CricTrivia

With all the talk about Mark Ramprakash's possible recall by England after more than seven years, what is the longest gap between Test appearances?

Mark Ramprakash has a long way to go to match the longest gap between two Test appearances - the offspinner John Traicos played the last of his three Tests for South Africa against Australia in Port Elizabeth in March 1970, and reappeared in Zimbabwe's inaugural Test in Harare 22 years 222 days later, in October 1992. In second place is the Nottinghamshire and England batsman George Gunn, who had a gap of 17 years 316 days between Test appearances in 1911-12 and 1929-30, while Pakistan's Younis Ahmed also went more than 17 years between Tests (1969-70 to 1986-87). The record for the most matches missed by anyone between Test appearances is held by Martin Bicknell: England played 114 matches between his second cap in 1993 and his third one, in 2003. Younis (104 matches) was recently pushed down into third place on this list by the West Indian Floyd Reifer, who missed 109 Tests between 1999 and his recent recall as captain against Bangladesh.

How often have England beaten Australia in a Test at The Oval?
The two teams have met in 34 previous Tests at The Oval, and England hold a 15-6 lead, with 13 draws. Australia's wins have come in 1882 (the match that spawned the Ashes legend), 1930, 1934, 1948, 1972 and 2001, while England's successes include five in a row between 1886 and 1896. The scoreline since the Second World War is England 5, Australia 3 (and eight draws).

I spotted an Indian wicketkeeper called Rajindernath who had four stumpings but no catches in Test cricket. Has anyone done better (or worse) than this?

Rajindernath did indeed complete four stumpings but no catches in what turned out to be his only Test, against Pakistan in Bombay in 1952-53. It's easily a record: no other wicketkeeper has made more than one Test stumping without taking at least one catch as well.

I noticed that Garry Sobers hit 38 fours but no sixes in his then-record Test score of 365 not out in 1957-58. Is this the highest individual Test score that did not include a six?

I was slightly surprised to find that Garry Sobers's 365 not out against Pakistan in Kingston in 1957-58 was notthe highest Test score which did not include any sixes: Brian Lara's 375 against England in St John's in 1993-94 didn't contain any either. In all there have been seven triple-centuries in Tests that did not include any sixes.