for the first wicket, surpassing the 248 added by Will Jefferson and Andy Flower against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 2004.

Email Benedict here or fill out the comment form at the bottom of the page and he will answer your questions.

Comments

Dave Sedgwick says...

Benedict, not really a stats question but I'm sure you'll be able to answer it nonetheless. England's current tail of Stuart Broad, Sidebottom, Panesar and Anderson are all lefties! When was the last time England lined up with an all-left-handed tail? Also six of the eleven are lefties (including Cook and Strauss), is this the most ratio of left handers to right handers England have had in and eleven?

Posted 12:00 15th May 2008

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