The number of times Kevin Pietersen had batted in a Test since he last hit two sixes in an innings. He did so in both knocks in Colombo ‒ six in his winter-saving first-innings masterpiece, two more in a match-closing second-innings frolic – but had not cleared the ropes twice in an innings since his Leeds double-hundred against West Indies in May 2007.

Pietersen began his Test career in a blaze of badger-haired brazen-batted boundary-clearing thwacks. He hit two sixes in three of his first four Test innings, then seven in his Ashes-clinching symphony of strokeplay, and two or more in nine of his first 34 innings and 18 Tests (up to end of the 2006 Test summer). Since then, he had planked two maximums only in that Headingley demolition of West Indies five years ago – once in 107 innings over 64 Tests.

After a Test winter of unbroken personal and team failure, one of cricket’s most intriguing players gloriously rediscovered his daring youthful brilliance. In Colombo, his second-innings 42 not out was his fastest score of more than 40 in Tests, and his 151 his second-fastest 100-plus score. From the platform laid by Strauss, Cook and Trott’s disciplined grind, Pietersen annihilated a flagging and severely limited attack with calculated aggression of the highest calibre.

Also: The ideal age for Test batsmen against the current England team. Theoretically. Since July 2010, top-seven batsmen aged 33 and over have collectively averaged 39.1 against England, scoring 11 hundreds in 106 innings, whilst top-seven batsmen aged 32 and under have averaged 23.9, with just two centuries in 177 innings.

The average age of centurions against England in that time has been 34 years and eight months, and only Azhar Ali (excitedly looking forward to his 27th birthday when he hit 157 in Dubai) and Prasanna Jayawardene (31-and-a-half) have been under 33. I do not know if much (or indeed anything) can be read into this, but experience and know-how has certainly helped Dravid, Hussey and Mahela thrive despite England’s unrelenting bowling pressure. (By comparison, against all other teams in the same period, 33-and-over-year-olds have averaged 43, and 32-and-unders have averaged 37.) Conclusion: When playing England, the older, the better. Ninety-four-year-old batsmen would smash Anderson and Swann all over the shop. There is no substitute for experience. And you do not get much more experienced than being 94 years old. Over 94, snoozing and forgetfulness might start to adversely affect batting success. The West Indian and South African selectors should take note before this summer’s tours.

Also: The number of which Alastair Cook is most afraid. The last three times Cook has been six runs away from a century milestone, he has been out – for 94 in Colombo, 94 in Abu Dhabi, and 294 at Edgbaston. Furthermore, the only other two Test innings he has played since July in which he has passed 35 have been his 49 in Dubai and his undefeated 49 in the Colombo second innings. All this suggests that Cook has contracted the rare medical condition enneaparatetraphobia ‒ the fear of the numbers nine and four being next to each other. It is, admittedly, not the most dangerous affliction, unless you live at a house numbered 94. Or if you are nuclear scientist (plutonium’s atomic number is 94) (thank you, Wikipedia, knower of all, saviour of the ignorant, refuge of the forgetful).

Cook, however, will want to have it treated as a matter of some urgency. His latest outbreak of enneaparatetraphobia led to him becoming the joint leader in the England Batsmen Out Most Often In The 90s In Tests list – he has succumbed to the nervous 90s five times (three of them for 94), the same as Pietersen, Boycott and Barrington. Pietersen, by the way, retains his top ranking in the Most Exciting English Batsman Who Has Been Out Five Times In The 90s In Tests list.

Also: The number of people in the world who think that two-Test series are a good idea. Excluding series involving Bangladesh, the last four two-Test series have all ended one-all, intriguingly poised for a non-existent but fascinating decisive third Test. As a fan, the two-Test series is the equivalent of taking your loved one on a romantic dinner date, finding the perfect restaurant, perusing a tastebud-tingling menu, selecting a perfect meal, staring lovingly into each other’s eyes, then leaving just before the food arrives, and taking separate taxis to two different hotels. Approximately equivalent, at least.

Incidentally, ten of those 94 people are cricket administrators, ten more are accountants affiliated to cricketing organisations, and the remaining 74 are from an undiscovered tribe in the Amazon rain forest who have never had any contact with the outside world.

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The number of times in the documented history of mankind that a Test team has scored two 250-plus partnerships in the same innings. Until 2012, that total was zero. Now it is one, thanks to some fine batting by Clarke, Ponting and Hussey, and some minimum-intensity cricket by an Indian team that, just a very-long-seeming year ago, was ranked No. 1 in Tests (and about to embark on a victorious World Cup campaign).

All summits must be descended from. Preferably with due care and attention. As a Test team, however, India have tobogganed back to base camp at alarming velocity, like an over-excited Edmund Hillary desperate to get home to tell his mummy about how he had just conquered that really big mountain that she had promised him a new bicycle for climbing.

In their last two away series, in England and Australia, India have been mostly careless and uncertain with the bat, listless with the ball and snoozy in the field. Does their creaking batting line-up of ageing legends have it in them to rouse themselves to greatness again? Can Dhoni bring the toboggan skidding to a controlled halt, turn it around, and cajole his team to start shoving it back uphill? Does the IPL care? As Hussey and Clarke helped themselves to some of the least challenging runs of their long careers on day three, against opponents playing with the fierce and unrelenting intensity of a three-day-old bowl of half-eaten porridge, it was hard to be optimistic.

Also: The number of batsmen who have been left stranded on 299 not out in Tests. That man was Don Bradman (“A useful accumulator of runs” – International Society for Understatements). Clarke, as captain, had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join Bradman by declaring when he was one run short of his triple-hundred, in the ultimate cricketing self-prank. It would have been worth it just to see the look on his team-mates’ faces. Bradman was also the only player before Clarke who had scored a Test triple-hundred when batting at No. 5 or lower – he did so in Leeds in 1934.

Also: The number of (a) pairs and (b) scores of more than 201 that Jacques Kallis has scored in his illustrious Test career. These have come in his last two Tests, meaning that Kallis, the very embodiment of cricketing reliability for a decade and a half, has become the most inconsistent cricketer in the universe. With the possible exception of Clarke, whose last 13 Test innings have been 13, 6, 112, 151, 2, 11, 2, 139, 22, 0, 31, 1 and 329 not out. On current form, he is a good man to dismiss early.

Also: The number of Test teams that have conceded two individual scores of 290 or more within a six-month period. Clarke’s mammoth score followed hot on the heels of Alastair Cook plinking India to distraction with 294 last summer. Incidentally, in case any of you want a stat to impress / distract / annoy / confuse a potential employer at a job interview, there have now been as many 290-plus Test innings in the last four years as there were between 1939 and 1989 – seven (by Virender Sehwag, Younis Khan, Sarwan, Sehwag again, Chris Gayle, Cook and Clarke; between Len Hutton’s 364 in 1938 and Graham Gooch’s 333 in 1990, only Hanif Mohammad, Garry Sobers, Bob Simpson, John Edrich, Bob Cowper, Lawrence Rowe and Viv Richards passed 290).

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The highest score made by an Australian opener in his first innings on Test debut, since Matthew Hayden’s unforgettable 15 against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1993-94.

David Warner’s dashingly pugnacious third-ball 3 in Brisbane (the shortest recorded innings by an Australian opener in his debut Test innings), followed Phil Hughes’ 0 in South Africa in 2008-09, Chris Rogers’ 4 against India in 2007-08, Phil Jaques’ 2 and Mike Hussey’s 1 in the 2005-06 season, and Matthew Elliot’s duck in 1996-97.

Debuting Australian openers have thus averaged 1.66 in their maiden Test innings since 1994. Unsurprisingly, this is by far the lowest figure of any Test nation, although the stats show that many debut openers have struggled ‒ none of the 10 Indians and seven Sri Lankans to open on debut since 1994 have reached 50 in their first Test innings.

By comparison, in the same period since Hayden first galumphed to the Test match crease, 15 Australians have made their Test debuts batting at Nos. 3, 4, 5 or 6. Between them, they have scored four hundreds and six fifties, and recorded a collective average of 90.17 (next highest: South Africa, averaging 47). All of this suggests that modern Australian batsmen are 5432% more effective in their debut Test innings when not opening the batting. Which also suggests that Australia should keep picking debut openers until at least one reaches double figures, before flooding the rest of their batting order with randomly conscripted debutants, who will then, with mathematical inevitability, score at least a quintuple-century each. You cannot fight mathematics.

Of course, the likelihood is that these failures have been deliberate. Not, I hasten to add, for any dubious reasons. It is a well-known fact that education in Australian schools consists of little other than sledging and obscure cricket statistics, so Warner, like his immediate predecessors, would have been well aware of the fact that, of the 19 openers to have made first-innings hundreds on Test debut, 11 have never made another century (and only Alviro Petersen has any realistic hope of doing so, unless a more-than-usually fractious contractual dispute in the West Indies gives 90-year-old Andy Ganteaume a chance to add to his 112 in his only Test innings). Eight of these 11 never even passed 50 in a Test again. These facts would, without any doubt, have been coursing around Warner’s mind as he plotted the most likely way to ensure himself a long and productive Test career.

Also: The least common place in the batting order for a debutant player to bat: 103 Test debutants have batted at 4 in the first innings of their debut match. (The figures for the rest of the batting order are as follows: 1: 117 debutants; 2: 268; 3: 147; 5: 154; 6: 269; 7: 251; 8: 286; 9: 271; 10: 313; 11: 362.)

Only two debuting No. 4 batsmen have made centuries in their first Test innings – the Nawab of Pataudi, for England in the first Test of the Bodyline series, and Aminul Islam, in Bangladesh’s first Test. Neither made another Test hundred. Use that fact wisely. It could open doors for you in one of both of business and romance.

Also: The number of decades (plus a couple of years) from 1928-29 that it took Australia to find the same number of bowlers to take five-wicket hauls on debut as have done so in the last three months. Lyon, Cummins and Pattinson have combined to ensure that there have been as many five-wicket hauls by debutant Australian bowlers since 31 August as there were in the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s combined (or between 1987 and 2008).

Conclusion: He who reads too much into Test debuts is as much a fool as he who wanders into a lion enclosure dressed as a zebra, shouting, “Can we not sort this out with dialogue rather than violence?”

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Years since an 18-year-old Australian last took a Test wicket. In Johannesburg, Patrick Cummins became the 45th 18-year-old to take a Test wicket, but the first baggy green one to do so since Tom Garrett in the first ever Test series in 1877.

Cummins’ 6 for 79 were the fourth-best innings figures by a teenage debutant in Test history, behind post-war South African greenhorn Cuan McCarthy, Indian legspin whizzlet Narendra Hirwani in 1988, and Indian legspin whizzlet Narendra Hirwani in 1988 (again).

After one Test, Cummins is already in third place among teenaged wicket-takers for Australia, behind 19th-century swing king and Boer War fatality JJ Ferris (18 wickets), and Cummins’ current bowling coach, Craig McDermott (10 scalps before entering his third decade).

Also: The number of years for which the record of three Test debutants taking five-wicket hauls in a single month had stood, before November 2011 roared into the history books.

Cummins became the fourth bowler this month, after Doug Bracewell, R Ashwin and Vernon Philander, to take five wickets in an innings on his debut – no other month in the entire history of the universe has provided so many honours board-adorning debutant Test bowlers. This historic, unforgettable, numerically immortal month thus beats the previous debut five-fors record of three, which has stood since March 1877, when Billy Midwinter, Alfred Shaw and Tom Kendall all adorned the inaugural Test match with five-fors (a record that was jubilantly equalled by March 1889 and December 1927).

When you factor in Elias Sunny’s successful introduction into the Bangladesh attack in late October, the last five weeks have seen as many five-wicket-innings debuts as any previous entire year – 2003 boasted five such debuts, but has now been cast into the landfill site of statistical history by 2011. Five of the 13 debutants to have bowled since 21 October have taken five wickets on debut – maths fans will bark at you that this equates to 38%, compared with a figure up that pivotal date in human history of just 8.6% of debut bowlers taking five-fors (131 out of 1528). Truly, readers, these are great times in which to be alive.

However, a successful start with the ball is no guarantee that the bowler will Botham or Lillee his way to cricketing immortality. Before Philander picked up his second five-wicket haul in just his second match, and Ashwin did likewise in his third, none of the previous 12 five-wickets-in-an-innings debutants, dating back to mid-2007, have so far gone on to record a second five-wicket haul (some, admittedly, have had few opportunities to do so). Philander and Ashwin are also the first bowlers to take two five-wicket hauls in their debut series since Hirwani’s ludicrous 16-wicket maiden Test, and the first to do so in separate games since Nick Cook in 1983.

Of the 46 bowlers to have taken five or more in an innings in their first Test in the last 30 years, only Cork, Lee, Anderson and Edwards have gone on to take 100 Test wickets. Some still have lively ambitions to do so, whilst for others time is fast running out – it now looks increasingly unlikely that 50-year-old England seamer Neil Mallender will get many more chances to add to his five-wicket blitz against Pakistan at Headingley in 1992.

What does all of this mean for Cummins’ future career? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’ve just had a bit of time to kill, and access to Statsguru.

Also: The number of years, as of 5pm UK time on 24 November 2011, during which international cricket has been played without anyone scoring 100 centuries.

Also: The likely minimum number of decades that will pass before anyone else scores 100 international centuries.

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The West Indies’ collective Test batting average against spin since Brian Lara’s retirement from international cricket in April 2007 – comfortably the worst such figure by any team other than Bangladesh.

In that time, West Indies have averaged 30.5 against pace bowlers – still not world-beating, as their results would vociferously and conclusively testify, but nevertheless 17% better than their average against spin. Since April 2007, all the other Test teams combined have averaged 34.5 against pace, and 39.5 against spin – the rest of the non-Caribbean planet has been 14% better against spin than pace.

Thus, since Lara dragged his magic bat away from the Test match arena for the last time, West Indies have been 11% worse than their peers against pace, but a staggering 34% worse against spin. All in a period when spinners have been collectively less effective in Tests than at any time since the 1940s. Their dedication to not playing spin very well has taken them to statistical troughs that no major Test nation has explored for generations.

No wonder R Ashwin must have punched the air with excitement after being told he would make his debut against them. And you can sympathise with Devendra Bishoo when he wears his “Why am I never allowed to bowl at my own team?” frown.

The decline of Caribbean batsmanship against slow bowling is highlighted by the fact that from 2000 until Lara’s final Test West Indies averaged 27.8 against pace and 34.4 against spin – a 24% margin in favour of playing spin (similar to their performance through the 1980s and 1990s). In electoral terms, there has been a government-toppling swing towards the West Indians playing spin badly.

The major movers in the pace v spin batting market have been England, who had steadily averaged in the mid-to-low 30s against tweakers and twirlers since the 1960s, but who, since April 2007, have led the universe, averaging 47. Their improvement has been built upon hard work, sound planning, and the extremely wise tactic of not facing Warne, Muralitharan and Kumble anymore, and instead taking on Doherty, Mendis and Mishra. Of all the things the ECB have got right in helping the national team to the top of the Test Match tree, this has been one of their most influential moves.

Also: The number of Test centuries scored by Ricky Ponting in 62 Tests between August 2001, when he broke a 20-month century drought, and December 2006, when his 142 after being dropped early on by Ashley Giles sparked Australia’s spectacular/gut-rendingly-harrowing (delete according to allegiance) Adelaide comeback victory over England. In that purplest of five-year patches, the Baggy-Green icon averaged 73.

In his 45 Tests over five-and-a-half-years before this halcyon period, Ponting had scored seven hundreds in 45 Tests, and averaged 40. In 48 Tests in just under five years since then, he has scored six hundreds and averaged 39 (including just one century in his last 23 Tests, none in his last 13, and no half-centuries in his last six) (and that one century would have ended exactly 100 runs before it reached 100, but for Mohammad Amir grassing a chance that most schoolboys would have taken) (given that Amir was the same age as a schoolboy at the time, that is a pertinent consideration).

Ponting’s career has taken on an almost perfect symmetry – and one inverse to Brian Lara’s. Lara averaged 60 in his first 33 Tests over five years, 60 in his final 54 Tests over five years, and over the five years in the middle, he averaged 39 in 47 Tests. Both men have overall career averages of 52, which goes to show that even the greatest players have it in them to impersonate Taufeeq Umar for half a decade.

Also: Faoud Bacchus’ Test batting average. Does this constitute a disappointing average for someone with a highest Test score of 250, or does 250 constitute an amazingly brilliant highest score for someone with a Test average of 26? I will leave that to the philosophers and/or lawyers.

The 250 was Bacchus’ only Test century, meaning that he scored more in his single three-figure innings than Tendulkar, Greg Chappell, Boycott, Gavaskar, Border, Kallis and Steve Waugh have done in their 230 collective hundreds, and more than any Englishman scored in 4444 innings between the Lord’s Test of 1990, when Gooch plundered his way to 333, and the Edgbaston Test of last summer, when Cook plinked his way 293.

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Greetings, Confectionery Stallers. We have decided to incorporate the Multistats into the main blog. So there will be more blogs, but some of them will be shorter, and jam-packed with stats. If you are allergic to stats, or fearful of truth, you are cordially advised to ignore the Multistats blogs, or read them under medical and/or psychological supervision.

The Test average of Sri Lankan top-seven batsmen in their 30s since Kumar Sangakkara entered his fourth decade on this planet on October 27, 2007 – the best by any Test side in that time.

Over the same period, Sri Lankan top-seven batsmen under the age of 30 have averaged 31.6 – sixth best, ahead only of Pakistan and West Indies, and marginally so. (I have excluded Bangladesh, who have had hardly any over-30 players, Zimbabwe, who have played hardly any Tests, and Italy, who have (a) played no Tests at all and (b) been governed by Silvio Berlusconi, a man so naughty that he disqualifies his entire nation from the holy realm of cricket statistics. There. Someone had to say it.)

During this time (Sangakkara’s 30s, not Berlusconi’s rule over Italy), India’s and Pakistan’s top sevens have also registered a significantly higher average by gnarled 30-plus veterans compared with fresh-faced 20-somethings. India’s heavily illustrious 30-plus batting brigade has averaged 50.3, and Pakistan’s 45.5 (second and third best of the Test nations). Their under-30 averages are 37.3 and 31.4 respectively (fourth and seventh best).

West Indies are the only other team whose 30-plus oldies have outperformed their sub-30 youngsters in the last four years (41.7 to 30.7). Australia as a nation, slowly recuperating from the departure of its own generation of greats, pays little heed to baggy-green age (over-30s averaging 42.4, under-30s 44.5), whilst South Africa (43.6 to 52.3), England (39.5 to 47.2) and New Zealand (26.7 to 33.6) all show significantly better returns from their younger players.

Admittedly, Sangakkara’s 30th birthday, joyous occasion though it no doubt was for him and his family, might not be the most scientifically unignorable milestone on which to base a stat. However, the fact remains that, since the Matale Machine blew out those 30 candles on his cricket-bat-shaped cake, not only has the world economy collapsed like St Brian’s Primary School Under-9s in their little-reported match against West Indies in 1984, but it appears than an Asian-cricket lover may have secretly discovered the elixir of eternal youth ‒ since then, Asian batsmen have been 50% more effective when over 30 years of age than when under 30.

The figures suggest that the golden era of Asian batsmanship has left something of a void beneath, and one that will need filling as a matter of increasing urgency.

(By the way, in case you are reciting this stat during an attempted seduction, and the primary stat does not win the heart of your intended, here is a back-up stat to clinch the deal: in ODIs, these figures are mirrored very closely – over-30s versus under-30s ‒ other than by England’s under-30 batsmen, who have been excellent in Tests, but have explored all conceivable crannies of underperformance in ODIs).

Also: The number of times, per hour, that the average Sri Lankan cricket fan wishes Murali was still fit and firing. Since he retired, Sri Lanka have not only failed to win any of their 14 Tests, but their bowlers have collectively averaged 45.

Over the course of his career, Murali twirled his country to 54 wins in 132 Tests, taking 795 Test wickets (excluding the Super Test where he played for the World XI) at 22; Sri Lanka’s other bowlers in those games averaged 36. Even in the 23 Tests Murali missed during his career, his colleagues managed to average 37.

Not only was Murali a more than useful bowler himself (“probably better than Eddie Hemmings” – International Understatement Magazine, January 2008), but since his retirement, Sri Lankan bowling appears to have gone into a prolonged grump at the realisation that he has gone forever, subject to some major age-reversing advances in one or both of science and witchcraft.

In the words of Piglet’s agent during a particularly heated argument over how to split the royalties from the latest Winnie The Pooh film, it has all been too much to bear. Boom.

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MS Dhoni's average in 96 innings in ODIs that India have won - the highest average by anyone who has batted more than 10 times in victorious ODI matches. In ODIs India has lost, the Ranchi Rampager averages just 28.4 (the 80th highest average by anyone who has batted more than 10 times in losing ODIs), giving him one of the highest runs-per-dismissal-difference-between-victories-and-defeats of any player in the history of the limited-over universe.

(By way of comparisons: since Dhoni's December 2004 debut, all ODI top-seven batsmen combined have averaged 42.5 in victories and 23.8 in defeats; Michael Bevan, who fulfilled a similar middle-order-finisher role for Australia, averaged 65 in wins and 40 in losses; and current South Africans Hashim Amla and JP Duminy heroically smash 70 and 64 respectively on the train to Triumphtown, but miserably plink just 26 and 17 when on the long road to Losersville.) In the mercifully-now-consigned-to-history ODI series against an alleged England side, Dhoni again proved himself one of ODI cricket's greatest finishers, an ice-veined abacus with forearms stronger than an elephant's hammock, a man who knows (a) where his accelerator pedal is, (b) when to press it, and (c) that his opponents know that he knows when to press it, and how hard he will press it when he chooses to do so. Dhoni has now batted in 47 successful chases, averaging 108 with a strike rate of 90, and he has been not out on 29 of those occasions, closing in on Jonty Rhodes' record of 33 opportunities to be the first batsman to pull a commemorative stump out of the ground at the end of a successful one-day pursuit. The Indian skipper has batted 36 times in unsuccessful chases, hitting five half-centuries, averaging 23, with a strike rate of 71. The massive divergence between his winning and losing averages suggests that Dhoni's wicket is almost as important to a bowling team in an ODI as lungs are to a racehorse. These averages need to be taken with a pinch of salt ‒ he bats lower down the order than most top batsmen, so his high average in successes is boosted by not-outs, and his low average in defeats is diminished because he often comes in having to take risks early in his innings. But that pinch of salt should merely enhance the flavour of the stat, rather than render it inedibly briny. Mmmm. Yum.

Also: The percentage of air made up of nitrogen. Dazzling England gloveman Jack Russell reportedly used to take his own supply of nitrogen on tour with him, in case the local nitrogen disagreed with him.

Also: The percentage of bananas rejected by England's Bodyline skipper Douglas Jardine for being "insufficiently banana-shaped". Jardine was convinced throughout his adult life that only 21.9% of bananas were up to scratch. He preferred bananas to Australians.

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Number of balls faced by Geoffrey Boycott in in Perth in 1978-79. How many did he hit over the boundary rope for four? (a) 439 - he really went for it after being knocked unconscious at breakfast on day one when Ian Botham unexpectedly flang a croissant at him at high speed; (b) 5 - not exactly bums-on-seats batting, more bums-off-seats-to-go-to-the-bar-for-a-beer-to-numb-the-pain batting; or (c) 0 - what had the boundary rope ever done to him? Why should he inconvenience it by sending a ball hurtling towards it?

Think about your answer carefully. No conferring.

Concentrate.

Pens down. The answer is - brace yourselves, Twenty20 fans ‒ (c) 0. In nine hours 42 minutes of batting, the Yorkshire legend managed a solitary all-run four. The Packer-ravaged 78-79 series was by no means Boycott's career highlight - he averaged fractionally under 22, his strike rate was fractionally over 22, and, in all, he smote five scintillating boundaries in more than 24 hours at the crease - fractionally more than one fence-blasting hammer-blow per day's play. In fact, if a team made up entirely of 1978-79 Boycott clones batted at both ends for an entire 90-over day, they would end on 122 for 5. And all this happened to the lilting background tones of Kerry Packer giggling wildly to himself and asking, "Anyone want to watch some guys in silly clothes whacking it about a bit?"

Boycott proudly resides in third place in the slowest-recorded match-scoring rate of anyone who has faced at least 400 balls in a Test - narrowly behind Brearley's defiantly strokeless 17 off 64 and 74 off 344 against Pakistan in 1977-78, but way adrift of the career masterpiece of the Plato of Plod himself, Trevor Bailey, who brought humanity to the precipice of spiritual permafrost in scoring 27 off 116, followed by 68 off 427 (match figures of 95 runs off 543 balls, equivalent to two entire days' batting in a modern Test, and a strike rate of 17) at the Gabba in 1958-59.

It is now widely accepted by experts that it was Bailey's second innings, rather than competition with the Soviet Union, that prompted America to invest heavily in space travel, in order to offer the people of the world a viable escape route from having to witness similar innings in future.

Also: The percentage increase in sales of coffee reported by hot drink stalls at the Perth Test in 1978-79 whilst Geoff Boycott was at the crease.

Also: The percentage increase in sales of champagne reported by bars at the following Test in Melbourne after Boycott was out 13th ball for 1.

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Test runs scored by Mike Hussey in eight Tests since he began the 2010-11 Ashes, sharing a hotel room with a noisy gaggle of question marks over his place in the Baggy Green team. Those question marks had earned the right to rifle through Hussey's minibar, dance in his jacuzzi bath, and snooze groggily on his couch. In his previous 34 Tests, over almost three years, he had scored just three hundreds and averaged 34 - 56th in the world (of players who had played five or more Tests in that time), and the tenth-best Australian. Having averaged over 35 in only three of his last 11 series, Hussey could have had no complaints that the writing was on the wall, nor that the writing was not entirely complimentary in tone, and contained the words "You are selectorial toast" in especially lurid paint. But rather than accept this unwanted decor, he whipped out his old set of paintbrushes, and covered over that writing with a high-class mural depicting himself waving his bat around, celebrating. In eight Tests since then, he has hit five hundreds and five more half-centuries, and posted an average of 73 - the fourth highest in that period, behind Bell, Cook and Misbah, and almost double the average of the next-best Australian, Shane Watson. Hussey's fallow period had followed one of the most remarkable starts to any Test career. In 20 Tests, he had scored 2120 runs, including eight centuries, at an eye-ballooning average of 84 - the best in the world in the November 2005 to January 2008 time slab. During his two Himalayan peak periods, therefore, he has hit 12 hundreds in 28 Tests and averaged 80 - midway between Graeme Pollock and Bradman - whilst in the rift valley in between, he nestled in amidst the statistical likes of Brendan Nash, Wasim Jaffer and Greg Ritchie. For a player and a man who seems to be the embodiment of consistent reliability, Hussey has had a barkingly odd career.

Also: The last year in which there were no recorded disputes about umpiring in top-level cricket.

Also: Virender Sehwag's close-of-play score whenever he visualises himself batting undefeated throughout the first day of a Test.

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Johnny Bairstow's ODI career strike rate after one match. The Yorkshireman's debut innings of 41 not out off 21 balls was the fastest innings of over 40 on an ODI debut in the history of the known universe. Constable Combustible Shahid Afridi famously splattered 102 off 40 balls (strike rate: 255) in his maiden ODI innings, but it was in his second match, after he registered a disappointingly sedate Did Not Bat in his first. Surprisingly for a nation not universally renowned for the innate flamboyance of its strokeplay, there are five England players in the understandably-seldom-consulted Top Six Fastest ODI Debut Innings Of 40-Plus chart. Not only did Bairstow supplant the previous record holder (Afghanistan's Noor Ali Zadran, who smote 45 off 28 in his first ODI in 2009), but he also overtook his countrymen Luke Wright (50 off 39), Ben Hollioake (63 off 48), Roland Butcher (52 off 38) and John Morris (63 not out off 45). However, before England supporters, redhead fans, and those who see the success of Yorkshire cricketers as inextricably linked to a universally acceptable solution to the Middle East situation, become too excited at Bairstow's brilliant match-clinching debut, it should be noted that Butcher, Morris and Hollioake never surpassed their debut scores, and Wright has reached 50 only once more since his 2007 debut, scoring 52 against New Zealand in 2008.

Also: Balls faced by Peter Burge in scoring 53 in the fifth Test between Australia and West Indies in 1960-61, and by Paul Collingwood during his 135 against South Africa at Edgbaston in 2008. Burge's innings lasted two hours 35 minutes; Collingwood's took four hours 56 minutes. Admittedly, Burge predominantly faced spin, and Collingwood largely encountered pace, but it remains an oddity that, as cricketers have become fitter, stronger and better prepared, aided by modern nutrition and scientific advances, and prompted by the incessant demands of television for non-stop action, they have become increasingly proficient at dawdling back to their bowling markers as if suffering from advanced all-body arthritis. Perhaps cricket's biomechnical experts should be focusing their energies on the brisk walk rather than the repeatable bowling action.

Also: The speed, in miles per hour, at which Andre Nel was convinced he was going to bowl the ball, every time he ran to the wicket. Judging by the look on his face.

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The number of century partnerships England's sixth to tenth wickets have been involved in during 2011 - an all-time record for any Test team in a single year. Since their century stands for the sixth, seventh and eighth wickets in the final Ashes Test in Sydney, they have added six more lower-order hundred-plus partnerships - a record for an English summer ‒ with three against both touring sides. The 109 put on by Prior and Bresnan for the seventh wicket at Trent Bridge took England past the previous world best of eight lower-order century stands in a year, by India in 1983, and West Indies in 1984. England's previous best was six - set last year. If they can maintain their current Krakatoan form, England will be able to make a strong statistical claim for having the best lower middle order in Test history. England's average partnership for their sixth to tenth wickets this year is 57 (compared to 27 last year) - comfortably a record by any team who have played more than one Test in a year, beating the previous best of 48 by South Africa in 1966. And they have scored these runs at a bowler-breaking rate of 4.6 per over. This summer, England's lower order has averaged 48 per wicket against Sri Lanka and 54 versus India - whose own last five wickets have responded with, respectively, 19 and 16 per wicket. And some of those responsible for these lower-order blitzkriegs have been bowling quite nicely as well. By comparison, England's first five wickets in the current series have had just four runs per partnership over India's - 37 to 33. But whilst India's tail has been disintegrating like an egg sandwich re-entering the earth's atmosphere from a high earth orbit, England's has been taking the bull by the horns, swinging the bull round their heads, and training the now subdued bull to do their housework, iron their shirts and cook them dinner.

Also: The number of bowlers England's lower order has reduced to tears of impotent rage this year.

Also: The number in England's order at which Alan Mullally batted in the Oval Test of 1999. In both innings there were no batsmen absent. Mullally did not lock the real numbers 9 and 10 in a cupboard just so he could bat. He was chosen as England's No. 9. He scored 5 and 3, so, by his standards, he almost rose to the challenge. England's No. 9 at Trent Bridge was Stuart Broad - 108 runs off 98 balls in the match, bumping his career average up to 29. How times have changed in English cricket.

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The number of Test double-hundreds scored by Kevin Pietersen - putting him third on the all-time England list, behind the useful pairing of Wally Hammond (7) and Len Hutton (4).

A quick multiple-choice quiz question for you. Pencils ready? You may begin. Who has scored the most Test double-hundreds, with 12 in 52 Tests, at a rate of one every 6.66 innings? (a) Don Bradman; (b) Monty Panesar; (c) North Korean President Kim Jong Il, the self-proclaimed scorer of the world's lowest ever golf round (38 under par), and presumably therefore quite handy at cricket as well; or (d) film actress Zooey Deschanel.

Also: The number of double-hundreds scored in Lord's Tests between 1950 and 2002. There have been five since 2003. There were five from 1938 to 1949, in just six Tests. Shortly after New Zealand's Martin Donnelly scored the last of those, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China. No double-century was scored in a Lord's Test for 33 years after the communists took hold of China. In March 2003, Hu Jintao became the Chinese president. In July that year, Graeme Smith brutalised England at HQ for 259 aesthetic abominations of runs. Is president Hu behind the recent spate of docile pitches at Lord's? Was the MCC the real force behind the Chinese Communist Party? Was Gubby Allen the mastermind of the Cultural Revolution? I am not willing to answer any of these questions for fear of what potentially life-threatening political machinations the truth might unleash. I merely present the facts. Draw your own conclusions.

Also: The number of Test double-hundreds England players scored between September 1985 and February 2002. Since then, there have been 10 England 200s. Here is another multiple-choice question: Why? (a) Because England have become better at batting since 2002; (b) Because the bowlers of the world have become less good at bowling since 2002; (c) Because pitches have become increasingly batsman-friendly, verging at times on batsman-amorously-flirtatious; or (d) all of the above.

(Answers to the two questions will be posted on this page in 50 years' time)

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The average of spin bowlers in opening innings of Lord's Tests since 1975, as generously contributed to by Harbhajan Singh's 0 for 152. Indian fans should not be excessively concerned by the failure of their 400-wicket tweaker. The last time a spinner took five wickets in the first innings of a Test at HQ was when Bishan Bedi looped his way to six for lots and lots and lots in 1974. That October, I was born. And I have clearly been bad news for slow bowlers operating in the first innings of Lord's Tests. Before I reluctantly entered this world, spinners had taken their first-innings-of-a-Lord's-Test wickets at a respectable average of 32.3. Since then, they have collectively taken just 73 wickets in the 60 opening innings of Lord's Tests, at an average of 58.2. And the best innings return has been Iqbal Qasim's unforgettable 3 for 101 in 1978.

In the second innings of Lord's Tests during my lifespan to date, spinners average 30.4; in the third, 39.2; and in the fourth, 30.7. (By comparison, for pace bowlers at Lord's, the respective innings averages are: 33.52; 29.50; 32.03; and 33.26.) At all other English Test grounds combined, the respective innings averages for spinners are: 44.37; 39.55; 31.92; and 31.65.

In fact, since my evidently influential birth, of the 29 grounds to have hosted 20 or more Tests, Lord's has been the worst for spinners bowling in the opening innings of a Test. However - hold on to your scorebooks, abacuses and thermos flasks, stats fans - it has been the third-best of those grounds for spinners in the second innings of Tests.

Explain that, Captain Science. You can't, can you? No. You can't. Lord's is 23rd best of the 29 for tweakers in the third innings, and 17th best in the fourth innings.

If anyone can explain those stats, they will win a Nobel Prize, a job as Allen Stanford's accountant, and a lifetime seat on the UN Security Council. What the hell happens to Lord's in the second innings of Tests? And how on Zeus' intermittently good earth does Edgbaston leap from 17th best for spin in the first innings and 19th in the second, to the best of all in the third, before settling back to 11th in the fourth? What is going on? Are there no certainties in the world anymore? And, more pertinently, what am I doing finding all this out at 1.30am when I am supposed to writing jokes for my alarmingly-imminent-and-far-from-nearly-finished Edinburgh Fringe show? Should I tell my wife about it, or is it best that she doesn't know? Help.

Furthermore, Harbhajan is seldom at his best in first Tests. Over his career, he has averaged 39.8 in first Tests, 30.2 in second Tests, and 26.4 in third, fourth and fifth Tests combined. And the Punjab Prober's first-Test phobia has become distinctly more pronounced over the last two years - in which time he has taken 15 wickets at 77.9 in eight first Tests, a Quasimodically ugly duckling of a stat to compare with his relatively swanlike (and almost Swann-like) 59 wickets at 29.5 in twelve second and third Tests.

In summary, (a) Harbhajan will probably improve as the series goes on; and (b) it's my bedtime.

Also: I said, it's bedtime. And may Statsguru have mercy on your souls.

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75

The average duration, in number of balls faced, of Indian opening partnerships in which Virender Sehwag has been involved.

Also: The average duration, in number of balls faced, of Indian opening partnerships since 2000 in which Virender Sehwag has not been involved. Thus, whether or not the Delhi d'Artagnan is playing, the first Indian wicket falls on average in the middle of the 13th over of an innings. When he is playing, the average score at the fall of that wicket is 54-1. Without him, it is 34-1 - and the opening partnership run rate drops from 4.3 per over to 2.75 per over. (And bear in mind that Sehwag had to open with Sanjay Bangar ten times, so those figures could be even more divergent.)

Also: The percentage of the 12 fastest recorded Test innings of over 100 by Indian openers which has been scored by Sehwag - nine of the 12, including the fastest five. He has also blasted three of the four Test innings of over 200 to have been scored at more than a run a ball (the other being Nathan Astle's Krakatoan 222 against England in 2001-02).

Also: The number of times per day Andrew Strauss whispers "yippee" under his breath when thinking about Sehwag missing at least the first two Tests due to injury. From a cricket-lover's perspective, could the entire series not be postponed until he is better? Sehwag hasn't played a Test here for nine years. Come on, cricket. In that time, Simon Katich has played 12 Tests in England, Imran Farhat nine and Devon Smith eight. Is that justice, cricket? Must England-based cricket supporters be deprived of at least two Tests of Sehwag just because of some pre-arranged schedule or other, so-called "TV contracts" having been signed, and tickets having been foolishly sold without checking whether one of cricket's greatest ever entertainers and risk-takers was going to be fit?

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12

The number of consecutive ODI innings in which Kevin Pietersen has been out caught. During this sequence he has passed 25 on eight occasions, but his 59 against Ireland in Bangalore is his solitary half-century. Nine of these dismissals have been lofted shots ‒ he has been caught at long-on twice, deep midwicket, mid-on, midwicket, mid-off, point, extra cover, and by the bowler (somewhat unfortunately in that case, as Munaf Patel pulled off an act of literally face-saving self-preservation in the World Cup). Pietersen has also been caught reverse-sweeping against Ireland, and edging a forcing off-side shot in the final ODI against Sri Lanka on Saturday; only an edge off Robin Peterson in the first over of England's titanic World Cup encounter with South Africa in Chennai was not an attacking shot. If this proves nothing else, it demonstrates that Pietersen can play all round the wicket. In the air.

Also: The number of sixes Pietersen has thwacked in his last 34 ODI innings, dating back to November 17, 2008, at a rate of one every 83 balls faced. In his first 26 ODI innings, he planked 34 sixes - clearing the ropes once every 38 balls faced. Pietersen is equal 57th in the chart of Most ODI Sixes Hit Since November 17, 2008 (and only the seventh-highest England player). It is admittedly a niche chart, but a chart nonetheless.

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98

The number of batsmen from current Test nations who, in the last five years, have batted in the top seven in 25 or more ODI innings. When these 98 are ordered by strike rate, only one English player is in the top 20 - Eoin Morgan, scraping in at No. 20, with a strike rate of 90. Of the rest of the current England side, Kevin Pietersen is 43rd (SR 80), Jonathan Trott 58th (78), Ian Bell 77th and Alastair Cook 78th (both 72). When the 98 are ordered by average, again only one English player is in the top 20 - Trott, in fifth, averaging 51. Morgan is 27th (average 39), Cook 46th (35), Pietersen 50th (34) and Bell 55th (33).

Also: The position, in the list of Fastest ODI Innings Of Over 100 Since January 1, 2010, occupied by Alistair Cook's defiant but unsupported 119 off 143 balls at Lord's on Sunday. A hundred and nine ODI hundreds have been scored this decade, and only 11 of those innings have been scored at a slower rate than Cook's 83.21 - a fraction under five runs per over. Since 2000, when a batsman has scored a century at under five runs per over in the first innings of an ODI, his team has gone on to win in half of the matches. When a batsman has scored a first-innings hundred at between five and six per over, his team has been victorious in 68% of the matches; and when a player has smashed a ton at more than a run a ball, his team has defended successfully in 80% of the games. If this proves anything, it is that when an opening batsman scores an ODI hundred, it helps if his Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 hit more than two boundaries in 108 balls, and if his No. 4 doesn't crack after a few tight overs and spoon one to deep midwicket after making a good start.

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223

Ian Bell's Test batting average in 2011 - 446 mellifluous runs in five innings, three of which have ended undefeated ‒ currently the highest average for a year in Test history by anyone who has batted at least five times. Next on the list is Zaheer Abbas, with a relatively inept 194.33 from his five innings in 1978, followed by the man most ESPNcricinfo readers would, of course, assume was guaranteed to clinch a podium place in this category - John Bracewell of New Zealand. He averaged 165 in 1985, making him statistically better than Don Bradman ever was. For a year. (Acknowledging that Bracewell was only out once in his five innings.) (And allowing for the fact that Bradman averaged 402 in 1932, a year in which he was only dismissed once.) (And in awareness of the fact that Bradman averaged over 100 in five separate years in which he batted five or more times ‒ no one else has done so three times, and only Boycott, Chanderpaul, Hammond, Imran Khan and Samaraweera have managed it twice.) (And admitting that Bracewell's Test batting average on January 1, 1985 was 8.11.) (And, finally, granting that batting averages are essentially meaningless when players have only been out once or twice.) (But you still cannot, should not, and must not argue with statistics. In 1985, Bracewell was a better batsman than Bradman. And offered more with the ball. And was not in his late 70s as Bradman was at the time.)

Also: The most common Test score over 206. There have been nine innings of 223 in Test history. If there are no more scores of 223 in the next 10 Tests played, there will have been an average of one innings of 223 for every 223 Tests played. [This is an official submission for the ICC's prestigious Most Meaningless Statistic Of The Year award, an increasingly hotly contested gong in the Twenty20 age.]

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2

The number of five-wicket hauls Chris Tremlett has taken in six Tests since his recall in Australia, in which time he has taken 32 wickets at an average of 23 (all but nine of which have been top six batsmen). His opponents have played him with the comfort of unqualified snake handlers trying to quell a riot at a cobra sanctuary.

Also: The number of five-wicket hauls Chris Tremlett had taken in his previous five seasons of first-class cricket before his recall.

Also: The most wickets Stuart Broad has taken in a Test innings in his last seven Tests, dating back to the third Test against Pakistan last summer. Since the end of the 2009-10 South Africa series, Broad has taken more than two wickets in an innings just once in 11 matches. In that time Swann has done so 13 times in 16 Tests, Anderson 11 in 13, Finn 8 in 12, Tremlett 6 in 6, Bresnan 4 in 5 and Shahzad and Tredwell once each in their only Tests.

Also: The number of back-up emergency fake beards WG Grace used to carry with him at all times in case a team-mate shaved his real one off as a dressing-room prank. He was a man strongly aware of the importance of brand recognition. And a man strongly suspicious of the pair of scissors Arthur Shrewsbury used to carry in his kitbag for no obvious reason.

Also: The number of times Arthur Shrewsbury shaved WG Grace's beard off.

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28.6

Years since an English bowler reached the 250-Test-wickets landmark. Ian Botham, who ended with 383 scalps and a knighthood, reached 250 in the first Ashes Test of 1982-83, since when the closest to that mark has been Matthew Hoggard, whose career was unceremoniously taken round the back of a disused barn and humanely put down with the Yorkshire allrounder* stranded on 248 wickets. Since then, 25 bowlers have passed the 250-Test-wicket barrier: five Australians, four each from India, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies, and two from both New Zealand and Sri Lanka. But none from Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. Or England. Anderson is closing in, on 217 (he could theoretically smash through the barrier in the first Test against India, if he really hits his straps), Swann is well past halfway after only two and a half years of Test cricket, and Trott has made some inroads recently - if he can maintain his Lord's strike rate of a wicket every 24 balls for the next couple of years, and persuade his captain to entrust him with the new ball, he will be there in no time. But the fact remains that, since Botham, as many Englishmen have reached 250 Test wickets as Frenchmen, Paraguayans, popes, or members of the North Korean secret service (unless Brett Lee has been in extremely deep cover).

Also: The average plausibility percentage of the official explanation after a player has broken something in a dressing room in a post-dismissal stropping blooper.

Also: The speed, in yards per hour, at which umpires move from their respective positions behind the stumps and at square leg before meeting to waggle their light meters around and infuriate the watching public - the slowest known form of human movement after the reluctant child's walk to the dentist.

* The United Nations Cricketer Categorisation Committee has recently confirmed that Hoggard's match- and ultimately Ashes-clinching 8 not out at Trent Bridge in 2005 qualifies him as a full-fledged allrounder

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30

The age at which Sri Lankan batsmen start reaching their prime. Five of the Sri Lankan top six in the current series are over 30 years of age - and they have higher Test averages, and faster scoring rates, since they turned 30 than they did in their 20s. Skipper Dilshan leads the way - in his 20s he averaged 36 with a strike rate of 56; the older, wiser Dilshan averages 53 with a strike rate of 79. Sangakkara in his twenties had figures of 54 and 55; in his 30s, these rise to 59 and 56; for Mahela Jayawardene the numbers are 48 and 52, inflating with age and experience to 65 and 53; the twentysomething Thilan Samaraweera's 41 average and 41 strike rate have shot up like a 1950s Russian spacedog to 70 and 55; whilst the younger Prasanna Jayawardene's figures of 24 and 45 are frankly ashamed to be seen on the same page as the 49 average and 59 strike rate he has registered since entering his fourth decade. The future looks very rosy indeed for the 29-year-old Tharanga Paranavitana, who is excitedly counting down the days until his next birthday.

Also: The number of times the average Pakistan captain resigns over the course of his career.

Also: The average elevation, in centimetres, by which MCC members' eyebrows were raised when it was revealed that next year's West Indies tour of England will not feature a Lord's Test, and will instead be played in, and (on this year's evidence) barely noticed by, Cardiff.

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34.6

The amount, as a percentage, by which Muttiah Muralitharan exceeds his nearest challenger in the Most International Wickets Taken chart - 1347 to Warne's 1001. Sachin Tendulkar has scored 25.9% more international runs than the second most prolific international batsman, three-time England Ashes-winning legend Ricky Ponting. The Mumbai Master leads the Baggy Green Great by 32795 to 26052.

Also: The rating of the India v Pakistan Mohali semi-final on the Lazlowulf Scale (the international standard measuring system for sporting hype). Previous notable scores include:

2010 Football World Cup final: 6.5

Ali v Foreman, the Rumble In The Jungle, 1974: 7.3

Federer v Nadal, Wimbledon Final, 2008: 5.1

Steve Davis v Doug Mountjoy, 1981 World Snooker Final: 44.9

Tim Curtis' Test match debut for England, 1988: 62.4

Some experts dispute the latter two readings, claiming the hypometers used may have been tampered with by, respectively, Doug Mountjoy and England chairman of selectors Peter May.

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74

India's batting average against spin in matches against Test opposition in this World Cup. They have also tonked the tweakers to Thwacksville at 6.2 runs per over. Both figures are by far the best of the tournament.

However, Pakistan's multi-prong spin squadron have taken their wickets against Test nations at an average of 21, and conceded a tight-fisted 3.9 per over - which are also both tournament bests.

Roll on Wednesday.

Also: The distance, in millions of miles, from Earth to the furthest point at which the pre-Mohali-semi-final hype can be seen with the naked eye.

Also: The number of times since Friday that AB de Villiers has turned to Faf du Plessis and said: "Er, Faf, erm, what, er, what exactly were you… oh… never mind."

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10.7

Shahid Afridi's bowling average this World Cup. In 64.3 overs, he has annoyed Ian Chappell 21 times, and pointed a total of 42 fingers at the sky. His mid-19th-century-style bowling average is backed up by an economy rate of 3.48. Afridi has raised his game for the big stage. In his previous 24 ODIs from January 2010, he had taken 23 wickets at 45, and been hit for almost five runs per over.

Also: The 100-metre sprint personal best of Philip Tufnell, on a course from the stumps to the pavilion at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad, in 1998. In place of the traditional starter's pistol used in most athletics, Tufnell's PB began when Curtly Ambrose began his run-up.

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6.33

Surprise England injury replacement Jade Dernbach's economy rate in List A limited-overs matches. Overlooked-despite-taking-6-for-45-in-a-recent-ODI-in-Australia Chris Woakes leaks his List A runs at 5.26. Jettisoned-some-time-ago-for-being-consistently-too-expensive Saj Mahmood trumps them both at 5.17. Dropped-for-being-repeatedly-hammered-all-over-the-place-in-this-World-Cup Jimmy Anderson's economy rate in the tournament so far is 6.55.

Also: Age in years at which scientists now believe a batsman will have to start playing international cricket in order to have any chance of overhauling Sachin Tendulkar's record of international centuries.

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2120

Number of World Cup runs by which Sachin Tendulkar now exceeds, amongst others, Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein, Lalit Modi, former Czech tennis ace Hana Mandlikova, Madonna, Michelangelo and 1980s Somerset seam bowling stalwart Colin Dredge. (Dredge: "This race isn't over. I'm not done with World Cup batsmanship yet. I'm Colin Dredge. No man shall defy me. You wait, Tendulkar, you just wait.")

Also: Number of times South African match-almost-winning hero Lance Klusener has found himself saying "oops" out loud whilst thinking about the 1999 World Cup Semi-final.

Also: The year in which experts now expect Tendulkar to retire from international cricket.

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4

The number of match-winning ninth-wicket partnerships in World Cup history, of which Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam's 58 to slamdunk England into the losers' basket in Chittagong was the second highest, behind Bichel and Bevan's guiding Australia to victory, also against England, eight years ago with a deeply irritating/coolly heroic stand of 73 (delete according to national allegiance).

Lagging behind are Allan Lamb and Neil Foster's 37 to see England to a rare triumph against West Indies in 1987, and Jeremy Coney and John Bracewell's immortal unbroken stand of 7 to secure victory for the Kiwis against England in 1983. Bangladesh's victory was only the third time in World Cup history that a team has won after needing more than 50 when their eighth wicket fell.

Also: Number of copies of the DVD box set Asif Mujtaba's Greatest Innings sold since its release in 1997. All four were purchased online and signed for by a certain "Mr A Mutjaba".

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16.6

The percentage of wickets in the 1987 World Cup that fell to run-outs, a tournament record, despite the fact that Inzamam-ul-Haq did not make his World Cup debut until the following competition. Out of a total of 385 dismissals in 1987, 64 involved batsmen trudging away from the crease visibly swearing, looking stroppily over their shoulders and facially apportioning blame to their partners, the umpire or the cruel hand of fate. This marked the start of a golden age of appalling World Cup running between the wickets - 13% of wickets in the 1991-92 and 1995-96 tournaments were run-outs, whilst no other World Cup can claim more than 10%, despite some magnificently school-boyish mid-pitch mix-ups in this tournament.

Also: Kamran Akmal's score, out of 100, in his school wicketkeeping exams. He has sat retakes on 12 occasions since, with a highest score of 19.3.

Also: What Alan Mullally's Test bowling average would have been if there had been no batsmen facing him.

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387

Ross Taylor's strike rate, in runs per 100 balls, during the last 16 balls of his Pallekele Powerblast against Pakistan. After plinking his way to 69 off 108, with just four fours - one of them courtesy of Kamran Akmal mistaking the ball for an endangered blue-crowned motmot bird from Suriname and not wanting to touch it ‒ the Wellington Wowitzer hit seven sixes and four more fours, and a total of 62 runs, off those 16 balls. It is fair to say that he shifted gears.

Also:The amount of time, in days, of psychological counselling that Perth scoreboard operator Gilberto Strafehound underwent before he was able to return to his post after working during Chris Tavare's two innings of 89 in 466 minutes and 9 in 127 minutes in the 1982-83 Ashes Test at the WACA.

Also: Don Bradman's batting average in games of kitchen cricket against his wife, Jessie, between 1935, when he first made her bowl an apple to him, and 1996, when he retired.

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9

The most number of times a batsman has been run out in World Cup history. Take a guess who it is was… right first time, it was indeed Inzamam-ul-Haq. Next best: Asanka Gurusinha, with six run-outs. Now, can anyone spot some kind of physical link between these two fine players that might explain why they are the undisputed Bradman and Sobers of being run out in World Cups? Anyone? (The use of the word "chunky" is acceptable in your answer.)

Gurusinha was run out for 35% of his World Cup dismissals, impressively trumping Inzi's 30%. The Multan Mountain can also chuck a couple of stumpings into the bargain, meaning that he was caught out of his ground in 36% of his career World Cup dismissals, enabling him to sneak ahead of the Colombo colossus, who was never stumped in the World Cup. The great Pakistani's 36% World Cup figure compares compared with 17.5% over his entire ODI career - Inzamam clearly raised his inept-running-between-the-wickets game for the big occasion.

Also: The number of teeth Tillakaratne Dilshan lost during the course of the research and development phase for his trademark scoop shot.

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2

The number of Sri Lankans caught at third man in the first over of the momentous 1996 World Cup semi-final in Calcutta. As Oscar Wilde himself wrote: "To lose one opener caught at third man in the first over of a World Cup semi-final may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like fantastically cavalier recklessness guaranteed to appeal to the neutral spectator."

Also: The number of divisions of the Calcutta fire brigade required to attend to the stadium by the end of that game.

Also: The number of times schoolboy batsmen in England being brought up to play the game properly are allowed to be caught at third man before being expelled from school.

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13

Legendary 1996 UAE captain Sultan Zarawani's highest World Cup score, an 18-ball encyclopaedia of batsmanship against New Zealand that included the master's only international boundary.

Also: The total number of runs Sultan Zarawani scored in his other five ODI innings.

Also: The number of times in the 0.2 seconds between Allan Donald's bouncer pitching and Allan Donald's bouncer clonking Sultan Zarawani on the head in the UAE v South Africa game in 1996 that Sultan Zarawani thought: "Not wearing a helmet is starting to look like rather ill-founded overconfidence."

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967

The number of balls Sunil Gavaskar would have had to face to equal Sachin Tendulkar's ODI record score of 200, had he continued batting at the rate at which he scored his infamous 36 not out in the first ever World Cup match at Lord's in 1975.

Also: The approximate runs per over India found themselves requiring towards the end of Gavaskar's masterclass of surreal anti-batting.

Also: The number of spectators treated by first-aid staff at Lord's for minor facial injuries after falling asleep during Gavaskar's innings and inadvertently headbutting the seat in front of them.

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134

Lowest total defended to win a World Cup match - Zimbabwe restricted England to 125 all out at Albury in 1992, inspired by Eddo Brandes' 4 for 21.

Also: The number of headlines in the English press the following day focusing on Brandes being a chicken farmer, rather than an international bowler.

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7

Number of weeks taken to confirm pre-tournament near-certainties Australia as 2007 World Cup champions.

Also: The number of close or slightly close matches in those seven weeks.

Also: The number of people in the universe who thought that one good match per week made for a ceaselessly riveting tournament. Six of them were confused Bolivian farmers who misheard the question.

Also: The number of weeks it takes a kangaroo to find a mate, get pregnant and start a family.

Also: The number of weeks it took Austria and Prussia to start, wage and end an entire war in 1866.

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41

Number of runs scored by Mike Gatting in the 1987 World Cup final, before attempting a reverse-sweep that has gone down as "the single greatest act of folly in British history" (Exaggeration Monthly magazine).

Also: The number of English heads, in millions, which simultaneously smacked into coffee tables one second after Gatting's attempted reverse-sweep. Seismologists registered a significant worldwide earth tremor due to the combined effects of the head clunkings in England and Gatting stomping off the ground in Calcutta.

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