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Check out our trivia and get to know some fascinating facts about the game of cricket.
There has been a long recorded history of animals interfering with cricket matches.Once a sparrow interrupted play of a cricket match in 1936 when it was struck by a ball and killed. The sparrow is preserved on display at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. Another incident in 1957 during a Kent vs. Hampshire match involved a mouse stopping play when its young owner ran onto the field to trap it in his hat.
The first recorded game was played by students studying at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford, Surrey. The first match seems to have been played in 1646 at Coxheath in Kent. In the United States, cricket was established within the early 18th century, according to the Cricket Council of the United States of America.
Cricket, while not mainstream in the United States, is the second most popular sport in the world. It is played in over 130 countries. The reason for this widespread popularity is in part due to the fact the British took the sport all over the world with them and introduced it to the people they met along the way.
Pakistan innings of 708 at the Oval in 1987 is the highest in their Test History.
Jack Ryder of Australia was the first batsman to score six consecutive Test fifties.
India's 329 in Galle is the lowest Test total to include a double-century (Sehwag's 201 not out).
The slowest century in Test cricket took 557 minutes, by Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar against England in Lahore in 1977-78. He reached the three figures in 420 balls.
The highest score in a one-day international by someone who has not played Test cricket is Dave Callaghan's 169 not out for South Africa against New Zealand in Centurion in 1994-95.
Ricky Ponting holds the Test record for being run out the most number of times (14).
The only declaration in limited overs cricket was when Natal scored 361 for 2 in 54 overs against a South African XI at Kingsmead on 25/Oct/1975. Alan Barrow, 202 not out, and Henry Fotheringham, 128 not out, pasted the opposition to all parts of Kingsmead and scored a mammoth 303 unbroken for the third wicket.
In 184 innings of 131 Tests, Kapil Dev was never dismissed run-out, which is also a Test record.
Though Kapil was never run-out, he was involved in two run-outs during his Test career. It was Syed Kirmani who got run-out both times, with Kapil as partner at the other end.
The other players with 100-plus innings, without ever getting run-out, are Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar (116) and England's Paul Collingwood (115), Graeme Hick (114) and Peter May (106).
The first ever test match was held between England and Australia, at Melbourne, 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. Remarkably Australia won....... by 45 runs!!!
The shortest ever test was between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, in 1996. All but 50 minutes of the match was rained out.
Charles Bannermann ..... name ring a bell?? Well the Australian is the man who 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.
Hanif Mohammed once batted for 16 hours and 10 minutes - nearly 3 full days - against the West Indies, scoring 337*.
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.
On test debut Lawrence Rowe (West Indies) scored 214* and 100*.
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.
The only wicket keeper to have stumped Sir Donald Bradman (Australia) was Prabir Sen of India.
In May, 1878 the 'Demon' F.R. Spofforth of Australia, one of the greatest early Test cricketers, took 6 for 4 and 5 for 16 at Lords, routing the M.C.C. in one day. Spofforth is recorded as effectively putting an end to W.G. Grace's career.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) developed an Insignia showing a palm tree and cricket stumps on an island with maroon background .This make Windies the only cricket team with a customized cricket flag!
West Indies captain Darren Sammy became the first St Lucian to play Test cricket for the West Indies.
West Indies winning team manager and former Captain Richie Richardson plays rhythm guitar for the band "The Big Bad Dread and the Bald". The band members include the legendary Curtly Ambrose.
Wicket Keeper batsmen Dinesh Ramdin between the period May 2007 and May 2012, scored 1,332 runs from 45 Tests with a batting average of 18.76.Ramdin's batting average is the lowest amongst all test teams in this period.
Spin Bowler, Samuel Badree holds the record, world over, for best career economy rate in domestic T20.
West Indies is the only cricketing nation which is itself a multi-national team consisting of different countries in the Caribbean region.
The very first toss of the coin in a Test match was won by D.W. Gregory of Australia.
Warren Bradsley of Australia was the first batsman to score a century in both the inning of the Test match. He scored 136 and 130 in the 5th Test of 1909 at Kennington Oval, England.
Pakistani player Imran Khan completed his 1000 runs in 1989 playing against India and also Indian batsman Kapil Dev completed his 1000 runs playing against Pakistan in 1989.
Former captain Intekhab Alam took his first test wicket on his first test delivery.
Cricket was scheduled to be played at the first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, but the competition was cancelled due to lack of a sufficient number of teams entering. At the 1900 Games in Paris, Great Britain and France entered and played a match. Great Britain won and were awarded the gold medal, France the silver. Cricket has not been contested at any subsequent Olympic Games.
A cricket game was once stopped because a pig ran across the field. It is even considered legal to suspend the game if an animal entered the field.
Tom Graveney of England and Australia’s Barry Jarman captained their respective sides in just one Test and never led again.
India's first Test match in England was in June 1932, and was actually the country's first ever test. It was however a three-day match and the visitors lost by 158 runs.
India's first Test victory over England came in Chennai (then known as Madras) in 1952, but it wasn't until 1971 that they won a Test on English soil - a four-wicket win at the Oval gave them a historic first ever series victory over their hosts.
New Zealand have not beaten India in a Test match since 2002. Their last win over the sub-continental giants came when India toured New Zealand in December 2002. The Kiwis beat them 2-0 including a 4-wicket win in the second Test at Hamilton. The match will be remembered as it was a rare instance when both teams were bowled out for less than a hundred in their first innings. Zaheer Khan's five-wicket haul and Daryl Tuffey's eight wickets were the highlights as New Zealand chased down 160 on a pitch that was breathing fire for the bowlers.
In the first Test at Ahmedabad in 2003, Sourav Ganguly was penalized two runs for running on the pitch. This was the first time the then Indian skipper faced such a penalty from the umpire. He, however, scored a century and with Dravid's double ton India piled up 500 runs in the first innings. The match, however, ended in a draw, thanks to a rearguard action by Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle.
During New Zealand's tour of India in 1999, the first Test in Mohali saw Dion Nash destroy India's famed batting line-up with 6 wickets as they collapsed for 83. India recovered and scored in excess of 500 in the second innings to force a draw.
In the second Test at Christchurch on India's tour of New Zealand in 1976 Glenn Turner finally found form and was nearing his century. As he ran for his hundredth run school children stormed the ground to celebrate. This distracted both the umpires and while Kirmani dislodged the bails when Turner was short of the crease none of them saw it. The batsman got the benefit of the doubt and reached his century.
Perhaps the best note of sarcasm used by a bowler on an umpire. In the first Test at Auckland in 1976 the umpires were refusing to give lbw and bat pad decisions in India's favour. It reached such a point that when Bhagwath Chandrasekhar bowled Ken Wadsworth in the second innings he kept on appealing. The umpire said "He is bowled". Chandrasekhar then posed the classic question, "I know he's bowled but is he out?"
It is a little known fact that the batsman defended not three stumps but two until 1775. Upon this date, it was decided that the modification was necessary in order to do justice to the bowler, and the change embedded itself successfully into the game with three stumps being used till date.
Adam Gilchrist, Rahul Dravid, Mark Waugh and Sachin Tendulkar have the unique batting distinction of four ducks each in India-Australia Tests -- the highest by any player.
Sachin Tendulkar fielded for Pakistan as substitute during a one-day practice match against India in Brabourne stadium in 1988.
Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli sang and whistled during their 664 run stand in Harris shield in 1988 to avoid eye contact with coach's assistant, who wanted to declare while the duo wanted to bat on.
England lost their last seven wickets for 10 runs against India at Gwalior on March 4, 1993.
G.R. Viswanath is the only Indian player to score a duck and a century on debut.
On July 19, 1952, India became the first--and only--international test team to be dismissed twice in one day. England restricted the visitors to paltry scores of 58 and 82 at Old Trafford to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series. However, India did manage to draw the final test-because it was rained out!
Kapil Dev`s only break of one Test in his 131 Test career came after 65 Tests.
Billy Midwinter of Australia got the first ever international five wicket haul in the second innings of the first international test. Later, he even went on to play for England, the very team he destroyed in 1877!
W.G. Grace played his last Test aged 50, as captain and the oldest to do so.
Runako Morton of West Indies was out for a duck after facing 31 balls.
Sir Don Bradman scored 309 runs in a single day of a test match.
Hassan Raza is the youngest player to play an International Test match as he was 14 years 227 days at that time.
New Zealand's Geoff Allot played batted for 101 minutes without scoring a run in a test match.
Adam Gilchrist has taken the most number of catches in three World Cups that he has played. He has taken 45 catches in 31 matches.
Brendon McCullum's 20 ball fifty is the fastest fifty in any world cup. He scored it against Canada in the 2007 World Cup.
Ricky Ponting has hit the most number of sixes in World Cups, 31 from 46 matches.
Sir Don Bradman has scored 5028 runs with an average of 89.79. He is the leading runs scorer in Ashes.
Spin wizard Shane Warne with 195 wickets at an average of 23.26, is the leading wicket taker in Ashes.
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has this record in his name by scoring 110 runs only through boundaries in an innings.
The Pipistrelle is Britain's smallest bat. There have been many arguments as to which batsman uses the heaviest bat. Sachin Tendulkar has one weighing 1.42 kg, which is around 2% of his body weight. The widest bat ever was used by Thomas White (dirty Surrey cheat) in 1771. He strode out to bat with one which was wider than the wicket.
Vikram Solanki is the first ever Super Sub player in ODIs.
Graham Yallop, in 1978 was the first man to wear a helmet!
Paul Collingwood of England is the only man to score a century and take 6 wickets in an ODI. Against Bangladesh in 2005 he scored 112* and took 6/31 in 10 overs - truly amazing!
At Capetown in 1992-93, the then world cup champions Pakistan were dismissed for 43 against the West Indies in an ODI - at that time the lowest ever. Their record was broken by Zimbabwe in 2001-02 when they scored 38 all out against Sri Lanka in 2001-02. This included the best bowling performance in ODIS - 8/19 by Chaminda Vaas. Sri Lanka then dismissed Canada for 36 in the 2002-03 world cup, but Zimbabwe wanted the record back. In 2004 they reclaimed their dubious distinction with a 35 all out, again against Sri Lanka.
Arthur Fagg who played for Kent is the only man to score two double centuries in the same first-class match.
Maurice Turnbull actually was a triple international. He played cricket for England and hockey and rugby for Wales and he also won the South Wales Squash Championship!
For the first time in World Cup history, two hat-tricks have been recorded on successive days - Kemar Roach for Windies against Netherlands on February 28 and Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka against Kenya on March 1, 2011.
Canada's Nitish Kumar became the youngest player ever to make his World Cup debut against Zimbabwe at the age of 16 years and 283 days in Nagpur.
James Anderson's 91 runs in 9.5 overs against India is the most runs conceded by an English bowler in the World Cup history.
Brad Haddin became the first Australian wicketkeeper and the third overall to post a fifty and effect four or more dismissals in a world cup match, joining Kumar Sangakkara and Ridley Jacobs.
AB de Villiers' 97-ball 100 against the West Indies is the fastest century by a South African in the World Cup.
The Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate's 119 was the second highest by an associate player against a Test side in the World Cup behind Dave Houghton's 142 for Zimbabwe against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1987.
A cricket game was once stopped because a pig ran across the field. It is even considered legal to suspend the game if an animal entered the field.
South Africa's Hugh Tayfield bowled 16 consecutive eight-ball maiden overs against England in 1957.
England wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans once spent 1hr and 37min at the crease before scoring his first run. The occasion was a Test match against Australia at Adelaide in 1947. Evans went on to make 10 not out.
Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed 'hit wicket' for the first time in his international career during the Brisbane ODI.
Mark Waugh was run out 4 times in five innings in One day International matches in 1992.
The first left hander to score a century on his test debut was John Mills of New Zealand in 1930.
England's John Jameson, who was born in India, made his highest Test score (82) against India.
The multi talented CB Fry captained England in Cricket, played football in England and equaled the world long jump record.
Rusi Surti, who played for Queensland is the only Indian test cricketer who has played Sheffield Shield cricket in Australia.
Adam Gilchrist (5 times), Alec Stewart, Ridley Jacobs, Mark Boucher and MS Dhoni have all taken 6 catches in an ODI.
Sir Richard Hadlee has captained New Zealand in test cricket. His brother Dayle, and father Walter also played test cricket for New Zealand while another brother Barry played ODIs for New Zealand. His wife, Karen has also represented New Zealand in women's cricket.
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.
Even after a major hip operation had reduced his pace and hostility, Angus Fraser twice took eight wickets in a Test innings.
Colin Cowdrey's slip catch to dismiss Australia's Neil Hawke at The Oval made Fred Trueman the first bowler to take 300 wickets in Test cricket, back in 1964. Trueman, who had missed the previous match at Old Trafford, began the day on 297 wickets, and quickly took that tally to 299, with wickets in consecutive deliveries before the lunch break.
Hawke averted the hat-trick, but did not survive much longer. Asked whether he thought anyone would ever break his record, Trueman is reputed to have replied: "Aye, but whoever does will be bloody tired." Fiery Fred's eventual total of 307 remained the world record until 1975-76.
Hawke averted the hat-trick, but did not survive much longer. Asked whether he thought anyone would ever break his record, Trueman is reputed to have replied: "Aye, but whoever does will be bloody tired." Fiery Fred's eventual total of 307 remained the world record until 1975-76.
Australian fast-medium left-armer Bill Whitty's 65 Test wickets cost only 21.12 each, largely as a result of the 1910-11 series against South Africa, in which he took 37 wickets. When the visitors needed only 170 to win at Melbourne, Whitty took 6 for 17 to bowl them out for 80.
Rahul Dravid along with Sachin Tendulkar holds the world record for the most number of century partnerships in Tests which totals to 20.
Dravid holds the world record for being the first (and only) non-wicketkeeper to take 200 catches in Test cricket
Two West Indies players -- Darren Sammy and Darren Bravo -- shared the record of hitting most sixes in Test cricket in 2011-13 each.
England's Alastair Cook hit 97 fours but no six in Test matches in 2011.
Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal remained the only bowler to capture 50 Test wickets in 2011.
Bangladesh's Shafiul Islam recorded 6 ducks in 12 ODI innings in 2011--most by any batsman.
Australia's Shane Watson hit 42 sixes in ODIs in 2011--most by any batsman. He was followed by West Indies' Kieron Pollard (30) and Lendl Simmons (24).
In Test cricket 2011, Ian Bell of England averaged a staggering 118.75 in 8 Test’s with the highest of 235.
William Henry Cooper, who played the first of his two tests for Australia versus England in 1881-82, and Paul Sheahan, who made his debut in 1967-68 are the only great-grandfather great-grandson pair to play test cricket.
William Henry Cooper, who played the first of his two tests for Australia versus England in 1881-82, and Paul Sheahan, who made his debut in 1967-68 are the only great-grandfather great-grandson pair to play test cricket.
Tamil Nadu's total of 912-6 declared included 52 penalty runs from their opponents' failure to meet the required bowling rate. North Zone's total of 868 included 68, and Bombay's total of 855-6 declared included 48 penalty runs.
Wilfred Rhodes, who has played for Yorkshire and England, has played 1,110 first class matches, where is has bowled 1, 85,799 balls and taken 4204 wickets.
Robert William Taylor wicketkeeper of England has taken the most dismissals in first class cricket. He has played 639 matches and taken 1473 catches and 176 stumpings in his career, which tally's to 1649.
The first recorded cricket international was played between the United States and Canada in September 1844.
The original Cricket World Cup was not known as a 'World Cup', but was instead called the Prudential Cup. Many regard the 1992 tournament as the first 'real' Cricket World Cup, as it was the first tournament to feature South Africa.
Only two centuries were scored at the 1979 Cricket World Cup, marking this as the lowest scoring tournament in Cricket World Cup history.
The Cricket World Cup has been played on every cricket playing continent, something that both the Football and Rugby World Cups are yet to achieve.
En route to winning the 2003 Cricket World Cup, Australia became only the second team in the history of World Cup Cricket to go unbeaten throughout an entire tournament after Sri Lanka (1996).
The original Cricket World Cup was not known as a 'World Cup', but was instead called the Prudential Cup. Many regard the 1992 tournament as the first 'real' Cricket World Cup, as it was the first tournament to feature South Africa.
Mohammad Hafeez won 10 man-of-the-match awards across all three formats in 2011 -- most for any player.
Sangakkara holds the record for fastest 8,000 runs (152 innings) in Test cricket. He broke the previous record set by Sachin Tendulkar (154 innings) during the third Test against India on 6 August 2010. He also holds the record for fastest 9,000 runs (172 innings) in Test cricket. He broke the previous record set by Rahul Dravid (176 innings) during the second Test against Pakistan on 3 November 2011.
Muralitharan held the number one spot in the International Cricket Council's player rankings for Test bowlers for a record period of 1,711 days spanning 214 Test matches.
In the 2011 IPL, against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Tendulkar scored his maiden Twenty20 hundred. He scored 100 not out off 66 balls. In 51 matches in the IPL Tendulkar has scored 1,723 runs, making him the second-highest run-scorer in the competition's history.
Only four Test series have ended 0-0 with all five matches being drawn. India was involved in three of them, including two in a row against Pakistan.
There were no less than six ducks- plus one not out batsman, in the Pakistani innings v West Indies, at Cape Town in 1993.
The first batsman to be dismissed for 99 on his Test debut was Australia’s Arthur Chipperfield at Tent Bridge in 1934. He was 99 not out at lunch.
Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the fastest to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket history. Both of them achieved this in 195 innings.
Sachin Tendulkar with Sourav Ganguly put the world record for the most runs scored in the opening partnership. They have scored together 6,609 runs from 136 matches with 21 century partnerships and 23 fifty run partnerships.
Sachin Tendulkar has the consecutive ODI appearances: 185.
Dravid has been bowled 55 times in Test cricket, going past Allan Border's previous record of 53.
Rahul Dravid is the first batsman who has registered a score of century in all test playing nations.
Rahul Dravid is the first player to score 10000-run at No.3 position.
Rahul Dravid is only the second non-English cricketer to have hit 3 or more centuries in a two different test series in England, the other being Donald Bradman.
Makhaya Ntini is the first black man to play test cricket for South Africa. Henry Olonga was the first black Zimbabwean test cricketer.
Bill Ponsford is the only other man to score two first-class quadruple centuries.
Englishman Jack Hobbs was 46 years 82 days when he made 142 against Australia at Melbourne in March 1929.
Jack Hobbs was cricket's most prolific batsman. He finished with 61,237 first-class runs and 199 centuries.
England's Alfred Shaw was the bowler to bowl the first delivery in a Test match. He took 3 wickets in the first innings and 5 in the second.
In 1868, when Australia first toured England under Charles Lawrence to play cricket, each player was wearing a different coloured cap so that the spectators could identify them.
Charles Bannerman scored 165 in his first Test innings and was retired hurt. Incidentally, he did not take field. W.Newing fielded for him, thus becoming the first substitute fielder in Test cricket.
Wasim Akram is the first (an only?) man to perform a hat-trick in both one days and tests!
The First Test between Young Sri Lanka and Young England at Colombo in 1987 was held up when a large iguana crept across the wicket.
The Test match between England and South Africa at Durban in 1939 was finally abandoned as a draw on the tenth day because England players had to catch their ship home.
A match between Barbados and British Guyana in 1946 saw an over with 14 balls in which there were no wides or no balls! The 8 ball over was in force and the extra six deliveries were due to umpiring miscounting!!!
SHAHID AFRIDI used a bat borrowed from Waqar Younis to score the fastest century in a One-Day International.!!
FOUR STUMPS!!!! -- An experimental game was played at Lords in 1963 to look at the effects of adjusting two features of cricket: the size of the wickets and the LBW rule, in order to create a wicket of width 11 inches rather than 9 inches, four stumps were used in that trial match.
It was a county match in 1946.After two overs had been bowled, Len Hutton, who was fielding at slips asked the umpires to check the length of the pitch. The check discovered that the pitch was 24 yards long instead of 22! Then the match was restarted on a correct pitch.
The highest score by a player in his last Test as captain was Ian Chappell's 192 against England in 1975.
The first player to score 100 runs and take 10 wickets in the same Test was Australia's Alan Davidson in 1960.
The first batsman to share in 50 century partnerships in Tests was India's Sunil Gavaskar.
Darren Pattinson, brother of Australian fast bowler James Pattinson played his only Test match for England in 2008 against South Africa at Headingley.
India's world cup winning captain, Kapil Dev, claimed 434 wickets and scored 5248 runs in 131 Test matches and is the only cricketer in Tests history to do so.
Hemant Shamsunder Kanitkar and his son Hrishikesh Hemant Kanitkar-both have played exactly the same number of Tests for India (2 each). The father never played in an ODI but Hrishikesh went on to play in 34 ODIs as well.
TJ Matthews once took a hat trick in both innings of a test match.
Arthur Fagg who played for Kent is the only man to score two double centuries in the same first-class match.
RE "Tip" Foster holds the world record for the highest score on test debut. He scored 287 on test debut for England vs. Australia in 1903-04. He is also the only man to captain England at both football and cricket.
Lawrence Rowe of the West Indies however, managed to score more runs than Foster in his first test making 214 and 100* in 1971-72. The only other cricketer to score 2 centuries on test debut is Yasir Hameed of Pakistan who made 170 and 108 against Bangladesh in 2003.
Khalid Hasan of Pakistan made his test debut in 1954 aged just 16 years and 352 days. Four days later his test career was over and is the youngest ever one-cap wonder and played his last day of test cricket at just 16 years and 356 days - a record.
Alec Bedser took 14/99 in a test against England in 1953 - the best bowling figures by a bowler in a losing cause.
One of the greatest bowlers in history, Hedley Verity took 10/10 against Nottinghamshire in 1932 - the best bowling figures in first-class history. It is also the only ten-for to include a hat trick.
Ken Suttle of Sussex played in 423 consecutive first-class matches between 1954 and 1969 - the longest streak by any cricketer.
Charles Bannerman scored the first test century. Billy Murdoch, who played for both Australia and England scored the first test double century (he also hit the first ever six in test cricket). Andy Sandham of England scored the first triple century (in what was his last test match), and Brian Lara has scored the only quadruple century.
In a 1951 in a test versus England, Alex Moir of New Zealand bowled 2 successive overs, the last before tea and the first after the interval! The only other time this happened in test cricket was in an Ashes test in 1921.
The first cricketer to be knighted was Sir Pelham Warner of England. Sir Neville Cardus was the first cricket writer to be knighted.
Never have the first four batsman of a team, each scored centuries in the same test innings. However, playing England at Lord's in June,1993 Australia's score-card looked like this:
Mark Taylor 111
Michael Slater 152
David Boon 164
Mark Waugh 99
Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) scored 340 against India, in India, in 1997. Sri Lanka scored a world record 951 for 6 in that innings. In the next match Jayasuriya was dismissed for 199.
In one-day bowling figure 7 for 37 by Aaqib Javed of Pakistan, versus India at Sharjah. These 7 wickets included a hat trick of leg before wickets.
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.
In a one-dayer against Australia, in Australia Ijaz Ahmed of Pakistan missed as many as 6 run out attempts.
The only wicket keeper to have stumped Sir Donald Bradman (Australia) was Prabir Sen of India.
The only declaration in limited overs cricket was when Natal scored 361 for 2 in 54 overs against a South African XI at Kingsmead on 25/Oct/1975. Alan Barrow, 202 not out, and Henry Fotheringham, 128 not out, pasted the opposition to all parts of Kingsmead and scored a mammoth 303 unbroken for the third wicket.
In a Trophy Final in Karachi in 1958 the scorecard read:
1st Innings : Abdul Aziz, retired hurt, 0
2nd Innings : Abdul Aziz, did not bat, dead, 0
1st Innings : Abdul Aziz, retired hurt, 0
2nd Innings : Abdul Aziz, did not bat, dead, 0
The maximum ducks (zeros) in Test cricket is Courtney Walsh of West Indies (43). He overtook Glenn McGrath (Australia) record of (35).
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brendon Taylor, Lance Klusener and Javed Miandad are the four batsmen to have hit sixes off the last ball of an ODI to win the match.
Desmond Haynes with 148 for West Indies against Australia in St John's on his debut in 1977-78, and 115 against England in Port-of-Spain in what turned out to be his last ODI in 1993-94 and Dennis Amiss, who made 103, the first century in ODIs, against Australia at Old Trafford in 1972, and signed off with 108, also against Australia, at The Oval in 1977 are the only two batsmen to have scored centuries in their first and last ODI's.
Sanath Jayasuriya, who scored 2514 runs in 71 one-day internationals on the ground Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa holds the record for the most ODI runs on one ground.
West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh was nicknamed Duracell for his ability to bowl very long spells.
Michael Slater tried to flush his kit down the toilet when he was going through a bad patch.
In the 2000 tour to New Zealand the Australian cricketers created a stir when they were spotted buying condoms.
Charles Bannerman (Australia), Dave Houghton (Zimbabwe) and Aminul Islam (Bangladesh) all scored centuries on their own as well as their country's test debuts.
The reason why former India skipper Bishen Singh Bedi took up cricket at age twelve : to slim down.
On the 1974 tour to England, Indian opener, Sudhir Naik was accused of stealing a pair of socks from Marks & Spencers.
The only player to have scored lesser runs in his test career than the number of wickets he took is Bhagwat Chandrashekhar with 242 test wickets and just 177 runs in his test career.
Robert Charles "Jack" Russell's 11 dismissals for England against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1995-96 set a world record for all Test cricket.
The slowest century in Test cricket took 557 minutes, by Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar against England in Lahore in 1977-78. He reached three figures in 420 balls.
The record for the worst set of figures by a bowler in an innings is held by a slow left-armer: Australia's "Chuck" Fleetwood-Smith, who took 1 for 298 against England at The Oval in 1938.
A very prominent international cricketer whose first and last names are also Syed Kirmani is the elegant Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas. He is better known by his middle two names
The only batsmen who have scored a century before lunch on the first day of a Test are the great Australian trio of Victor Trumper (against England at Old Trafford in 1902), Charles Macartney (v England at Headingley in 1926), and Don Bradman (v England at Headingley in 1930), and Pakistan's Majid Khan (v New Zealand in Karachi in 1976-77).
At 41 times, Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu holds the record for being run out most often in ODIs, closely followed by Inzamam Ul Haq at 40. In third place is Pakistan's Wasim Akram, who was run out 38 times.
Ian Botham brought up the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in his 21st Test, a record for the fastest double.
When England medium-pacer Alfred Shaw, who bowled the first ball in a Test match at Melbourne in 1876-77 died in 1907, he was buried according to his wishes: the length of a cricket pitch from the grave of his equally celebrated Nottinghamshire and England team-mate Arthur Shrewsbury. Some time after the interment, someone discovered that the distance between the two tombs wasn't 22 yards but 27. Shock, horror. Luckily the county secretary remembered that Shaw always took a five-yard run-up!
The most runs by one side on any day in a Test match is 509, by Sri Lanka against Bangladesh at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo in 2002 - they started the second day at 32 for 0, finished it with 541 for 9 and declared.
The biggest first-innings lead in Test history is a whopping 702 - at The Oval in 1938, when England ran up the little matter of 903 for 7 (Len Hutton 364), then bowled Australia out for 201. Legend has it that Wally Hammond, England's captain in that timeless Test, only declared when he was assured that his opposite number Don Bradman, who had injured his foot while having a rare bowl, would be unable to bat.
The only person to have played both World Cup Football and World Cup Cricket is Viv Richards - playing for Antigua in football and West Indies in cricket.
Shane Bond's first job was as a store-man in a food warehouse who had to pack up food and stack it and send it off for deliveries.
Matthew Hayden's first job was as working on his father's farm, planting peanuts, chipping weeds out of peanuts, and fencing.
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.
Pakistan were once bowled out by South Africa in Cape Town for 43. 7 of their 11 batsman scored ducks.
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.
In a Pakistan vs. England ODI at Perth in January 1987, 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.
Andy Flower of Zimbabwe was the first batsman to score seven consecutive Test fifties.
WG Grace played his last match in club cricket at the age of 66, for Eltham at home to Northbrook. In an anticlimactic end for such a colossus, he didn't bat or bowl and the match ended in a draw.
Australia lead the way here, with 61 totals of 300 or more in ODIs, just ahead of India (60) and Pakistan (52). Of the other Test nations, South Africa have had 43 scores of 300-plus, Sri Lanka 35, New Zealand 29, West Indies 26, England 24, Zimbabwe 18, and Bangladesh 4 (Kenya have managed it three times).
In a West 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.
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.
Martin Crowe of New Zealand is the only person to have been out for 299. Don Bradman once scored 299*.
Wilfred Rhodes(England) has batted at all 11 positions in test cricket. His feat was emulated by Vinoo Mankad (India).
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.
William Henry Cooper played the first of his two tests for Australia versus England in 1881-82 and Paul Sheahan made his debut in 1967-68 making them the only great-grandfather great-grandson pair to play test cricket.
David Houghton of Zimbabwe was a wicketkeeper batsman player cum coach for the cricket team and was also the goal keeper for the Zimbabwe national hockey team.
Allan Border is the only batsman to have scored over 150 in both innings of a test match.
Only two matches have ever resulted in a tie in the history of test cricket, between West Indies and Australia at Brisbane in 1960-61 and between Australia and India in Madras in 1986-87.
Brian Lara named his daughter Sydney after he scored 277 at the SCG in 1993 Vs Australia.
Bhausahib Nimbalkar of 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.
Anil Kumble India needed 5 wickets to complete 100 test wickets in just his 20th test match and thus tie Erapalli Prasana for the record of the fastest Indian to reach 100 wickets. He took 4 wickets in the 1st innings. But he couldn't take any wickets in the second innings as two catches were dropped off his bowling.
The only stadium to witness a first ball dismissal on its debut as a Test match centre is the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. Sunil Gavaskar was caught by Javed Miandad off Imran Khan on the first ball of the India-Pakistan test match in 1987 which was the stadium's first match.
CK Nayudu once hit the ball into the River Rhea when playing at Edgbaston. Since the river is the boundary between Warwickshire and Worcestershire he is the only batsman to have sent a cricket ball from one county to another.
David Boon stood as keeper for Australia in the World Cup in 1992 for one match against India. He gave no byes, took no catches, didn't effect any stumping but was involved in the winning run-out and this was his first and only appearance in the World Cup as the wicket keeper.
Only two matches have ever resulted in a tie in the history of test cricket, between West Indies and Australia at Brisbane in 1960-61 and between Australia and India in Madras in 1986-87.
One of the major controversies involving cricket umpires took place in the 1987 England tour of Pakistan, when umpire Shakoor Rana had an ugly on-field spat with the English cricket captain and also boycotted the match by refusing to officiate. As a result of this controversy, the ICC (International Cricket Council) decided to introduce neutral umpires to prevent umpiring bias. All test matches played subsequently have neutral umpires (from another cricket playing country) and one day matches have one neutral umpire and one local umpire.
Geoff Griffin a South African bowler is the only bowler to have bowled a hat-trick at Lord's and is the only bowler to have been no-balled for throwing at Lord's.
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.
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.
Sir Len Hutton is the only man to be given out Obstructing the Field in test cricket.
In 1868 an Englishman called Charles Lawrence based in Australia put together a team of aborigines and took them to England. This was the first ever Australian tour to England, and each player wore a cap of a different colour so that the spectators could identify them. The team played 47 matches against a number of local teams of which they won 14, lost 14 and drew the rest.
Cricket has been traced to shepherds in England who started playing the early forms of cricket sometime in the 17th century. The first laws of cricket were written in 1774. Since then they have been changed on numerous occasions. Pretty much everything has changed since then. The early cricket bats were long curved pieces of wood resembling a thick hockey stick. The stumps consisted of two wickets and one bail in between. The only law of the game that has remained constant is the length of the pitch at 22 yards.
The second day of the Lord's test match between England and West Indies in 2000 is the only time in the history of test cricket that a part of all 4 innings have been played on the same day.
No one has ever scored 4 successive one-day centuries. Herschelle Gibbs scored 3 successive centuries, and was on 97* when South Africa needed 4 to win. Alok Kapali bowled a wide which went for 4, and Gibbs was denied the record by the tiniest of margins!
While he only played 12 tests with limited success, Alfred 'Tich' Freeman is possibly the greatest first-class bowler ever. A short leg-spin googly bowler, he took 3,776 first-class wickets (second only to Wilfred Rhodes) and is the only bowler to take 300 wickets in a single-season (in 1928). He took over 200 wickets in the next seven seasons, and remains the only man to take all 10 wickets in an innings thrice and 17 wickets in a match twice.
While Sir Don Bradman is regarded by most as the greatest batsman of all time there is still debate about who is the greatest bowler in test history. A strong contender to the title is Sydney Barnes of England who took 189 wickets in just 27 tests. He also took 24 five-fors and still holds the world record for 49 wickets in a test series (he played just 4 matches in the series). He ended his career with a bowling average of 16.43 (number 5 on the all time list) and a strike rate of 41.65 (3rd best ever). He remains the only player to be regularly picked for England while playing League cricket - for Stafforshire.
Lala Amarnath is the only person to have got Sir Don Bradman out hit-wicket in test cricket. Probir Sen is the only keeper to have stumped the Don in tests.
On first-class debut for Barbados in 1966-67 Geoff Greenidge (no relation to Gordon) scored 205 and took 7/124 against Jamaica. He was also the last white man to play test cricket for the West Indies.
Jack MacBryan is probably the unluckiest test cricketer ever. In his only test for England in 1924 only 66.5 overs were possible due to rain. He is the ONLY test cricketer to have never batted, bowled or taken a catch in his entire test career
New Zealand was dismissed by England for 26 at Auckland in 1954-55 - a test record for the lowest team total.
The highest first-class score is 1107 by Victoria vs. New South Wales in 1926-27. The lowest score by a full team is 12 - by Northampton Shire vs. Gloucestershire in 1907!
In 1899, 13-year old Arthur Collins scored 628* in a junior match for Clarke's House at Clifton College. This remains the highest score in any form of cricket. He then took 11 wickets to help his team beat North Tower by an innings and 688 runs! Collins never played first-class cricket and was killed in WW-I.
The only man to have played in six World Cups so far is Javed Miandad of Pakistan, who took part in each of the first six between 1975 (he made his debut the day before his 18th birthday) and 1995-96
The youngest man to captain his side in a Test match is Tatenda Taibu, who was a week short of his 21st birthday when he skippered Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka in Harare in September 2004. The youngest Indian is the man whose record Taibu took: the junior Nawab of Pataudi
Sourav Ganguly is the only cricketer to have won four successive Man of the Match awards in One-day Internationals
India had to wait for a period of 19 years & 230 days before registering its first victory
Adam Gilchrist became the first batsman to score 100 sixes in Test cricket
Charles Bannerman of Australia set a number of records in that match. He faced the first ball in test cricket, scored the first run, the first four and the first century. He scored 165 not out in Australia's 245 all out. Of all the records he set in that match one record still holds – his 165 constituted 67.34% of Australia's total (245) – the highest percentage by a batsman in a completed test innings
Dave Houghton (Zimbabwe) and Aminul Islam (Bangladesh) are the only cricketers to score centuries on their own and their country's test debut
Only thrice in the history of test cricket has a team come back from following to win a test match. Strangely enough Australia has been at the receiving end on all three occasions. At the SCG in 1894-95 Australia lost by 10 runs, having scored 586 in the first innings (the highest score by a losing team) and asking England to follow-on. The second time it happened was at Headingly in 1981 when an inspired Ian Botham and a devastating Bob Willis helped England win by 18 runs. The last occasion was in 2000-01 at Calcutta when aVVS Laxman master-class helped by Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh helped India win by an amazing 171 runs after following on
In 1958 playing against New Zealand at Headingley England's innings were opened by a rugby player and a football player! Arthur Milton represented England in one football match (vs. Austria in 1951) and Mike Smith won one rugby cap for England (vs. Wales in 1956)
In a test match in Faislabad in 1997-98, Mushtaq Ahmed was bowling to Pat Symcox. Symcox missed the ball which went between the stumps knocking back middle stump. However, the heat had fused together the bails, and they did not fall. The middle stump bounced back into place and Symcox continued on his way to 81 - his second highest test score!
John Traicos is the only man to be born in one country and play test cricket for two other countries. He was born in Egypt and played test cricket for South Africa in the 1970s and then for Zimbabwe when they were awarded test status in the 1990s.
Mohammed Azharuddin scored a century on test debut. Clearly he enjoyed the feeling. He followed it up with centuries in his next two matches and remains the only test cricketer to score three centuries in his first three tests.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only player to score a century in all three of his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debuts
Lasith Malinga became the first ever player to take four wickets in four consecutive balls in international cricket
Jason Gillespie is the highest scoring night watchman and went on to fire an unbeaten double century in a test match against Bangladesh
Brian Lara is the only batsman to have scored a 300, 400 and 500 in first class cricket
Michael Kasprowicz was Muttiah Muralitharan’s 500th test wicket at Kandy on 16th March, 2004
Lala Amarnath and Surinder Amarnath are the only father-son duo to have scored test centuries on debut. Strangely though, neither of them scored another test century
Sanath Jayasuriya from Sri Lanka leads the pack to score the highest percentage of runs in boundaries in T20 Internationals with 74 boundaries and 23 sixes
Among all the batsmen who’ve played T20 Internationals, the top two batsmen who’ve played the least number of dot balls are both in England: Kevin Pieterson and Paul Collingwood
Which batsman has made the highest score in each innings of a Test match the most times? It’s not Sir Don Bradman… Its Ken Barrington and Brian Lara, top scoring for England and West Indies in each innings nine times in their careers; followed by the Indian greats Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid at 8 occasions…
The highest aggregate of career bests for a national cricket team in Test cricket to take the field belongs to India when they played against Australia at Perth on 16th Jan 2008. The team and corresponding highest scores then were - V Sehwag (309), VVS Laxman (281), R Dravid (270), SR Tendulkar (248*), SC Ganguly (239), W Jaffer (212), MS Dhoni (148), A Kumble (110*), IK Pathan (102), RP Singh (30), I Sharma (23)
The highest Test average against a team at any point in career belongs to Ian Bell from England against Bangladesh. He relishes the Bangladeshi bowling attack as he scores at a staggering average of 488.00 with scores of 65*, 162*, 84, 39* and 138
Kevin Pieterson from England holds the distinction of reaching 5000 runs landmark in Test cricket in the shortest span of time - four years 242 days.
The lowest score on which a team has been dismissed when there were two centurions in that innings belongs to New Zealand when they were dismissed at 279 by India. Daniel Vettori and Jesse Ryder had scored centuries
Interestingly, the most number of international matches by a team in a year belongs to Australia and not India when in 2009 Australia played 61 international matches as against India’s 55 matches in 2007
Former Indian coach John Wright from New Zealand holds the distinction of having the most number of opening partners in ODI’s during his playing career. He had as many as 23 partners
Sachin Tendulkar's 175 against Australia in Hyderabad in 2009 was the highest individual score ever made in an unsuccessful run chase in ODI's. However, the highest individual score in a losing chase is by Charles Coventry (194* in an ODI against Bangladesh in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe in 2009).
The highest team total in an ODI that did not include an individual half century is England's 285 against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford in 2006. The highest individual scorer from England was Andrew Strauss's who accomplished 45 runs.
There have been only two partnerships of more than 300 in one-day internationals and interestingly Rahul Dravid (fondly known as 'The Wall') was part of both of them.
Lawrence Rowe of West Indies holds the record to become the only player to score a hundred and a double century in his Test debut. He scored 214 and 100* against New Zealand in Kingston in 1971-72
MS Dhoni averages 124.08 from 34 innings (22 not-outs) in 45 matches that India won after fielding first; this is the highest by anyone who has featured in 20 such matches. Thomas Odoyo from Kenya marginally goes past the Indian captain with an average of 126.50 in 17 matches which Kenya won after fielding first.
Hamilton Mazakadza from Zimbabwe holds the record for most runs in a bilateral ODI series when he went ahead of Chris Gayle's total of 455 runs during the Zimbabwe vs. Kenya ODI series in 2009/10. Hamilton Mazakadza scored 467 runs in the 5 match series with a highest of 178* at a staggering series average of 116.75 and a series strike rate of 97.29
Sachin Tendulkar has always enjoyed playing in ICC World Cups, with his best effort during a World Cup being 673 runs with a highest series individual score of 152 during the 2002/03 ICC World Cup in South Africa. However, the most runs in a multi team ODI Tournament belongs to ex-India Coach, Greg Chappel from Australia when he amassed 686 runs with a highest score of 138* during the World Series Cup in 1980/81
The record for most wickets by a bowler in a bilateral ODI series doesn't belong to the Murali and Warne. It belongs to our very own Javagal Srinath who bagged 18 kiwi wickets in 7 matches against the New Zealanders in 2002/03. Close on his heels are Patrick Patterson of West Indies and Craig Mathews of South Africa who bagged 17 wickets each against India and Australia respectively.
Apart from his bowling records, Harbhajan Singh owns the record for slowest 1000 ODI runs. He went past the 1000 run mark in his 196th ODI against Australia in Vadodara in 2009/10, beating another Australian Shane Warne's mark of 191 matches.
Another Indian holds the record for maximum number of ODI's to score his first run; S Sreesanth scored his first run in only his 16th ODI beating Patrick Patterson's mark of 14 matches.
Pakistan was unbeaten at home for six long years from December 1980 to October 1986, winning 14 and drawing 12 Tests. Their tally of 26 Tests is a record for most consecutive matches without a loss in a country in Tests bettering West Indians' record of 25 matches from April 1978 to April 1986
Anthony Stuart from Australia returned home with spectacular figures of 5/26 in 10 overs in his 3rd ODI, playing against Pakistan; however he was never picked for his country ever after.
Sachin Tendulkar might be holding the record for most number of Man-of-the-Match awards in his career, but his long time opening partner Sourav Ganguly is the only cricketer to have won 4 consecutive Man of the Match Awards in ODI's.
The longest test match ever played lasted for 9 DAYS! It was played between England and South Africa at Durban in 1938-39.
In March 2005, India made 407 and 407/9 in a Test match against Pakistan. This is the highest identical score in both innings of a test match made by a team.
Hemulal Yadav of Tripura holds the strange distinction of being the only cricketer to have been given out 'Timed Out' in a first class cricket.
When on his debut for England in Test cricket against Bangladesh in 2005, Chris Tremlett took 2 wickets in consecutive balls and on his hat trick ball to Mohammad Ashraful the ball actually landed on the stumps after hitting the bat but failed to dislodge the bails thus denying Tremlett a hat trick.
Bruce Taylor of New Zealand holds the record for being the only player to score a century and bag 5 wickets in an innings in his Test debut. He scored 105 and took 5/86 against India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 1965.
