Statistical highlights (1st day) at Ahmedabad
by Mohandas Menon
-- Marcus Trescothick became the 12th unlucky Englishman to miss a Test
hundred by one run for the 15th time. Mike Smith, Geoff Boycott and Mike
Atherton are the only ones to do it twice, while Boycott and Alex Tudor
remain the only English batsmen to remain unbeaten on this score.
Incidentally the only other left-handed English batsman to register a 99 was
Eddie Paynter against Australia at Lord's way back in June 1938.
-- Trescothick became the eighth batsman to miss a hundred by one run
against India in Tests. However he becomes the first left-hander to do so
against India. The last batsman to be dismissed on 99 before Trescothick
against India was West Indian Richie Richardson at Port of Spain in April
1989. Incidentally the last visiting batsman to be dismissed on this score
was Pakistani Javed Miandad at Bangalore in September 1983.
-- The 59 run partnership between Mark Ramprakash and Craig White was the
best for the sixth wicket at this ground bettering the previous best of 34
between Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev against Sri Lanka in February
1994.
-- The wicket of Ramprakash was Tendulkar's 25th in Tests in 88 matches. It
was his first against England in 11 Test matches since 1990. Tendulkar now
has wickets against all Test playing nations with the exception of Sri Lanka
and the West Indies.
-- The five wickets by Anil Kumble has now taken his tally of wickets to
294, which places him in the 19th position in the all-time list of bowlers
with maximum Test wickets.
-- The catch of Flintoff was Laxman's 39th as a fielder in 28 matches. This
gives him a frequency percentage of 1.39 which is only second to Eknath
Solkar's frequency percentage of 1.96 (53 catches in 27 matches) - the best
for India. Among the current Test fieldsmen only West Indian Chris Gayle
(1.50% - 21 catches in 14 matches) and New Zealander Stephen Fleming (1.46%
- 92 catches in 63 matches) have a better record than Laxman.
-- The partnership of 124 runs between Mark Butcher and Trescothick was the
first for the opening wicket for England by two left-handers since January
1962 when Bob Barber and Geoff Pullar put on 198 against Pakistan at Dhaka
(then Dacca).
England's tour of India : Complete coverage