Batting Trivia

  1. The record for the highest innings total in a test match is 952-6d when Sri Lanka batted against India in Colombo in 1997. The record for the lowest innings total in a test match is 26 by New Zealand against England in 1954/1955.
  2. The record for the highest match aggregate by both teams is 1981 runs for 35 wickets in the South Africa vs. England test match in 1938/1939. And the record for the lowest match aggregate by both teams is 234 for 29 wickets, Australia vs. South Africa at Melbourne in 1931/1932.
  3. Charles Bannermann, of Australia faced the first ball in test cricket. He also scored the first test century, in the same innings(168*). He also holds the distinction along with David Houghton of Zimbabwe to have scored a century on his country's debut in test cricket.
  4. The record holder for the maximum ducks(zeroes) in test cricket is Courtney Walsh of the West Indies(25). He overtook Danny Morrison's(New Zealand) record of 24.
  5. Bhagwat Chandrashekhar is the only cricketer to have scored fewer runs in his test career than the number of wickets he took. (242 wickets and 177 runs). Today Glen McGrath of Australia is also well on his way with over 100 wickets, but just about 50-odd runs.
  6. The record for the longest a batsman has been at the crease and not scored a single run in all first-class cricket was set in a Test match by Geoff Allott, New Zealand's number 11, who batted 101 minutes against South Africa at Auckland on 2 March 1999.
  7. Wilfred Rhodes(England) has batted at all 11 positions in test cricket. His feat was emulated by Vinoo Mankad(India).
  8. Mohammed Azharuddin(India) is the only batsman to have scored three centuries in his first three test matches.
  9. Sandeep Patil from India is the only batsman in the world to hit six fours in an over of Bob Willis of England. He achieved this landmark in Leeds while playing a Test match against England.
  10. Playing at Edbaston, CK Nayudu once hit the ball into the River Rhea; the river is the boundary between Warwickshire and Worcestershire, so he is perhaps the only batsman to have sent a cricket ball from one county to another!.
  11. Hanif Mohammed once batted for 16 hours and 10 minutes - nearly 3 full days - against the West Indies, scoring 337*.
  12. Bhausahib Nimbalkar(India) was on 443*, with one day to go in a first-class match, just 9 short of the then world record 452* held by Bradman, but was unable to play on the final day, because he had to go and get married.
  13. Sir Donald Bradman and Brian Lara are the only batsmen to have scored two two triple centuries in tests. One of them for Lara is 400*.
  14. Martin Crowe of New Zealand is the only person to have been out for 299. Don Bradman once scored 299*.
  15. Marvan Attapatu(Sri Lanka) had scores of 0,0,1,0,0,0 in his first three test matches. No prizes for guessing what he scored in his first one-dayer..... yes 0
  16. The record for the most consecutive scores of 0 is jointly held by RG Holland of Australia and AB Agarkar with 5 in a row.
  17. Against England, at Lord's in 1990, India needed 24 runs to avoid the follow-on, with 1-wicket in hand. After playing the first 2 balls of the over defensively Kapil Dev hit off-spinner Eddie Hemmings for 4 consecutive sixes (the only time this has ever been done), to avoid the follow-on. Next ball number 11 batsman Narendra Hirwani was dismissed by Angus Fraser.
  18. Sir Garfield Sobers'(West Indies) first test century was a then world record 365*. Brian Lara's (West Indies) first test century was 277. He later went on to break Sir Garfield's record, scoring 375. Now he has the record of 400*.
  19. Indian Batsman G. Vishwanath is the only Indian player to score a century and duck on his debut.
  20. The record for the most sixes in a Test innings is held by Wasim Akram with 12 against Zimbabwe when he scored 257* in 1996/1997. In ODI version it is jointly held by Shahid Afridi and sanath Jaysuriya.
  21. Sir Donald Bradman retired from test cricket having scored 6,996 runs at an average of 99.94. In his last test innings he needed 4 runs to have an average of 100. He scored 0.
  22. In 1952, versus England at Leeds, India were reduced to 0 for 4.
  23. Ramiz Raja was caught off a no-ball, but, failing to hear the umpire’s call, left his crease to return to the pavilion. He was then given out ‘ run out’ by the square leg umpire. Pakistan vs. England at Perth in January 1987.
  24. Javed Miandad(Pakistan) was batting when Pakistan needed 4 runs to win off the last ball of the match, against India at Sharjah. He hit Chetan Sharma's ball for six!!! A few years later he hit Steve Waugh(Australia) for six off the penultimate ball of the match giving Pakistan another memorable victory.
  25. Sunil Gavaskar(India), regarded as one of the all time great batsman, batted the entire 60 overs of a one-dayer, scoring 36*. This was against England in 1975 World Cup. India lost the match by 202 runs.
  26. Pakistan were once bowled out by South Africa in Cape Town for 43. 7 of their 11 batsman scored ducks.
  27. Highest partnership in an ODI - 331 (for 2nd wicket) by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid against New Zealand in Hyderabad in Nov 1999. They broke 318 for 2nd wicket by Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid against Sri Lanka scored in 1999 World Cup at Taunton in May. In both the innings, even though Rahul made a century, was out scored by the other batsman and hence did not get the Man of Match award. Nob other pair has every scored 300+ together.


Bowling Trivia

  1. David Gower's bowling figures in the Second Test versus New Zealand at Trent Bridge , 1986, were unusual : 0-0-4-0 . How could it be ? Gower delivered one ball, but it was called a no-ball because the umpire ruled Gower's arm was suspiciously bent. The batsman Martin Crowe hit it for four . They were the winning runs , so Gower didn't have to bowl again.
  2. David Gower was the first English bowler at home to be called for throwing. He deliberately chucked the last ball of a Test vs. New Zealand when the Kiwis needed just one run to secure victory at Trent Bridge in 1986.
  3. Jim Laker(England) has the best bowling figures in a test match. Against Australia he took 9 for 37 in the first innings, and 10 for 53 in the second innings giving him match figures of 19 for 90. The only other wicket, that of Burke, was taken by Tony Lock. Anil Kumble is the second bowler to take 10 wickets in an innings. He did this against Pakistan.
  4. The best test bowling figures on debut are those of Narendra Hirwani(India). He took 16 for 136 versus the West Indies. He broke Bob Massie's record of 16 for 137.
  5. Australian spinner Shane Warne's first test ball in England pitched outside the leg stump, and spun right across the bewildered batsman Mike Gatting of England, and took his off stump. This ball has been considered by some to be the ball of the century.
  6. West Indian fast bowler Andersson Cummins, playing for the first time on South African soil (against Pakistan in a one-day international) took two wickets with his first two balls.
  7. The only bowler to have got Sir Donald Bradman(Australia) out hit wicket was the Indian, Lala Amarnath.
  8. In the 1932-33 'Bodyline' series, Harold Larwood(England) was not the only bowler bowling 'Bodyline'. Bill Voce(England) also did the same.
  9. Jeff Thompson(Australia) has bowled the fastest recorded ball in test cricket, clocked at 160.1 km/h (100.0 mph).
  10. OC Scott (WI) has most expensive figures in a test match (both innings combined). His bowling figures are 374/9 against England at Kingston in 1929-30.
  11. Mohammad Rafique(Bangladesh) bowled an illegal 11th over because of a miscalculation on the part of umpires and scorers in the inaugural tie against Hongkong in Asia Cup 2004. The only other instance when a bowler bowled more than his allowed quota of overs in ODIs was in the West Indies vs Pakistan match at Sharjah on 28-11-1996. This was a 45-over game with a bowler allowed a maximum of nine overs, but Courtney Walsh started his tenth over and wrapped up the Pakistan innings within four balls.
  12. Pakistani speedster Mohammad Sami bowled seven wides and four no balls to concede 22 runs in his 17-ball over against Bangladesh in an Asia Cup 2004 match. This was his 2nd over of the match. The previous over was a maiden over. Sami's analysis after this over read 2-1-22-1. Sami broke Hasibul Hossain's(Bangladesh) record, who had bowled 13 balls against England at Nairobi in the ICC knock out tournament in 2000.

Wicket-Keeping and Fielding Trivia

  1. In aWest Indies vs. England match at Scarborough, a throw from the boundary by Michael Holding hit one set of stumps and went on to hit the other set. The batsmen were out of their creases but the umpire was too confused to give either out.
  2. The only wicket keeper to have stumped Sir Donald Bradman(Australia) was Prabir Sen of India.
  3. In a one-dayer against Australia, in Australia Ijaz Ahmed of Pakistan missed as many as 6 run out attempts.
  4. The world record for the maximum catches, by an out fielder, in a one-dayer is held by Jonty Rhodes of South Africa. He took 5 catches against West Indies, in India.
  5. Brendon Kuruppu(Sri Lanka) started playing as a wicket-keeper. On debut for Sri Lanka he scored 201*.
  6. Sir Frank Worrell(West Indies), Clyde Walcott (West Indies) and Hashan Tilekratne(Sri Lanka) all started their test careers as wicket-keepers, but went on to become full-fledged batsmen.

Miscellaneous Cricket Trivia

  1. The first ever test match was held between England and Australia, at Melbourne Cricket ground, from the 15th to the 19th of March, 1877. Australia won by 45 runs. Exactly 100 years later(15th-19th March, 1977) a match between England and Australia was held at Melbourne to commemorate the 100 years of test cricket. Again, Australia won by 45 runs.
  2. In 1971 at Melbourne, the first four days of a test match between England and Australia had been rained out, so on the final day the first ever one-day international was organized. Australia won the match.
  3. 1975 (June) snow stopped play between Derbyshire and Lancashire.
  4. Geoff Boycott confused both scorers and umpires when he took strike at the wrong end, following a drinks interval, England vs. Australia at Sydney December 1979.
  5. Wilfred Rhodes had the longest ever Test career : 30 years 315 days from 1899 to 1930. The oldest Test Captain was WG Grace, aged 50 years 320 days in 1899.
  6. Sri-Lanka lost their last six wickets for 8 runs off 371 balls in the game vs. Australia at Melbourne in January 1990.
  7. David Boon broke his bat in two whilst playing for Australia vs. New Zealand at Adelaide in December 1990.
  8. The match between New Zealand and India at Auckland on February 14 1981 was the first in New Zealand in which coloured clothing, white balls and black sightscreens were employed.
  9. David Houghton(Zimbabwe) is the only player cum coach in world cricket today.
  10. There are 10 ways in which a batsman can get out in cricket: 1. Caught 2. Bowled 3. Leg Before Wicket 4. Run Out 5. Stumped 6. Handling the ball 7. Obstructing the field 8. Hit the ball twice 9. Hit Wicket 10. Timed out.
  11. The shortest ever test was between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, in 1996. All but 50 minutes of the match was rained out.
  12. Sachin Tendulkar was the first player in international cricket to be given out by the third umpire (via a TVreplay).
  13. M.L. Jaisimha and Ravi Shastri have both batted on all five days of a Test Match. Only two others have achieved this, Englishmen Geoff Boycott and Alan Lamb, and Australia's Kim Hughes.
  14. Sir Len Hutton(England) is the only batsman to have been given out obstructing the field. P A de Silva refused to leave the field when given out obstructing the fielder in the Sri-Lanka vs. New-Zealand match at Wellington in 1977. Under pressure the umpire was persuaded to reverse his decision.
  15. Because of extremely hot weather, drinks intervals were allowed every two overs in the Australia vs. New Zealand match at Melbourne in January 1988.
  16. India played her first test match in 1932.
  17. The first international cricket match ever was held between Canada and the U.S.A.
  18. On the day of the India-Windies final in the '83 World Cup a spectator asked Sir Garfield Sobers for an autograph. Sobers denied it saying that day was India's day ...

 

Lot of stuff on this page has been taken from http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/1613/