Calthorpe and Whitaker eclipse Cook

By Andrew Hignell

Alastair Cook’s bizarre run out in the Kolkata Test against India was the first time in 312 innings in first-class cricket that the opening batsman had been dismissed in such a manner, and it also sent cricket statisticians scurrying away to search their databases to find other long sequences by batsmen without this form of dismissal.

James Whitaker, the former Leicestershire and England batsman, holds the record for the most number of innings before being run out for the first time in their career. Whitaker made his county debut in June 1983, eventually departing run out for 7 in the second innings of Leicestershire’s County Championship victory over Kent at Grace Road in May 1994 during his 394th first-class innings.

As far as long sequences without being run out are concerned, Freddie Calthorpe, the Warwickshire and England batsman, notched up a sequence of 542 innings. He departed run out in his 15th first-class innings, for Cambridge University against HDG Leveson-Gower’s XI at Eastbourne in June 1912, and he was not dismissed again in this fashion until May 1932 when, in his 558th first-class innings he was run out while batting for the Free Foresters against Oxford University in The Parks.

The record for most innings in a career without being run out is currently held by Neal Radford, the former Worcestershire and England seamer, who between November 1978 and September 1995 batted on 298 occasions in first-class cricket and was never dismissed in this manner.

In all first-class games, Radford was not out on 73 occasions, caught 114 times, bowled 53 times, trapped lbw 55 times and stumped on three occasions, but the Zambian-born cricketer, who also played in domestic cricket in South Africa, was less fortunate in List A cricket as he was run out on 13 occasions in 190 innings in one-day matches.



Date: 08/12/2012 21:58:00 by Andrew Hignell
In: Today | Essex | England |