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andrewsamson.substack.com/p/22-for-222

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · 7d

22 for 222

Alert readers of the Notcher’s Natter will have noticed a piece of trivia at the end of the last post about Brian Close holding the record for most Tests missed during a career.

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/bumrah-and...

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · 8d

The leading wicket-taker for this season's County Champions Nottinghamshire was Brett Hutton with 38.

This is the joint fewest wickets taken in a season by the leading wicket-taker for a County Championship winning team, equalling Dougie Brown's 38 for Warwickshire in 2004.

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · 14d

Kyle Verreynne is the first man to win the County Championship and the World Test Championship in the same season ... and he hit the winning run in both.

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · 20d

Josh Tongue 'rabbit pie' numbers, i.e. bowling to batters at 8 or below in first-class cricket in 2025 in England are 22 wickets at an average of 8.40.

The next most '8-11' wickets is Jack Leach - 17 @ 13.52
The next best average of those with 10 or more wickets is George Hill - 15 @ 10.46.

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · 20d

Bumrah and the Rhino

Ah, but did the team win?

The ACS – The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · 22d

Join the ACS. I can recommend that.

Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians @acscricket.bsky.social · 23d

On Saturday 4 October 10am to 1pm BST we have an online event for ACS members.

It will feature @rafnicholson.bsky.social, @radders1962.bsky.social, @dgriffinpix.bsky.social, @popecricket.bsky.social, Andrew Hignell and others. Will be fascinating stuff.

Join the ACS at acscricket.com to take part!

acscricket.com

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · 29d

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/to-convert...

To convert or not to convert

Substack informs me that this is the Notcher’s Natter’s 50th post.

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Sep 8

There are five higher totals regardless of wickets.

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Sep 8

Highest first-class total in which one bowler took all the wickets (min 7 wkts):

608-7* Midd v Hants Lord's 1919 - AS Kennedy 7-202
607-7* NZ A v SA A Potchefstroom 2025 - T Ndwanda 7-206

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Sep 6

Jos Buttler's natural game:

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/their-natu...

Their Natural Game

Featuring Jos Buttler

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Sep 4

I found it amusing that Rubin Hermann, despite scoring 158* and 109 in the first 2 matches of SA A's 3-match one-day series v NZ A, was not even the leading run-scorer in the series. His brother, Jordan, who got a 1st-ball duck in the 1st game, then made 101*and 186* to end on 287 to Rubin's 280.

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/keepers-wh...

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Sep 2

Highest % of team total conceded by one bowler in an ODI:

55.47% S Baker (0-76 out of 137/3) Eng v SA 2025
54.31% D Chameera (4-63 out of 116) SL v Afg 2023

Min total 100

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 30

Keepers who bowl

Starring the remarkable George Brown

When people are asked what is the most number of runs to come off one over, thoughts turn immediately to Tilak Raj and Malcolm Nash who both conceded 36, to Ravi Shastri and Garry Sobers respectively

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 28

The most runs conceded off one legitimate ball in first-class cricket is 67 in contrived circumstances. See here:

www.espncricinfo.com/story/the-77...

The 77-run over

www.espncricinfo.com

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 28

Oshane Thomas conceded 22 runs off one legitimate ball in a CPL match on Tuesday: NB, Wd, NB+6, NB+6, 6.

This is the most I know of in an authentic case in professional cricket.

Roger Telemachus conceded 21 off one ball in the ODI at Johannesburg in 2006: NB+4, NB+1, NB+4, NB+6, 2.

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 27

open.substack.com/pub/andrewsa...

Bits on Bobby

Bobby Simpson, one of the most influential figures in Australian cricket, passed away two weeks ago.

open.substack.com

Koo… Koo… Kookaburra… Two

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 20

A bit more on the Kookaburra ball:

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/koo-koo-ko...

Following up from last week’s post on the Kookaburra ball in the County Championship, I am sure that you would like to know how individual players have done in these matches.

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/eclectic-s...

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 15

Eclectic scores

I discovered many years ago, while perusing first Guiness Book of Records I saw, that golf has a concept of an eclectic score.

English cricket’s guiding light is the Ashes, and particularly the Ashes in Australia.

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 12

Some numbers on the Kookaburra ball in the County Championship:

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/koo-koo-ko...

Koo… Koo… Kookaburra

You don’t need to be paying a lot of attention to know that Joe Root, having passed Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting during the Old Trafford Test against India, is now the second highest...

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 9

Biggest innings victory by a team losing 3 or fewer wickets in a first-class match:

551 Goa (727-2*) beat Arunachal Pradesh (84 & 92) at Porvorim, 2024

359 New Zealand (601-3*) beat Zimbabwe (125 & 117) at Bulawayo, 2025

349 Karachi Blues (548-2*) beat Sargodha (106 & 93) at Karachi, 1994

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 8

World record for Root as he overtakes Tendulkar:

open.substack.com/pub/andrewsa...

Root overtakes Tendulkar

open.substack.com

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Aug 4

A look at big improvements in bowling averages:

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/bowling-av...

Bowling average plummets

On 23 February 1992, I was at a match at SuperSport Park (then Centurion Park) in Centurion (then Verwoerdburg) between Titans (then Northern Transvaal) and Warriors (then Eastern Province).

Before-and-Afters with Bumble, Beamon and the boys

Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Jul 29

140 runs and 13 wickets in a County Championship match:

159, 9-37 & 6-128 MS Nichols Ess v Glos Gloucester 1938
115 & 26, 6-51 & 7-93 R Ahmed Leics v Derbs Derby 2025

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Andrew Samson @awsstats.bsky.social · Jul 29

Here is a look at some big increase in batting averages:

andrewsamson.substack.com/p/before-and...

At the 1968 Olympics, Bob Beamon famously shattered the long jump world record by 55 cms, his 8.90 metres obliterating the previous best of 8.35.