Lows of sixless seven

Q. When Len Hutton scored his 364 at The Oval in 1938, he did not hit one six during the innings. Has any other high- scoring batsman achieved this unusual feat?

A. There have been 13 individual innings over 300 in Test cricket. Seven of these, including the four highest (Lara 375, Sobers 365 not out, Hutton 364 and Hanif Mohammad 337) did not contain any sixes. Bradman, the only player to score 300 twice in Tests, only hit six sixes in his Test career.

I am indebted to my friend Keith Walmsley, whose book Mosts Without in Test Cricket reveals the above information, and a wealth of other fascinating statistics. - J Hugh Thomas, Llandovery

A. While Len's interminable knock against a depleted attack was a monument of patience it was a virtual non-starter when it came to the lack of sixes contained within a single innings.

Certainly the greatest batsman of all time, and arguably the greatest sportsman of all time, Sir Donald Bradman, made a point of not hitting the ball into the air; indeed, he made an art form of it. Playing for New South Wales against Queensland in January 1930, Don made 452 not out and although his innings included 49 boundaries, there was not a single six among them. Don racked up other massive scores without resorting to lifting the ball over the rope: 334 for Australia v England in 1930, 357 South Australia v Victoria 1936, 340 not out New South Wales v Victoria 1929 and 258 New South Wales v South Australia 1930.

Don hit only 45 sixes in his entire career and only the very first of those was in an innings of less than 50, a six from a no ball in an innings of 32 against Oxford University in 1930. - Piers McBride, Clevedon

Q. Has any individual put any particular sport "on the map" as Olga Korbut did for women's gymnastics?

A. Sonja Henie of Norway, aged 11, was last in the Winter Olympics in 1924. She went on to win Olympic gold three times in figure skating (1928, 1932 and 1936), as well as six European and 10 world championships. She then went to Hollywood and between 1936 and 1960 she starred in 13 films, which made skating famous the world over, even in tropical countries where the sport does not exist.

The allied sport of ice dancing was "put on the map" by several Britons: Courtney Jones and his partners, June Markham and Doreen Denny - he was world champion for times in the Fifties; Bernard Ford and Diane Towler, who took four world titles in the Sixties; and most recently, Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill, who won four European and four world titles and Olympic gold in 1984. - Dennis L Bird, Shoreham-by-Sea

ANSWERS PLEASE

Q. When did a count of 10 become the requirement for a knockout in boxing? - Cyril Howard, Ham, Surrey

Q. Does Great Britain enter a team in the Olympic Games football competition? And if not, why not? - Noel Parris, Strood

Q. What is the derivation of the phrase "round robin"? - John Warring, Rochdale

If you know the answers to any of these questions ot have a question of your own, write to: Q & A, Sports Desk, Independent on Sunday, 1 Canada Square, London E14 5DL.

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