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Panesar: spin king

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Sky Sports' cricket stats man Benedict Bermange has teamed up with skysports.com to bring you statistical highlights from our cricket coverage of the past week.

Or if you've been stumped by a quiz question down the local, just email Benedict here or fill out the comment form at the bottom of the page and he will answer your questions.

Spin kings

The successes of Monty Panesar and Daniel Vettori at Old Trafford made that Test just the eleventh in which a slow left-arm bowler from each side had taken at least five wickets in an innings, and just the fourth to involve England:

Eng v Aus, Sheffield, 1902
Wilfred Rhodes 5/63; Jack Saunders 5/43

Eng v WI, Manchester, 1950
Bob Berry 5/63; Alf Valentine 8/104

Ind v Eng, Madras, 1961-62
Salim Durani 6/105; Tony Lock 6/65

Eng v NZ, Manchester, 2008
Monty Panesar 6/37; Daniel Vettori 5/66

However, on two occasions, two England left-arm spinners have taken five wickets in an innings in the same Test match:

Eng v Aus, Manchester, 1909
Charlie Blythe 5/63; Wilfred Rhodes 5/83

Eng v Ind, Madras, 1933-34
Hedley Verity 7/49; Jim Langridge 5/63

Hitting five figures

At Antigua, Ricky Ponting became the seventh player to reach 10,000 Test runs. He reached the landmark in his 196th innings, which makes him the third fastest in terms of innings:

Meanwhile, Brett Lee took his ninth five-wicket haul in Test cricket. However, despite having claimed five wickets on this many occasions, he has never managed to claim a sixth in any of those innings. He is well ahead of the pack in terms of the most Test wickets taken without ever taking more than five in a single innings:

In addition, his nine "five-fors" are the most for anyone who has never taken more than that - next on that list is one of his opponents from Antigua - Fidel Edwards - with six.

County stats

The partnership of 258 between Paul Horton and Mohammad Yousuf at Leeds equalled Lancashire's record for any wicket against Yorkshire set last year by Horton and Stuart Law.

However, Yousuf's partnership of 197 with Steven Croft did set a new record for Lancashire's fifth wicket against their Roses opponents, surpassing the 136 added by Frank Hayes and Bernard Reidy at Old Trafford in 1980.

Luke Sutton made seven dismissals in the Yorkshire first innings, just the third time a Lancashire wicket-keeper had effected that many dismissals in an innings.

Durham's victory over Sussex at Hove was the champions' first defeat at home since the last match of the 2004 season, when they lost to Surrey.

In that match, Mushtaq Ahmed trapped Durham captain Dale Benkenstein leg before for 110 to take his 1,400th first-class wicket of his career.

Benedict answers your questions...

Dear Benedict, I was watching England vs New Zealand at Old Trafford. 15 wickets fell on day three. Can you tell me what's the most amount of wickets fallen in a day? Sukhman Cheema

BENEDICT REPLIES: The record was set way back in 1888 when 27 wickets fell on day 2 of the Lord's Test between England and Australia. There have been eight instances of at least 22 wickets falling in a full day's play:

Dear Benedict, Great blog, as usual. I would like to ask a question. Is Ross Taylor's score of 154 not out the highest score that someone has made and still end up on the losing side?? Regards, Joel

BENEDICT REPLIES: In fact, Taylor's innings is nowhere near the Test record which is held by Australia's Ricky Ponting. He scored 242 against India at Adelaide in December 2003. However, Rahul Dravid countered with 233 and India won by four wickets. The top five scores in losing causes are as follows, so as you can see, Taylor's wasn't even a Kiwi record.

Hi Benedict, I love your stats (Frindall has nothing on you)!!! Anyway I wanted to find out: Who was the first player to score a test century for England? Thanks a lot for your time and reply... Simon Dewhurst

BENEDICT REPLIES: The first Test century for England was scored by the immortal WG Grace, who scored 152 at The Oval in September 1880. It was the fourth Test ever played.

Benedict, I would be interested to see where England's second test victory ranks in a list of Test match wins after the victorious side conceded a big first innings deficit. A couple of notable follow-on victories (Eng v Aus, Ind v Aus) spring to mind that would be higher on the list than this match, but can you produce a list of the biggest first innings deficits where teams have gone on to win, and where does England's second test win rank? Thanks, Nick Wells

The victory at Old Trafford ranks ninth on the all-time list as below. Although it should be pointed out that the top one is the forfeiture at The Oval in 2006 and the Hansie Cronje forfeiture match also features in the top 10.

BENEDICT REPLIES: