ONE TEST WONDERS PART V

Otto Ernest Nothling of Australia, who made 8 & 44 in the 2nd Test at Sydney during the 1928/29 Ashes failed to take any wicket in his only appearance in Test Cricket. But he did see something that happened only once in Test Cricket, DG Bradman, after making 18 & 1 on his debut in the previous test was dropped from the playing XI 1st and last time and for the only time in his career played as 12th man.

Henrey Foley and Matt Anderson of New Zealand became New Zealand’s first OTWs in their inaugural Test match played at Lancaster Park, Christchurch. In the 1st Test of their four test series against England, which was won by England by 8 wickets, Foley made 2 runs in each innings and became the first Kiwi batsman to have got dismissed in Test Cricket. His teammate Henderson, who too was making his only appearance in test cricket, took a wicket with the 1st ball he bowled in Test Cricket. He also took a catch to dismiss Duleepsinhji. Those 2 wickets remained his only Test Victims, as he did not make another appearance in Tests. He also made 6 & 2*.

In the 1st Test of the 1929/20 series between West Indies and England played at Bridgetown, Leslie Walcott became the 1st OTW for West Indies. He made 24 & 16* and took George Gunn’s wicket in England’s 2nd innings. England were playing in two test series simultaneously during the season one being lead by Hon FSG Calthorpe in West Indies and other by Arthur Gilligan in New Zealand, who were playing Test Cricket for the first time.

Eddie McLeod of New Zealand made 16 & 2 * and did not take any wicket or catch in his only Test appearance in the 2nd Test of the 1929/30 series played at Wellington.

Nelson Betancourt & Mervyn Grell of West Indies were the next OTWs who joined the club in the 2nd Test of the 1929/30 Series played against England at Port of Spain. Nelson Betancourt became one of the very few players to have captained his country in the only test he played. He made 39 & 13. Mervyn Grell who was playing on his home ground made 17 & 13 and could not take a wicket in either of England’s innings. He did take one catch in England’s 1st innings. In the 4th Test of the same Series played at Kingston, England’s Andy Sandham made 1st Triple Century in Test Cricket. In the same George Gladstone who took a wicket and remained unbeaten 12 made his only Test appearance. Clarence Passailaigu who was playing just his 2nd first class match after having hit 183 for Jamaica against the touring MCC team made 44 & 2 in his only Test appearance in his career. He also took a catch in England’s 1st innings and two in 2nd.

John Cochran of SA made just 4 runs and could not take a single wicket though he opened the bowling for South Africa in the 5th and final test of the 1930/31 series against England played at Durban.

In the 1st Test of the 1931 Series against New Zealand, played at Lord’s England’s John Arnold made 0 & 34 opening the batting for England in the absence of Hobbs & Sutcliffe. Though he represented England in Soccer later never got an opportunity again to play in Test cricket.

Bill Hunt and Pud Thurlow who made their debut along with one of the all time great bowlers in history of Cricket, Bill O’Reilly, did not make any runs or took any wickets in their only Test appearance at Adelaide during the 4th Test of the 1931/32 series against South Africa. Thurlow may hot have forgotten his maiden test appearance as he was runout for a duck after giving company to Bardman who added 14 runs and was within a run shy of what would have been a triple Century. So Bradman was left high and dry on 299*.

Lall Singh of India became the 1st OTW from India when he made his test debut against England at Lord’s when India played their inaugural Test match. He was the only player from the 1st Indian Test eleven not to have appeared in another Test. Regarded as one of the best fielders of his time, he took one catch and made 15 & 29.
Lisle Nagel of Australia made his debut for Australia after claiming 8 for 32 for An Australian XI team against MCC in 1932/33 helping them to dismiss MCC team for 60. However he could not repeat the magic in the 1st Test of that famous bodyline series played at Sydney. He was out first ball in Australia’s 1st innings and made an unbeaten 21 in the 2nd. His two wickets had cost him 110 runs and he was never chosen to play for Australia in a Test match again. His two wickets of England’s 1st innings were that of their century makers, Wally Hammond and Nawab of Pataudi Sr, who too was making his Test debut did make a century on debut.

Hammy Love of Australia became the next OTW when he made his only Test appearance in the 4th Test of the same series at Brisbane. He made 5 & 3 and took 3 catches in England’s 1st innings while keeping wickets. The 5th and final test of the Bodyline series played at Sydney became the first and last Test appearance for Harry Alexander. He made 17* in the 1st innings and was dismissed for a first ball duck in the 2nd. His bowling too was not impressive as his 1 wicket in the 1st innings cost him 129 runs and in the 2nd innings he went for 0 for 25 as England attained the victory target 168 runs for the loss of just 2 wickets, thus winning the series by 4-1 margin.

HD ‘Dennis’ Smith of New Zealand while making his Test debut at Christchurch in the 1st Test of the 1932/33 series against England, took a wicket with the very first ball he bowled in Test cricket by clean bowling Eddie Paynter , becoming the 10th bowler in Test history to do so. Unfortunately that remained his only Test wicket as he did not make any more Test appearances. In this match England lost both openers with the first ball they faced. Earlier, Dennis’s bowling partner, Ted Badcock dismissed Herbert Sutcliffe with the first ball of the Test match. Smith also made 4 runs in the only innings he batted.

In the 2nd Test of the 1933 Series between England and West Indies played at Manchester Archie Wiles of West Indies made his only Test appearance and became one of the very few cricketers to have made their Test debut in their 40s. He made 0 & 2 while making his debut at an age of 40yrs and 346 days. He neither bowled in the test match nor took a catch.

Ben Sealey of West Indies and Charles Marriot of England became the next OTWs when they made their only Test appearances in the 3rd Test of the 1933 Series at The Oval. Chalres Marriot, though dismissed for a duck, took 5 for 37 and 6 for 59 as England won by an innings and 17 runs thus making it a memorable debut. Ben Sealey made 29 and 12 top scoring in West Indies’ 1st innings total of 100. Sealey also took the wicket of England’s Century maker AH Bakewell. Marriot later toured India in 1933/34 and took a hat-trick for MCC against Madras but did not play Test Cricket again.

In the first ever Test match played in India, the 1st test of the 1933-34 series again England played at Bombay India’s LP Jai, RJD Jamshedji and Ladha Ramji joined the OTW club making their only Test appearance. Laxmidas Jai made 19 & 0 and did not bowl or take a catch. Jamshedji who at the age of 41 yrs and 27days is still the oldest Indian player to make a Test debut, made 4* and 1* and took 3 wickets for 137 runs including England’s century maker BH Valentine. His was the only noteworthy performance among the 3 OTWs as other OTW Ramji, playing along with his elder brother Amar Singh did not make a run or take a wicket though took a catch of the bowling of Mohd Nissar to dismiss Hedley Verity in England’s 1st Innings.

In the next test played at Calcutta, India’s MJ Gopalan & England’s WHV Levett joined the OTW club with their single test appearance. MJ Gopalan, who became the only Indian cricketer to have represented India both in Tests and Hockey, could very well have participated in Berlin Olympics and won a gold medal but chose to tour England as part of the Indian team and did not play a single test match there. He made 11 * & 7 with the bat and took wicket and couple of catches in England’s 1st innings. Levett who kept wickets for England made 5 & 2* hitting the winning runs for England. He also held 3 catches in India’s 2nd innings.

Yuvraj of Patiala, who made his test debut at Madras in the 3rd test of the same Series made 24 & 60 and took a catch. Though he was selected to tour England in 1936, his commitments did not give him a chance to do so and he never played in tests again. He later became an ambassador to Holland in 1971 and remained so till his death. The following season, his father, Maharaja of Patiala who had a great passion for the game and known for his philanthropic acts, has donated the Ranji Trophy to the game of cricket to honor the 1st Indian cricketer to play in Tests, RanjithSinhji.

Hans Irvine Ebeling of Australia, who is very well remembered for conceiving the idea of 1977 centenary test match and carrying it out successfully, made his solo test appearance during the 1934 Ashes. In the final Test at The Oval he made 2 and 41. With his run-a-ball 41 he added 55 runs for the last wicket with Bill O’Reilly. He also took 3 wickets for 74 runs in England’s 1st innings including that of Wally Hammond. Australia who made 701 runs in their 1st innings, won this test match with a huge margin of 562 runs. Bradman & Ponsford were involved in a record 2nd wicket partnership of 451 runs remained highest for any wicket in Test Cricket till Jones and Martin Crowe broke it with a 3rd wicket partnership of 467 against Sri Lanka in 1990/91, which in turn was broken by Jayasuria & Mahanama of Sri Lanka at Colombo against India when they added 576 runs for the 2nd wicket, which still remains highest in Test Cricket for any wicket. Its just 1 run short of highest partnership in first class cricket for any wicket, which still belongs to Vijay Hazare and Gul Mohammed who added 577 runs for the 4th wicket playing for Baroda against Holkar at Baroda in 1946-47 season.

James Neblett & KL Wishart of West Indies in the 3rd test of the 1934/35 series at Georgetown made their entry and exit to test cricket in the same test match. Neblett made 11* and 5 and took a wicket in England’s 2nd innings. Wishart who opened batting for West Indies made 52 before getting runout in the 1st innings. In the 2nd innings he was out for a duck.

In the 4th and final test of the same series played at Kingston George Mudie and Dickie Fuller made their debuts as well as farewells to Test cricket. Fuller made 1 and Mudie 5 in the only innings West Indies batted. Fuller went wicketless in both the innings of England whereas Mudie took 2 wickets in the 1st and one in the 2nd.

In the drawn 1st encounter at Trent Bridge of the 1935 series between England and South Africa, Mandy Mitchell-Innes of England and Denis Tomlinson of South Africa made their only test appearance. Mitchell-Innes made 5 runs in the only innings he batted. Tomlinson made 9 and bowled 10 wicketless overs. John Clay and Hopper Read of England became the next OTWs when they both they made only test appearances at The Oval in the 5th and final Test match of the same series. Both of them did not bat as England declared their innings closed at 534/6. Clay took one catch and bowled 14 overs in the 1st and 18 in the second, but failed to claim any wicket. Read took four wickets in the 1st and two in the 2nd.

EG Bock of South Africa in the 1935/36 series, playing in the 2nd test at Johannesburg against Australia remained unbeaten with 9 and 2 in each of South Africa’s innings. Bock bowled 14 wicketless overs in Australia’s 1st innings and 9 overs in the 2nd which too resulted in no wickets. Bock did not get a chance to take any catch.

Khershed Meherhomji of India toured England in 1936 as the 2nd wicketkeeper and got a chance to play in the 2nd test at Manchester, which remained his only test appearance. He did not make a single run and remained unbeaten on zero in the only innings he batted. He just took one catch to dismiss England’s captain Gubby Allen of the bowling of Amar Singh. In the next test at The Oval, Baqa Jilani, in his sole Test appearance mad 4* and 12. Though he was primarily a bowler, he did not get a chance to bowl in that Test. He died at an young age of 29 years and 347 days and is still remembered as the first bowler to get a hat-trick in the Ranji Trophy, In the inaugural season of the Ranji Tropy in 1934-35, he took the wickets of Lall Singh, Joginder Singh and Yuvraj of Patiala as Southern was bowled out for 22 runs while chasing a tiny target of 114 runs. Baqa Jilani had a dram figures if 4.1-1-7-5.

Ray Robinson of Australia at Brisbane, in the 1st Test of the 1936/37 Series made just 2 and 3 in his only outing in Test Cricket. Australia was bowled out for 58 runs in just 12.3 8-ball overs in their 2nd innings with one batsman EL McCormick not available to bat.

In the 1st test of the 1937 series against New Zealand at Lord’s, Jim Parks of England made his test debut along with one of the greatest cricketers of All-time Sir Len Hutton. He opened the batting with Hutton and made 22 & 7 whereas his illustrious partner was out for a duck in the 1st innings and could make just one run in the 2nd.Parks also took 2 wickets in the 1st and 1 wicket in the 2nd. Parks record of 3000 runs and 100 wickets in one season is one of the very few first class records that would be almost impossible to be overtaken. Though Parks put up a reasonable performance in this test, it remained his only Test appearance. whereas Hutton who could not make any impression with the bat went onto play 69 tests and broke several test records. In the 2nd Test of the same series at Manchester Norman Gallichan of New Zealand who made his test debut against England made 30 & 2 and took 3 wickets in England’s 1st innings including that of Wally Hammond. It remained his only Test appearance. In the 3rd and final test of the same series ADG Matthews of England remained unbeaten on 2 in the only innings he batted and took the wicket of Walter Hadlee (father of Richard Hadlle) in each of the New Zealand’s Innings. They remained his only wickets in Test Cricket. He also took a catch in England’s 1st innings.

Reg Sinfield of England who made his only appearance in Test cricket when he made his test debut at Trent Bridge in the 1938 Ashes. He made 6 runs in the only innings he batted and took a wicket in each of Australia’s innings. He dismissed Bradman in the 1st innings in a very peculiar way. In a way he dismissed the great Bradman twice with the same ball. Though the scorecard shows Bradman was caught, he was infact caught first by Ames and then also got stumped. William ‘Fred’ Price of England became the next OTW when he made his only test appearance at Leeds in the 4th Test of same Ashes series. He kept wickets for England and made 0 & 6. He did not have good match with gloves either as he took just two catches in Australia’s 1st innings.

Gerald Bond of South Africa joined the OTW club when he played his only test match in the 1938/39 series against England at Johannesburg in the 2nd test of that series. He was out first ball in the only innings he batted and bowled 2 wicketless overs for 16 runs in England’s 1st innings.

Norman ‘Buddy’ Oldfield of England and Victor Stollmeyer & Tyrell Johnson of West Indies made their debut at The Oval during the 1939 Test series between England and West Indies. Oldfield made 80 runs in the 1st innings and added 131 runs for the 2nd wicket with Len Hutton. He made another 19 runs in the 2nd. He did not bowl and did not get a chance to hold a catch. For West Indies, Victor Stollmeyer fell 4 runs short of his century in the only innings he batted and Tyrell Johnson took a wicket with the first ball bowled in Test cricket by clean bowling WW Keeton of England in the 1st innings. He also took a wicket in the 2nd innings by having the other OTW Oldfield caught by JED Sealy behind the wickets.

Though all of these OTWs put up great show the did not play another test and had to end their test careers with just that one Test appearance as immediately after this test match World War II broke out and halted the Test Cricket for 8 long years. This test match was the last test match played before the Great War.

Blog-Cricket-Quiz-2

Q1, who was nicknamed as ‘Big Ship’ on account of his physique, made his Test Debut in 1901-02 Ashes. Batting at position no. 11 he made an unbeaten 45. He was involved in a last wicket century partnership with another debutant. Till today it is the only instance of debutants involving in a last wicket Century partnership. 20 years after his debut while captaining his side in a rain ruined 1921 Ashes Test played at Manchester, which had the first day’s play washed out he was involved in an argument over the laws of declaration prevailing at that time. He asked his side to stay on the field even though his opponent has declared their innings. After a twenty minute discussions and arguments, the play resumed with England batting again. But the confusion resulted in breach of another law and Q1 who completed an over before the stoppage of play bowled again thus providing a peculiar instance of bowling two consecutive overs in a test match.

30 years later in another test match , which too had the first day washed out, while playing against England at Basin Reserve in 1950-51 Q2 joined Q1 in the record books for bowling two consecutive overs in a Test Match. one before tea and the other immediately after. But Q2 is remembered much more for another bizarre incident he was involved in during the following season’s Test Series against West Indies in 1951/52. His action or lack of it in the 2nd Test at Auckland caused a big controversy. Q2 refused to take of the bails to run out the West Indian opener Q3 when he was on 10 and slipped over while trying to steal a quick single. Q2 sympathising with Q3's slipover did not run the batsman out though Q3 was yards shy of non-striker’s end, and simply walked back to his bowling mark. Q3 then added a further 89 runs to his score and fallen short of his century by 1 run and became 12th batman in Test history to have got dismissed for 99. Q3 also shared a 197 runs partnership for the 1st wicket with his opening partner Q4, with whom he formed a great opening pair. Both Q3 & Q4 along with the 3 great Ws (Worrell, Walcott, Weeks) formed the core of the batting for Great West Indian side of 1950s.

Q5 is the brother of Q4 and they both played together in one test match which incidentally was the only test match that Q5 played. In the only innings that Q5 batted in that test he fell short of recording a century on debut by just 4 runs. In the same test Q6, who too was making his debut became the 8th bowler in Test history to have taken a wicket with the first ball he bowled in test cricket ,when he clean bowled WW Keeton of England. That test match which was played at The Oval in 1939 was in fact the last test match played before the World War II. Both Q5 & Q6 never played a test again.

Q7 was the captain of the side that Q2 played and bowled two consecutive overs. This test incidentally was Q7's last. In all, Q7 played 11 tests and was never dismissed in single figures in the 19 innings he batted. He is remembered more for something that happened 3 months after his retirement in the city that’s the subject of the painting Q00000. Amazingly, that painting is not a work of any famous painter, but that of Q8.

Q8 who worked as a laborer before playing Test Cricket, became an eminent cricket writer and cartoonist after he retired from cricket. He took upon oil painting too as he grew older. Q00000 was his exceptional work at the age of 75yrs. In 21 tests he played for his country he took 99 wickets including 36 wickets in the only whitewash ever recorded in the history of Ashes. His 9 wickets haul in the 2nd innings of the Melbourne Test of that series still remains as the best by an Australian bowler against England. Outside of Test Cricket Q8’s best performance in first class cricket was 10 for 66. He took all 10 Gloucestershire’s wickets during the 1921 England tour in a first class match. He cherished that performance so much that he titled his autobiography as "Ten for 66 and all that".

In the same test that Q8 made his debut eleven other players made their debut including Q9, Q10, Q11, Q12, Q13, Q14 and Q15. I believe this test match introduced more great players to Test Cricket than any other Test. Though they did not make a spectacular entry into Test cricket, later in their careers all of them achieved certain records which are yet to be broken.

Q9 went to record the fastest century in Test Cricket in terms of minutes.

Q10 went to record more stumpings than any other wicket keeper.

Q11 went on to record highest last wicket partnership for Australia in Test Cricket with Q8.

Q12 hit a century on debut and later succeeded Q1 as captain of Australia.

Q13’s feat of registering a century in each innings of his last Test Match of his career is unparalleled in Test Cricket history.

Q14 played 51 Tests for England and ranks 2nd in the list of most number of first class centuries in a career (170) and 3rd in the list of most number of runs in first class cricket career. He can also be credited for a wearing an older and crude version of modern day helmet. In 1933, while playing against West Indian pace bowlers he wore a cap designed by his wife which had 3 peaks, two of which covered the ears and temples in order to protect his head which was stuck by a bouncer couple of seasons earlier

Q15 went on to captain the Victoria side when they made the world record 1107 against New South Wales in 1926-27 season, which still remains the highest first class score. He made 295 in that innings. Later he captained a side that toured India in 1936-37 and played 4 unofficial Tests.

Q16, who shares the highest tenth wicket partnership record in first class cricket(307), was captaining the New South Wales side in the absence of his regular captain. In that match Q8 bowled sixty four 8 ball overs without a maiden and conceded a record 352 runs. Five weeks later New South Wales did take revenge on Victoria by bowling them out for just 35 runs in their return match with Q16 hitting an unbeaten 217. Notable absentee for Victoria in that match was the other run machine in Q17.

You all know who was the obvious run machine in Q17 right? DON BRADMAN.

Both Q17 and Don Bradman holds the record for hitting maximum number of triple hundreds(4) in first class Cricket.

Identify Q1 to Q17

ONE TEST WONDERS PART IV

Its been scripted in Cricket history that the entire Test batting career of the 1st OTW after the World War II, Dr. Roy Park of Australia, was missed by his wife when she bent down to pickup her fallen knitting while her husband was clean bowled the first and only ball he has faced in his test career in the 2nd test of the 1920/21 Ashes played at Melbourne.

At the same venue in 4th Test of that series, Arthur Dolphin, who kept wickets for England in his only Test match appearance, became the 100th OTW. He made just 1 & 0 and held just one catch behind the wickets. In the 5th and final test match of the same series played at Sydney, next OTW Eric Wilson of England was dismissed for 5 runs in both the innings. He took 2 wickets in the first innings that of
Charles Kelleway and Arthur Mailey. Incidentally Kelleway and Mailey dismissed Eric Wilson by having him stumped and caught in each of the innings. Wilson took the only wicket to fall in Australia’s 2nd innings that of Herbie Collins as Australia cruised to victory by 9 wickets and completed a whitewash of Ashes by winning the 5 test series by 5-0 margin. Never before or never after, was a 5 test Ashes series decided by that margin.

In the 1st Test of the 1921 Ashes played at Trent Bridge, which Australia won by 10 wickets, out of the seven debutants, only Tom Richmond started and ended his test career in the same match. He made 4 & 2 took the wickets of Herbie Collins and Jack Gregory in the only innings that Australia lost wickets.
In the 2nd test at Lord’s AE Dipper, FJ Durston and AJ Evans joined the OTW club. Dipper made 11 & 40 and Durston 6* & 2. Durston also had figures of 4/58 and 1/34. John Evans who made 4 & 14 achieved more fame with his book 'The Escaping Club' about his escape from a Prisoner of War camp during the First World War, than with his batting exploits in the only Test he ever played.

The next OTW Andy Ducat, who appeared for England in his only Test at Leeds in the 3rd Test of the same series, made just 3 & 2. Ducat also played football in the FA Cup. When he was 56, while playing for Surrey Home Guard Team against Sussex Home Guard at Lord’s in 1942, he suddenly collapsed and died of stroke while still batting at 29. Wally Hardinge, who too debuted along with Ducat in this test bid adieu to test cricket in the same match with scores of 25 & 5.

Charlie Parker of England became the next OTW in the 4th Test of the same series played at Manchester. He took two wickets in the only innings that Australia batted and remained unbeaten on 3 when he batted in the 2nd innings in this rain ruined drawn encounter.

Neville Lindsay of SA recorded scores of 6 & 29 playing against Australia in the 2nd Test of the 1921/22 Series at Johannesburg and became the next OTW. His nephew JD Lindsay and great nephew Denis Lindsay both kept wickets for South Africa later and had longer careers than Neville. In the next test played at Cape Town, Norman Reid was capped as the 100th Test player for South Africa and little did he know that it would be his only Test appearance. He scored 11 & 6 and took 2 wickets.

One year later in the following season Izak Buys of South Africa , who made his test debut along with 4 other springboks and 5 Englishmen in the 1st Test of the 1922/23 series played at Johannesburg, scored 0 & 4* and did not take any wicket in his only outing in Test Cricket. George Street who kept wickets for England in the 3rd test of the same series played at Durban made just 4 runs and affected one stumping in his only Test appearance. In the 5th and final Test of the same series played at Durban, South Africa’s Dalton Conyngham who became next OTW, remained unbeaten with 3 in both the innings and took a wicket in each of Australia’s innings.

Jack MacBryan of England became the ultimate OTW in the 4th Test of the 1924 Ashes as in the rain curtailed match in which only 66 overs of play was possible. MacBryan’s place in Test history is secured as the only player to have played in a test and did nothing. He neither bowled nor took a catch in SA’s innings and England never got a chance to bat.

Albert Hartkopf of Australia in the 2nd test of the 1924/25 Ashes at Melbourne made 80 & 0 in his only test appearance. He shared in a 6th wicket stand with Victor Richardson (Grandfather of Chappell brothers), who hit his only test century of his career in this test. Hartkopf also took a wicket conceding 120 runs in England’s 1st innings.

AW Palm of South Africa joined the OTW club 2 years later when he made his single test appearance in the 2nd Test of the 1927/28 series against England. He scored 2 & 13 and took one catch to dismiss Wally Hammond.

In West Indies’ inaugural test match played at Lord’s in 1928, though all of the eleven West Indian players were making their test debut, it was England’s Harry Smith, who became an OTW. Harry Smith kept wickets for England and took just one catch. He did not make any significant contribution with the bat as he was clean bowled by Learie Constantine for 7 runs in the only innings England batted.

Answers to Blog-Cricket-Quiz-1

Answer for the Question-1 : James Southerton, He holds the record for oldest Test debutant . He was 49yrs and 119days when he made his debut along with other 21 players in that first ever test match played at Melbourne from March 15th-19th, 1877

Answer for the Question-2 : Aminul Islam of Bangladesh, Dave Houghton of Zimbabwe and Charles Bannerman of Australia. They all hit a century on debut in the first ever Test played by their respecitve countries.

Answer for the Question-3 : ML Jaisimha , who was the first to achieve the feat of batting on all five days of a Test match in the 5th and final Test of the 1959/60 series against Australia, played at Eden Gardens, Calcutta. Andrew Flintoff achieved the same feat in the 2nd Test of the recently concluded series against India at Mohali. In between Geoff Boycott of England, Kim Hughes of Australia, Allan Lamb of England and Ravi Shasthri of India too achieved the feat. Only Jaisimha and Flintoff did not hit a century in the test match though they batted on all 5 days.

Answer for the Question-4 : Sachin Tendulkar. I guess this is the sitter of the quiz.

Answer for the Question-5 : Bill Voce was the only player other than Bradman and Hammond to have played in the last and 1st Test matches in Australia before and after the World War II. He is well known to the cricketing world as the bowling partner of Harold Larwood during the (in)famous Bodyline Series.Immediately after the War Australia introduced a new law which requires a limit on the duration of a Test Match. Till then all the Test matches played in Australia were timeless tests and required to be played till the match produced a result. Though there were couple of drawn matches they were ended with an agreement between the two sides.

Blog-Cricket-Quiz-1

Question 1:
This person is the first Test cricketer to die. One of his records created in the very first test match is very unlikely to be surpassed. Name the cricketer and the record he holds.

Question 2:
Who are these palyers and what Unique record they hold/share in Test Cricket. If you know the record it would be easier to identify the players.

Question 3:
Picture shows a Test cricketer who was the first to achieve a certain feat and Andrew Flintoff was the last. What is this feat and who else did this in between.

Question 4:
In 1992, Playing in a Test match against South Africa,this player when he was on 11 tried stealing a quick single by pushing the ball to all the people Jonty Rhodes, at backward point. In a flash, Rhodes stopped the ball and threw to the stumps where Andrew Hudson moved in to break the wicket. Unable to judge conclusively, Square leg umpire Cyril Mitchley signaled for a replay, which showed that the batsman, was infact out thus becoming the first ever Test batsman to have been given out via the evidence of a television action replay. who is this player.. shown in the picture is his autograph.

Question 5:
The last Test match played in Australia before the World War II at Meloborune from Feb 26th to Mar 3rd 1937. After the worldwar II the 1st test match in Australia was played at Brisbane from Nov 29th to Dec 4th 1946 . Though the umpires GE Borwick and JD Scott were the same in both the tests, only 3 cricketers played in both matches. Don Bradman & Wally Hammond were both captaining their respecitve sides. Picture shows the other cricketer who was part of these two tests. Who is this cricketer and what is he famous for? Also with the same Test Australia introduced a new rule to the Test Cricket played in Australia, though it did not have any affect on the outcome of this match. What rule?

Records on 2nd & 3rd day of Ongoing Aus Vs BD Test

By hitting six sixes in his century, Adam Gilchrist now became the sole reocord holder of hitting most sixers in a Test Career. Before the start of this Test he had hit 87 sixers and was sharing the record with Chris Cairns of NZ. During his innings of 144 , he added 6 more and he now has 93 sixers.

Also by scoring 53.53 % of Australia's runs Gilchrist has provided 137th instance of a Player recording 50 or more percetage of a Team's completed innings total. Gilchrist also completed 5000 runs in Test Cricket and became only the 2nd Wicket Keeper in Test history to do so after Alec Stewart of England.

Both Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie joined the 1000 runs + 100 wkts and also 1000 runs + 200 wickets All rounders club. They became the 45th and 46th Players in Test history to record 100 runs and 100 wickets during their innings of 15 & 26 while supporting Gilchrist to avoid the follow on. Since they have already taken more than 200 wickets in their Test Careers , they also joined the 1000 runs + 200 Wickets All rounders club as its 22nd and 23rd members. At the end of 3rd day of this Test Brett Lee has 1004 runs and 210 wickets in 53 Tests wherease Jason Gillespie has 1013 runs and 254 wickets in 70 Tests.

Stuart MacGill's bowling figures of 8/108 in Bangladesh's 1st innings , now represents the best bowling figures ever recorded against Bangladesh in a Test Innings. It eclipses the previous best of 7/53 recorded by Chris Cairns in the 1st test of the 2001-2002 series played at Westpac Trust Park, Hamilton,NZ.

In a remarkable coincidence all the players except Brett Lee, mentioned in these records have 'Gil' as part of their last name and all the records bettered the records held by Chris Cairns. Chris Cairns must be feeling happy atleast Lee and Gillespie did not better his allrounder's double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets , which he completed in 21 tests though Brett Lee did better the other double of 1000 runs + 200 wickets. Chris Cairns took 58 Test matches to reach that double whereas Brett Lee has done it in just 53 Tests.

350+ Runs on Opening Day of a Test Match

Less than 24 hours after Ricky Ponting issued a statement doing a damage control of his previous statement, which resulted in Cricket Australia issuing a statement in support of Bangladesh playing Test cricket, Bangladesh proved they really did improve a lot and deserve to be a part of Test Cricket. The statement he made to London’s Daily Telegraph in February ‘What I would not have is the minnow nations in the World Cup and the Champions Trophy, and I would not have Bangladesh and Zimbabwe playing Tests at present" were somewhat taken back by Ponting on Thrusday. ‘Bangladesh is improving gradually and they deserve their Test status. Looking back, I think I was wrong with what I said," said Ponting, addressing a press conference at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on the eve of the first of the two Tests against Bangladesh.

Like the centurion Shahriar Nafees, who spearheaded Bangladesh's 350+ runs, said, scoring 350 in a day is not a joke. His Captain Habibul Bashar concurred saying "But it was never on our mind that we would score 350 runs on a day against a team like Australia. I want to say that it is a clear message that we are improving. If you consider the previous record, definitely it is the best day in our history and the most significant thing is not many teams in the world score 350 runs on a single day."

Ponting must be feeling glad and thanking himself for digressing from his earlier stance and doing some damage control, after the 1st day of their Test encounter with Bangladesh. Australian bowling attack , which was in its full strength and included Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Stuart MacGill, were taken for a leatherhunt by Bangladesh and they have certainly shown Ponting how much they have improved.

Infact Bangladesh provided only the 4th instance of amassing 350plus runs on the opening day of a Test match against Australia since New Zealand hit 372 runs for the loss of 4 wickets at Basin Reserve in 1973-74 series. England had hit 350+ runs on the opening day of the Test against the Aussies twice. They made 376/3 at the Oval in 1985 and 407 all out at Edgbaston in 2005. West Indies scored 352 runs on the opening day of the 3rd and final test of the 2005-06 series played at Adelaide.

Overall, Bangladesh provided the 100th instance of a team piling up 350+ runs on the opening day of a Test .

Bangladesh scored 355 runs for the loss of 5 wickets on the the opening day of their Test against Australia at the new Test Venue Fatullah. By the end of second day's play Australia were reeling at 145/6 and trailing Bangladesh by 282 runs. But for Gilchrist's fighting innings they would have been in even worse situation as they lost 6 wickets for 93 runs. Ponting may be already thinking why he made his comments to Daily Telegraph.

Follwing list provides all the instances when a side batting on the opening day had scored 350 or more runs with the Test#, Home Country, Scores of Home Country, Visiting Team, Scores of Visiting Team, Season, Venue and runs scored on the opening day by one team along with the no of wickets lost. If two team have combined to score more than 350+ on opening day , those occassions are not included.

1. Test #0004 ENG 420 & 5/57 AUS 149 & 327 1880 The Oval 410 8wkts
2. Test #0016 ENG 346 & 2/85 AUS 551 1884 The Oval 363 2wkts
3. Test #0040 ENG 483 AUS 91 & 349 1893 The Oval 378 5wkts
4. Test #0048 RSA 151 & 134 ENG 482 1895-96 Old Wanderers 355 7wkts
5. Test #0051 ENG 231 & 305 AUS 412 & 7/125 1896 Old Trafford 366 8wkts
6. Test #0063 ENG 372 & 3/94 AUS 196 & 7/346 1899 Old Trafford 372
7. Test #0064 ENG 576 AUS 352 & 5/254 1899 The Oval 435 4wkts
8. Test #0070 ENG 9/376 AUS 36 & 2/46 1902 Edgbaston 351 9wkts
9. Test #0075 RSA 454 & 4/101 AUS 296 & 7/372 1902-03 Old Wanderers 428 7wkts
10. Test #0080 AUS 388 & 351 ENG 245 & 278 1903-04 Adelaide Oval 355 6wkts
11. Test #0086 ENG 446 AUS 197 & 169 1905 Old Trafford 352 6wkts
12. Test #0087 ENG 430 & 6/261 AUS 363 & 4/124 1905 The Oval 381 7wkts
13. Test #0093 ENG 428 RSA 140 & 3/185 1907 Lord's 428
14. Test #0110 RSA 103 & 327 ENG 417 & 1/16 1909-10 Newlands 406 7wkts
15. Test #0111 AUS 528 RSA 174 & 240 1910-11 Sydney Cricket Ground 494 6wkts
16. Test #0121 AUS 448 RSA 265 & 95 1912 Old Trafford 448
17. Test #0142 ENG 259 & 202 AUS 407 & 7/273 1921 Headingley 407
18. Test #0143 ENG 4/362 & 1/44 AUS 175 1921 Old Trafford 362 4wkts
19. Test #0146 RSA 243 & 8/472 AUS 450 & 0/7 1921-22 Old Wanderers 450
20. Test #0153 ENG 438 RSA 30 & 390 1924 Edgbaston 398 7wkts
21. Test #0155 ENG 396 & 1/60 RSA 132 & 323 1924 Headingley 396
22. Test #0165 ENG 294 & 3/254 AUS 494 1926 Headingley 366 3wkts
23. Test #0173 ENG 401 WI 177 & 166 1928 Lord's 382 8wkts
24. Test #0184 ENG 7/427 RSA 130 & 265 1929 Old Trafford 427 7wkts
25. Test #0191 NZ 387 ENG 540 & 3/22 1929-30 Eden Park 375 6wkts
26. Test #0195 ENG 425 & 375 AUS 6/729 & 3/72 1930 Lord's 405 9wkts
27. Test #0196 ENG 391 & 3/95 AUS 566 1930 Headingley 458 3wkts
28. Test #0203 AUS 558 WI 193 & 148 1930-31 Exhibition Ground 428 3wkts
29. Test #0218 NZ 364 & 193 RSA 410 & 2/150 1931-32 Basin Reserve 364
30. Test #0225 NZ 223 & 0/35 ENG 8/560 1932-33 Lancaster Park 418 5wkts
31. Test #0235 ENG 9/627 & 0/123 AUS 491 & 1/66 1934 Old Trafford 355 5 wkts
32. Test #0237 ENG 321 & 145 AUS 701 & 327 1934 The Oval 475 2wkts
33. Test #0242 ENG 7/384 RSA 220 & 1/17 1935 Trent Bridge 384 7wkts
34. Test #0245 ENG 357 & 6/231 RSA 318 & 2/169 1935 Old Trafford 357
35. Test #0249 RSA 102 & 182 AUS 8/362 1935-36 Newlands 362 8 wkts
36. Test #0254 ENG 8/471 & 1/64 IND 222 & 312 1936 The Oval 471 8wkts
37. Test #0260 ENG 424 & 4/226 NZ 295 & 8/175 1937 Lord's 370 7wkts
38. Test #0261 ENG 9/358 & 187 NZ 281 & 134 1937 Old Trafford 358 9wkts
39. Test #0263 ENG 8/658 AUS 411 & 6/427 1938 Trent Bridge 422 4wkts
40. Test #0264 ENG 494 & 8/242 AUS 422 & 6/204 1938 Lord's 409 5wkts
41. Test #0269 RSA 103 & 353 ENG 4/469 1938-39 Kingsmead 373 2wkts
42. Test #0274 ENG 352 & 3/366 WI 498 1939 The Oval 352
43. Test #0285 ENG 208 & 551 RSA 533 & 1/166 1947 Trent Bridge 376 3wkts
44. Test #0292 AUS 394 & 4/255 IND 9/291 & 125 1947-48 Melbourne Cricket Ground 355 8wkts
45. Test #0294 AUS 674 IND 381 & 277 1947-48 Adelaide Oval 370 3wkts
46. Test #0307 RSA 315 & 2/270 ENG 608 1948-49 Ellis Park 387 2wkts
47. Test #0322 RSA 158 & 132 AUS 7/549 1949-50 St. Georges’s Park 380 4wkts
48. Test #0423 NZ 208 & 208 WI 404 & 1/13 1955-56 Basin Reserve 361 6wkts
49. Test #0441 ENG 6/619 & 1/64 WI 372 & 367 1957 Trent Bridge 360 2wkts
50. Test #0463 IND 124 & 154 WI 5/614 1958-59 Eden Gardens 359 3wkts
51. Test #0474 ENG 422 IND 206 & 157 1959 Trent Bridge 358 6wkts
52. Test #0498 AUS 505 & 232 WI 453 & 284 1960-61 Woolloongabba 359 7wkts
53. Test #0530 ENG 5/544 PAK 246 & 274 1962 Edgbaston 386 4wkts
54. Test #0534 ENG 5/480 & 0/27 PAK 183 & 323 1962 The Oval 406 2wkts
55. Test #0593 ENG 4/546 NZ 193 & 166 1965 Headingly 366 1wkt
56. Test #0671 RSA 9/622 AUS 157 & 336 1969-70 Kingmead 386 5 wkts
57. Test #0692 ENG 355 & 101 IND 284 & 6/174 1971 The Oval 355
58. Test #0733 NZ 484 AUS 6/511 & 8/460 1973-74 Basin Reserve 372 4wkts
59. Test #0780 ENG 387 & 204 WI 450 & 196 1976 Headingley 437 9wkts
60. Test #0781 ENG 435 & 203 WI 8/687 & 0/182 1976 The Oval 373 3wkts
61. Test #0816 AUS 505 & 256 IND 269 & 445 1977-78 Adelaide Oval 353 5wkts
62. Test #0960 ENG 420 & 297 NZ 207 & 345 1983 Trent Bridge 362 7wkts
63. Test #0970 AUS 465 & 7/310 PAK 624 1983-84 Adelaide Oval 376 5wkts
64. Test #1022 ENG 464 AUS 241 & 129 1985 The Oval 376 3wkts
65. Test #1139 NZ 391 & 5/483 IND 482 & 0/149 1989-90 Eden Park 387 9wkts
66. Test #1148 ENG 4/653 & 4/272 IND 454 & 224 1990 Lord’s 359 2wkts
67. Test #1170 WI 214 & 297 AUS 403 & 265 1990-91 Antigua Recreation Ground 355 5wkts
68. Test #1191 ENG 390 PAK 9/505 & 5/239 1992 Old Trafford 388 3wkts
69. Test #1221 WI 455 & 0/29 PAK 221 & 262 1992-93 Kensington Oval 351 4wkts
70. Test #1231 ENG 380 & 313 AUS 303 & 229 1993 The Oval 353 7wkts
71. Test #1283 RSA 460 & 7/259 PAK 230 & 165 1994-95 New Wanderers Stadium 354 7wkts
72. Test #1289 NZ 216 & 122 WI 5/660 1994-95 Basin Reserve 356 3wkts
73. Test #1445 SL 485 IND 7/518 & 5/306 1998-99 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground 351 3wkts
74. Test #1529 RSA 378 SL 119 & 252 2000-01 Centurion Park 375 9wkts
75. Test #1547 ENG 357 & 261 PAK 403 & 323 2001 Old Trafford 370 8wkts
76. Test #1562 ZIM 286 & 391 RSA 3/600 2001-02 Harare Sports Club 414 1wkt
77. Test #1564 RSA 563 & 1/54 IND 379 & 237 2001-02 Goodyear Park 372 7wkts
78. Test #1571 AUS 8/558 NZ 7/243 2001-02 Bellerive Oval 411 6wkts
79. Test #1600 PAK 643 NZ 73 & 246 2002 Gaddafi Stadium 355 4wkts
80. Test #1619 RSA 4/529 BAN 170 & 252 2002-03 Buffalo Park 369 2wkts
81. Test #1623 AUS 492 & 5/296 ENG 325 & 79 2002-03 Woolloongabba 364 2wkts
82. Test #1634 AUS 6/551 & 5/107 ENG 270 & 387 2002-03 Melbourne Cricket Ground 356 3wkts
83. Test #1637 RSA 7/620 PAK 252 & 226 2002-03 Newlands 445 wkts
84. Test #1639 WI 408 & 288 AUS 4/576 & 3/238 2002-03 Queen's Park Oval 391 3wkts
85. Test #1651 ENG 408 & 1/110 RSA 5/594 & 4/134 2003 Edgbaston 398 1wkt
86. Test #1659 RSA 9/604 & 1/110 ENG 484 & 229 2003 The Oval 362 4wkts
87. Test #1661 AUS 6/735 ZIM 239 & 321 2003-04 W.A.C.A Ground Perth 368 3wkts
88. Test #1673 AUS 556 & 196 IND 523 & 6/233 2003-04 Adelaide Oval 400 5wkts
89. Test #1674 RSA 561 & 6/226 WI 410 & 188 2003-04 New Wanderers Stadium 368 3wkts
90. Test #1693 PAK 407 & 216 IND 5/675 2003-04 Multan Cricket Stadium 356 2wkts
91. Test #1706 AUS 517 & 9/292 SL 455 & 8/183 2004 Bundaberg Rum Stadium 370 2wkts
92. Test #1707 ENG 568 & 5/325 WI 416 & 267 2004 Lord's 391 2wkts
93. Test #1718 IND 185 & 200 AUS 398 & 5/329 2004-05 Vidarbha C.A. Ground 362 7wkts
94. Test #1726 AUS 381 & 5/361 PAK 179 & 72 2004-05 W.A.C.A. Ground 357 8wkts
95. Test #1758 ENG 407 & 182 AUS 308 & 279 2005 Edgbaston 407
96. Test #1759 NZ 9/452 ZIM 59 & 99 2005-06 P.Saravanamuttu Stadium , Colombo 449 7wkts
97. Test #1766 SL 9/457 BAN 191 & 197 2005-06 Harare Sports Club 454 9wkts
98. Test #1773 AUS 428 & 3/182 WI 405 & 204 2005-06 Adelaide Oval 352 7wkts
99. Test #1782 PAK 588 & 8/490 IND 603 & 0/21 2005-06 Iqbal Stadium 379 4wkts
100. Test #1797 BAN 427 & 148 AUS 269 & 7/307 2005-06 Narayanganj Osmani Stadium (Fatullah) 355 5wkts

Some Interesting Facts about the 350+ runs on the opening day of a test match.

• Highest score on opening day of a test match ever recorded by either one team or both teams combined was recorded by Australia in Test # 111 at Sydney against South Africa, when they hit 494 runs for the loss of 6 wickets.
• The record for most no of runs (588) scored in on day of a test match, though not on opening day belongs to England and India together. On the 2nd day of the 2nd test of the 1936 series against India played at Old Trafford, England took their overnight score of 173/2 to 571/8 before declaring their innings . India then went onto score 190 runs without losing any wicket. Vijay Merchant and Muhstaq Ali remained unbeaten on 79 & 105 respectively.
• No team has touched the 500 mark and Australia’s 494 runs is the highest in a day of Test match which involved only one team on the opening day. But there are two occasions on which a team could plunder 500+ runs in a Test Match on a single day.
• In the 1st Test of their 2002-03 series at P.Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo , Sri Lanka smashed Bangladesh for 509 runs taking their overnight score of 32 for no wicket to 541 for 9. This remains the highest number of runs ever recorded by one team on any day of test match. Though England 12 years earlier, on the 2nd day of the 2nd Test played at Lord’s took their overnight total from 28/0 to 531/2 and declared their innings , thus scoring 503 runs in a day. South Africa relied with 19 for no wicket. So altogether a recod 522 runs were scored on that day.
• Don Bradman’s unbeaten 309 on the 1st day of the 3rd Test played at Leeds during the 1930 Ashes is the highest score ever recorded by a batsman on the opening day of Test Match. This incidentally is also the record for most number of runs hit by a batsman and only triple hundred ever scored by a batsman on a single day of a Test match.
• Don Bradman also figures in the highest partnership for any wicket on the opening day of a Test match. He scored 266 runs on the opening ay of the 5th and final Test of the 1934 Ashes. Along with Bill Ponsford, who remained unbeaten on 205 at the end of the 1st day, Bradman added a record 451 runs for the 2nd wicket while Australia amassed 475 runs for the loss of 2 wickets.
• Graeme Smith (151) & Herschel Gibbs (228) of South Africa hold the record for highest partnership for 1st wicket on an opening day of a Test match in which 350 or more runs were scored. They added 368 runs for the 1st wicket in the 2nd Test of the 2002-2003 series against Pakistan at Newlands, while South Africa recorded 445/3 on the Opening day of the Test Match. In the process they eclipsed previously held record of 359 runs for the 1st wicket by Len Hutton (158) and Cyril Washbrook (195), which they established against South Africa at Ellis Park, Johannesburg in the 2nd Test of the 1948/49 series, while England recorded 387 runs for the loss of just 2 wickets on the 1st day of that Test.
• Home team clearly had an advantage over the visiting team when compiling 350+ runs on the Opening day of the Test match. As many as 66 times the home team have scored 350 or more whereas the visiting team could hit 350+ only 34 times.
• Though no team batting on the opening day in a test match could pile up 500 or more runs, there are 27 instances when a team touched or passed the 400 mark. England leads the pack with 12 times followed by Australia with 9 times and South Africa 3 times. Sri Lanka, New Zealand & West Indies have all crossed the 400 mark once on the Opening day of a Test match.
• Though England holds the record for scoring 400+ runs, they could touch the 450 mark only once. Australia passed the 450 mark 4 times out of the 9 times they touched 400 mark and holds the record for scoring 450+ most times on the opening day of a Test .New Zealand is the only other team that had touched the 450 mark.

ONE TEST WONDERS PART III

Australia’s slow left-arm spinner Joe Travers became the first OTW of the new century. In the final Test of the 1901-02 Ashes Played at Melbourne in 1901-02, taking one wicket (Tom Hayward) in eight overs; he did not bowl in the second innings.. Batting at no. 11 position he mad just 9 &1.

In the 4th Test of the 1902 Ashes played at Old Trafford, Fred Tate made his debut as well as last appearance in Test Cricket. This test match is still referred as ‘Tate’s Match’, not because of his batting or bowling or fielding , but for lack of them. Australia retained Ashes in one of the most dramatic Test matches in the history of cricket, winning it by just three runs after several fluctuating fortunes. Fred Tate who, in his only Test which was started on his birthday, dropped a vital catch and was himself bowled played a wild swipe, the last wicket to fall when his side needed four runs to win. He made just 5* & 4 and took 0/44 & 2/7. He also held one catch in each of the Australia’s innings. On his way home from the match, Tate told a team-mate that he had a little boy who would make it up one day. He did, indeed: this was Fred's son Maurice Tate, an outstanding swing bowler who was to take 155 Test wickets.

Henry Taberer and George Thornton of South Africa were the next OTWs of Test Cricket when they played their only Test at Johannesburg in the 1st Test of the 1902/03 series against Australia. Taberer made just 2 runs and Thornton remained unbeaten on 1, in the only they batted. They each took a wicket in Australia’s 1st innings. Thornton also caught Hugh Trubmle in the same innings. Taberer, who captained South Africa in his only Test, once, for a bet, threw a cricket ball 100 yards while standing in a tub.

James ‘Biddy’ Anderson , who replaced Taberer as the captain of South Africa in the next Test of the same series played at the same venue became the next OTW. He made 32 in the 1st innings and 11 in the 2nd. He also caught the opposing captain Joe Darling in the 1st , but he himself was caught by Darling in the 2nd and could not prevent South Africa collapsing for 85 while chasing a target of 245.

Next OTW, Percy Sydney Twentyman Jones, who represented South Africa at both cricket and Rugby football, made his only Test appearance in the next and 3d Test of the same series at Cape town. He did not make a single run and was clean bowled for a duck in both the innings, which SA lost by 10 wickets.

3rd Test of the 1905 Ashes played at Leeds introduced the next OTW, England’s Arnold Warren. Warren had an impressive debut by taking 5/57 and 1/56. He clean bowled Victor Trumper for 8 and had him caught by George Hirst for a duck. He made 7 runs in the only innings he batted and was runout.

The next OTW, South Africa’s Stanley Delacourtte Snooke, who played his only Test along with his brother, SJ , against England at the Oval in the 3rd Test of the 1907 series, did not meet with the same success as a Test cricketer as his brother. In his only Test appearance he did not score, but brought off two good catches. One of them was to dismiss GL Jessop.

In the 2nd Test of the 1909 Ashes John King of England , top scored with 60 for his team in the 1st innings but was out for 4 as England were reduced to 24 for 6. England went on to lose the Test by 9 wickets. John King in addition to his 60 has also taken a wicket in Australia’s 1st innings. He is one of the very few cricketers to have involved in a peculiar dismissal of given out for hitting the ball twice. In 1906, playing for Leceistershire against Surrey at The Oval , he stopped the ball rolling into his stumps, and then tried to run a single, thus getting declared out as hitting the ball twice. It was the last such instance in England in first class cricket.

Douglas Carr, who practiced the art of bowling googly for more than 4 yrs playing only club cricket, suddenly came into limelight in 1910. Aged 37, he played his 1st first class game for Kent during the 1910 season and became one of the very few England Cricketers to have gone to play in Test Cricket in his 1st first class season. Carr making his debut in the 5th Test of the 1909 Ashes, was dismissed for a duck playing at no. 11 position , but he went on to take 5/146 & 2/136. Though he had a very good Test debut, he was never recalled to represent England again. He said about the googly he worked so hard for so long, ‘I am quite certain of one thing, and that is that in a very short time everybody will be quite able to distinguish between the two breaks.". He proved out to be correct.

South Africa’s Claude Floquet, who was an opening batsman, though played just 6 fist class matches, batted at no. 8 and no.11 positions in his only Test appearance against England in the 3rd Test at Johannesburg in 1909-10 - scoring 1 and 11 not out. He did not have any success with the ball either going for 24 runs in the 8 overs he bowled. He represented Transvaal and toured Australia with South Africa in 1910-11 but did not play in any of the Tests. He died on the same day, Nov 22nd, 1963 at an age of 79 years, as President Kennedy was assassinated.

It took seven and half years for a Test match to have more than one OTW in the same Match. All three debutantes of the 5th Test of the 1909/10 England Vs South Africa Series, Neville Tufnell

of England, and Norman Norton & Sivert Samuelson of South Africa never got a chance to play another Test. In the only innings that Norton & Samuelson bowled, Norton took 4 wickets whereas Samuelson went wicketless. They did not have good outing as batsmen too as Norton made 2 & 7 and Samuelson made 15 & 7. Samuelson also held a catch. England’s Tufnell, who was born in Simla, India, playing as their wicketkeeper made 14 and affected just one dismissal in the whole match which England won by 9 wickets. He stumped South Africa’s JH Sinclair in the 2nd innings.

Septimus Paul Kinneir of England was the next OTW. He opened with Jack Hobbs in the 1st Test of the 1911/12 Ashes played at Sydney and made a useful contribution with the bat making 22 & 30. But at a Time, when England had stalwarts like Hobbs, Woolley, Rhodes he never got another opportunity to play a test either in that series or after that. England’s JWHT Douglas, who too made his debut alongside Kinneir, captained the side in this match.

John Mclaren became the 100 the player to represent Australia in the 5th Test of the same series when he made his debut at Sydney. Though he was not dismissed in both the innings, he did not make any runs either. He just took 1 wicket in the 1st innings and went wicketless in the 2nd as England won the Test by 70 runs thus wrapping the Ashes with 4-1 victory.

South Africa added 4 of the seven Test debutantes to the OTW club when they played against England in the 1st Test of the 1913/14 Series at Durban. Of the four OTWS of this Test Harold Baumgartner, Alfred Cooper, Percy Lewis, and George Tapscott, Only Baumgartner could make some meaningful contribution in this match which was won by England by an innings and 157 runs. He made 16 and 3 as SA was folded out for 182 % 111 in their two innings. Baumgartner also clean bowled Hobbs for 82 and England’s top scorer JWHT Douglas for 119. For other OTWs of this Test their lone Test match was anything but memorable. Percy Lewis was dismissed for a pair. Cooper made 6 & 0 whereas Tapsoctt made 4 & 1. Except Precy Lewis all OTWs held once catch for SA in the only innings that England batted.

3rd Test of the same series played at Johannesburg saw South Africa’s Cecil Dixon and Len Tuckett getting pairs in their only appearance in Test Cricket Dixon, playing his just 4th first class match dismissed Jack Hobbs twice in the Test match and had bowling figures of 2/62 and 1/56. But Tuckett could not take a single wicket though he bowled 10 overs in each of the England’s innings, which England won by 70 runs. Tuckett, though best known as a bowler, he helped to establish a world batting record in 1925-26 when, playing for Orange Free State, he shared in a three-figure stand for the last wicket in each innings against Western Province. In the first innings he and L. G. Fuller put on 115 and in the second F. Caulfield helped him add 129.

Frederick Le Roux of SA became the next OTW, in the next and 4thTest of the same series played at Durban.He made just 1 & 0 with bat and did not take any wicket in the 9 overs he bowled, 6 in the 1st and 3 in the 2nd.

In the 5th and final Test of the same series, South Africa’s Reginald Hands made his debut along with Eric Lundie. For both of them this proved out to be their 1st and last test. Reginald Hands, who was playing along with his brother Phillip, made just 0 & 7 and was stumped in both innings. Lundie, though did not make any contribution with the bat (0* & 1) did pickup 4 wickets in England’s 1st innings including that of Jack Hobbs & JWHT Douglas. Jack Hobbs hit the winning runs of the bowling of Lundie in the 2nd as England easily scored the 11 runs required for the victory without losing a wicket.

Incidentally this Test match was the last Test match played before the First World War as Test Cricket took a long hiatus of 7 years since its inception in 1876. In the 134 Tests that were played for during the 36 years OTW Club had as many as 96 OTWs excluding WL Murdoch & JJ Ferris One Test Appearance for England.

20 Plus Test Wickets Falling in a Day

In the recently concluded Test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which in the end Pakistan comfortably won by 8 wickets, the third day of the test match proved out to be a total deviation from the previous day as Pakistan cruised to an easy 8 wicket victory after Razzaq got Muralitharan caught by Umar Gul with the next ball (5 th) of the over he continued from the previous day. Since Jayasuriya was not available to bat because of the injury, Sri Lanka was all out for 73 and set a target of 183 runs which everybody at that time thought would be very difficult for Pakistan. Pakistan just lost two wickets in the process of achieving that target there by proving all cricket pundits wrong. No one thought it would be such a cakewalk for Pakistan after seeing 20 wickets fall the previous day.

On day two, Sri Lanka resuming their overnight score of 267/8 was bowled out immediately without offering any further resistance in just 3.2 overs for 279. Then came the Drama with Muralitharan, playing his 103rd Test Match produced a deadly spell and took his 51st five wicket haul in a Test innings which helped SL to bowl out Pakistan under 53 overs for just 170 runs. Surely, at that point they must have thought that they would be clinching the match and there by the Test Series. But Mohammed Asif who took 6 wickets in the Sri Lanka’s 1st innings had other thoughts and reduced Sri Lanka to 73/8 by close of 2nd day’s play by taking 5 more wickets with Abdul Razzaq chipping in with other 3 wickets.
Altogether 20 wickets fell in a fascinating day’s play, thus providing a very rare occasion of 20 wickets falling in a single day’s play of a Test match. This provided just 26th instance in 1796 test matches played till today. Following is the list of all such instances with a hyper link to the test matches , day of the test , scores progression and the number of wickets fallen in that order.

1. Test # 0009 Eng Vs Aus The Oval 1882 Aug 28th-29th 1st (Eng 63 , Aus 101) 20 W

2. Test # 0009 Eng Vs Aus The Oval 1882 Aug 28th-29th 2nd (Eng 122 ,Aus 77) 20 W

3. Test # 0028 Eng Vs Aus Lord’s 1888 Jul 16th -17th 2nd (Eng 18/3 to 53 AO, Aus 60, Eng 62) 27 W

4. Test # 0031 SA Vs Eng Port Elizabeth 1889 Mar 12th-13th 1st (SA 84, Eng 148) 20 W

5. Test # 0034 Eng Vs Aus The Oval 1890 Aug 11th-12th 1st (Aus 92, Eng 100, Aus 5/2) 22 W

6. Test # 0043 Aus Vs Eng Melbourne 1894 Dec 29th-Jan 3rd 1st (Eng 75,Aus 123) 20 W

7. Test # 0047 SA Vs Eng Port Elizabeth 1896 Feb 13th-14th 1st (Eng 185, SA 93, Eng 0/1) 21 W

8. Test # 0052 Eng Vs Aus The Oval 1896 Aug 10th-12th 2nd (Eng 69/1 to 145 AO, Aus 119, Eng 60/5) 24 W

9. Test #0066 Aus Vs Eng Melbourne 1902 Jan 1st-4th 1st (Aus 112, Eng 61, Aus 48/5) 25 W

10. Test #0094 Eng Vs SA Leeds 1907 Jul 29th-31st 1st (Eng 76, SA 110) 20 W

11. Test #0095 Eng Vs SA The Oval 1907 Aug 19th-21st 3rd (SA 149/5 to 178 AO,Eng 138, SA 159/5) 20 W

12. Test #0101 Eng Vs Aus Birmingham 1909 May 27th-29th 2nd (Aus 74,Eng 121, Aus 67/2) 22 W

13. Test #0104 Eng Vs Aus Manchester 1909 Jul 26th-28th 1st (Aus 147, Eng 119) 20 W

14. Test #0128 Eng Vs SA The Oval 1912 Aug 12th-13th 1st (SA 95, Eng 176) 20 W

15. Test #0201 Aus Vs WI Sydney 1931 Jan 1st-5th 3rd (Aus 323/4 to 369 AO, WI 107 & 67/5 ) 21 W

16. Test #0216 Aus Vs SA Melbourne 1932 Feb 12th-15th 1st (SA 36, Aus 153, SA 5/1) 21W

17. Test #0327 Aus Vs Eng Brisbane 1950 Dec 1st-5th 3rd (Eng 68/7 decl, Aus 32/7 decl, Eng 30/6) 20 W

18. Test #0343 Aus Vs WI Adelaide 1951 Dec 22nd-25th 1st (Aus 82, WI 105, Aus 20/2) 22 W

19. Test #0353 Eng Vs Ind Manchester 1952 Jul 17th-19th 3rd (Eng 292/7 to - 347/9 decl, Ind 58 & 82) 22 W

20. Test #0620 Eng Vs Ind Birmingham 1967 Jul 13th –15th 2nd (Ind 9/0 to 92 AO, Eng 203) 20 W

21. Test #1503 Eng Vs WI Lord’s 2000 Jun 29th – Jul 3rd 2nd (WI 267/9 to 267 AO, Eng 134, WI 54) 21 W

22. Test #1537 SL Vs Eng Colombo(SSC) 2001 Mar 15th- 19th 3rd (Eng 175/4 to 249 AO, SL 81, Eng 74/6) 22 W

23. Test #1633 NZ Vs Ind Hamilton 2002 Dec 19th-23rd 3rd (Ind 92/9 to 99 AO, NZ 94, Ind 154, NZ 24/0) 21 W

24. Test #1720 Ind Vs Aus Mumbai 2004 Nov 3rd-7th 3rd (Ind 5/0 to 205, Aus 93) 20 W

25. Test #1759 Zim Vs NZ Harare 2005 Aug 7th-11th 2nd (Zim 59 & 99) 20 W

26. Test #1796 SL Vs Pak Kandy 2006 Apr 3rd-7th 2nd (SL 267/8 to 279 AO, Pak 170, SL 73/8) 20 W

Some Interesting facts about the 20 Plus wicket Test Days.

• Very first time when this happened, in the only test played at The Oval during the 1882 Australian tour of England, remarkably it happened twice. 20 wickets fell on each of the two days this test match was played. This test match also gave birth to the Ashes and still remains only occasion of two sides getting bowled out in a test on two consecutive days of a Test Match.
• The highest number of wickets to fall in a single day's play in a Test match is 27 wickets in the 1st Test of the 1888 Ashes, played at Lord's.
  South Africa is the only country to have involved in this 20+ wickets day in their inaugural Test.
  
• 1st day of the 2nd Test of The Ashes 1894/95 , played at Melbourne which saw both the sides getting bowled out provided a unique instance of a wicket falling on both first and last ball of a 20 plus wickets day.
  
• 1st Test of the 1895/96 Series between SA & England played at Port Elizabeth, SA were dismissed for 30 runs of just 94 balls chasing a target of 319 runs. George Lohmann bowled 58 of those deliveries and had a bowling analysis 9.4-5-7-8 . he finished the match with a hat-trick.
  
• The Ashes, 1901/02, 2nd Test Played at Melbourne, after 25 wickets fell for 221 runs on first day, the 2nd day saw 252 runs for the loss of 4 more wickets. In an unusual move the Australian captain Joe Darling held back his top order batsmen on the first day back because of the sticky wicket. They answered their captain’s call with Clem Hill making 99, and debutant Reggie Duff hitting a century on debut and adding 120 runs for the last wicket with Warwick Armstrong , who made 45 as Australia won by 299 runs.
  
• 2nd and 3rd Test of the 1907 Series between SA and England provided the only instance of back to back test matches with 20 plus wickets falling in a single day's play. England won the 2nd Test Played at Leeds whereas the 3rd Test played at The Oval is the one of the two Tests involving a 20 Plus wicket day that did not produce a result. The other Test being the 4th Test of the 1909 Ashes, which was played at Manchester.
  
• In the 5th Test of the 1931/32 Series between Aus and SA Played at Melbourne, South Africa was bowled out under 40 and involved in a 20 plus wicket 1st day for the 5th time.
  3rd Test of the 1952/52 Series between Aus and WI played at Adelaide, West Indies for the first time involved in a 20 plus wickets Test day. West Indies won the Test by 6 wickets.
  
• In the 3rd Test of the 1952 series against England, India was involved in a 20 plus wickets Test Day. It also provided the one of the two instances of side getting bowled out twice in a day of Test cricket in its 129 years of history and 1796 Test matches as of today i.e. 5th April , 2006. India lost the match by an innings and 207 runs. They were bowled out for 58 & 82 on the 3rd day of the Test after England declared their innings at 347/9 , resuming their overnight score of 292/7.
  
• 3rd Test of the 1967 series between England and India in which both India and England were bowled out on 2nd day for 92 and 13 respectively has provided the only occasion when all four members of the India's famed spin quartet, BS Bedi, BS Chandrasekhar, EAS Prasanna & S Venkatraghavan, played together.
  
• There was a huge gap of 33 years and 883 Test matches between the 20th and 21st instance of 20plus wicket Test Days. But they both had one person on the field. S Venkatraghavan was one of the umpires who officiated in the 2nd Test thriller of the 2000 Series between England and West Indies played at Lord's.
  
• 3rd day of the 3rd Test of the 2000/01 SL - England Series played at Colombo 's SSC ground provided the first instance of Sri Lanka getting involved in 20 plus wicket Test day.
  
• 2nd Test of the 2002/03 Series between India and New Zealand played at Hamilton , which saw 22 wickets crumble on Day three, provides the only instance in Test Cricket in which both teams got dismissed for less than 100 runs in their 1st innings. This Test also was the only Test in which a team scoring less than 100 recorded a 1st innings lead.
  
• On the 2nd day of the 1st Test of 2005/06 Series played at Harare Sports Club , Zimbabwe emulated India's 53 year old record of getting bowled out twice in a day of a Test match. After New Zealand declared their innings at their overnight score of 452/9, Zimbabwe couldn’t cross the 100 run mark in either of their innings and were bowled out for 59 and 99 thus losing the match by an innings and 294 runs.
  
• Bangladesh, considered to be the babies of Test Cricket , in the 42 Tests played to date is the only country yet to involve in a 20 wicket Test Day.

ONE TEST WONDERS PART II

In the 1st Test of the 1895/96 series played at Port Elizabeth, four of the 15 players (7 South Africans and 8 Englishmen) who made their Test Debut, in a remarkable match went on to become OTWs. England’s Audley Miller (4* & 20*) and South Africa’s Frederick Cook (7 & 0), Robert Gleeson (3 & 1*), Charles Hime (0 & 8) did not Gleeson took a catch in each of England’s innings and Hime took the wicket of SMJ Woods was making his debut for England after playing for Australia. 21 wickets fell on the first day of this match in which South Africa was bowled out for a paltry 30 runs of just 18.4 five-ball overs which stood as the lowest score in Test Cricket till New Zealand fell short of it by 4 runs when they were dismissed for 26 in 1954-55. England’s George Lohmann's had an unbelievable bowling analysis of 8 for 7. He finished the match with a hat-trick, the first victim being OTW Fred Cook. Making his debut in this Test was a person who was later knighted and almost became a King of Albania, named Charles Burgess Fry.

Two more South Africans, William Frank (5 & 2) and Clement Johnson (3 & 7) got inducted into this OTW club in the next Test played at Johannesburg. Frank took a wicket and Johnson caught one batsman in the only England’s innings which was enough to beat SA by an innings and 197 runs. Lohmann was again the wrecker-in-chief with 12 wickets in the test and record 9 wickets in an innings, during which he claimed his 100th Test wicket. One of the Umpires for this Test was previous Test’s OTW Audrey Miller.

For all the four players , Ted Tyler of England and George Glover(18* & 3) , Alfred Richards(6 & 0) & Arthur Seccull(6 & 17*) who made their test debut in the next test match at Cape Town it proved out to be their solitary test appearance. Though AR Richards captained the side, he could not make his side escape from the innings defeat though he reduced the margin to 33 runs. George Lohmann being the main wicket taker again with 7 wickets in the 1st innings. He took his tally of wickets in the series to 35 at an amazing average of 5.8. Tyler though dismissed for a duck, provided a good supporting role to Lohmann with figures of 3/49 & 1/45. Seccull took couple of wickets and a catch where as Glover took one wicket in England’s only Innings.

In continuing its tradition of providing maiden test appearances to as many players as possible the 1st Test of the 1898/99 series between England & South Africa played at Johannesburg. South Africa introduced 6 players to Test Cricket and 8 players debuted for England. Three South Africans Robert Dower (0 & 9, 2 cts), William Solomon (2 & 2, 1 ct) and Vincent Tancred (18 & 7), all of whom had an uneventful debuts did not play a Test again. Sir Pelham Warner who too was making his debut hit a hundred (132*) and became the 1st opening batsman to carry his bat through a completed innings. AE Trott joined the company of WL Murdoch & JJ Ferris by making his debut for England after appearing in three Tests for Australia.

In the next test played at Cape Town, South Africa added 3 more members to the OTW club, namely Frederick Kuys(26 & 0), Albert Powell(5 & 11, 2 cts, 1 wkt) and Charles Prince(5 & 1) along with England’s Alfred Archer( 7 & 24*). None of them had a memorable debut, though Kuys accounted for 2 wickets in England’s 2nd innings including that of England’s Centurion JT Tyldesley. All of them witnessed an amazing all round display from South Africa’s JH Sinclair. Sinclair, after having hit his country’s 1st Test fifty, has not only hit his country’s 1st Test hundred but also became the first player to score a century and take 5 or more wickets in the first innings of the same Test. South Africa was bowled out again for less than 40 runs and their 2nd innings lasted for just 114 balls.

Walter Mead of England, who was making his debut along with one of the most exciting batsmen of all-time, Gilbert Jessop, became the next OTW when he made his single Test appearance at Lord’s in the 2nd Test of the 1899 Ashes. He made 7 & 2, took 1 wicket and a catch. It was the last test played in 19th century that had an OTW. It also saw a flawless 135 with 20 boundaries from a player who was playing only his second Test, Victor Trumper.