Point to CoverA somewhat serious cricket quiz

Indranath MukherjeeAbhishek Mukherjee

Acknowledgements

Sreeram IyerMayukh GhoshKaushik SahaArunabha SenguptaAvik Kumar Maitra

Kinshuk BiswasChayan Sen GuptaReetabrata Ghosh

Diptee Raut

A lot of books, websites, and almanacs

Birthday wishes

We would like to set off by wishing the following Test cricketers (and a lot of others beyond the Test world) the warmest of birthday wishes:

Andy SandhamWilton St HillMan Sood

Mark BensonTony Lewis

Makhaya Ntini

Sitter: who has the highest batting average in Tests?

Of course, this is among batsmen who have got out at least once. Division by zero does not count.

Shikhar Dhawan, 187.00

You did not write Andy Ganteaume, did you?

There are three men in the next slide.

A and B have uniquely achieved something.

C is the only one to be believed to have witnessed both A and B achieve their feat. Unfortunately, C – an eminent name in the sport – had passed away a few days back.

Identify A, B, C.

A B C

A: Malcolm NashB: Tilak Raj

C: Dicky Rutnagur

Rutnagur is believed to be the only person to have witnessed both Garry Sobers and Ravi Shastri’s six sixes.

What is happening here (apologies for the quality of the picture)?

Tony Greig is apologising for the infamous ‘Grovel’ statement

Born in Philadelphia in 1862 John Borland Thayer had a career spanning only seven First-Class matches. He was also a director of the Pennsylvania Railways. What did he become the only First-Class cricketer to do in 1912?

He was the only First-Class cricketer to have died on board The Titanic.

Robin Waters was a wicket-keeper who played for Bengal in the 1960s. However, he is usually remembered more in Indian cricket for an off-field incident on July 1, 1961. What am I talking about?

Pataudi’s injury

He was driving the car that had met with an accident resulting in the damage of one of Tiger Pataudi’s eyes.

Cricket historians typically refer to 1864 as the starting point of modern cricket. What happened that year?

Overarm bowling was legalised.

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! is a reality television game show series in which eight to twelve celebrities live together in a jungle environment for a few weeks. Why was it on news in 2003?

Phil Tufnell’s sudden retirement

Tufnell retired from all forms of cricket to take part in the second season of the show. He even ended up winning it.

The next slide contains the part of a family tree of a certain dynasty that we have all come across while studying history at school.

How is the family connected to Indian cricket?

BCCI was founded at Roshanara Club

The Roshanara Club was named after Shah Jahan’s fourth child, who was buried at Roshanara Bagh, just outside the club. It is here that BCCI was founded in December 1928. It still hosts the occasional Ranji Trophy match.

Name the missing person on the list.

Ravindra Jadeja

Only batsmen to have scored three First-Class triple-hundreds.

Provide the cricket connection.

Douglas Jardine

Hugo Weaving played Douglas Jardine in the Bodyline series.

Identify the captain of this side.

__________________ Howard LeeBen NealonSimon HolmesJamie Whitby ColesJon House

(captain)

Barry HartNeil Patrick

Alex SutcliffeRay Eves

Chris England

Paul Blackthorne

He played Captain Russell – who led the British in Lagaan.

He played two Tests and 16 ODIs, but his claim to fame was the catch of Arun Lal that gave Richard Hadlee his record-breaking 374th wicket.

His middle name was Mary. Who is the player?

Chris Kuggleijn

Since The Don had arrived on the scenario, the people of several countries have been referred to as The Bradman of that country.

This man, possibly the greatest batsman his country has produced, has been referred to as the same despite playing only a handful of matches.

Identify this player (career statistics on next slide) who holds a First-Class world record.

Bonus points!!

Five bonus points if you can get the full name. No, seriously, I mean it.

IL Bula

The ‘Fijian Bradman’ Ilikena Lasarusa Talebula-mainavaleniveivakabulaimainakulalakebalau, the man with the longest surname among First-Class cricketers.

He is typically referred to as IL Bula for the benefit of scorers and statisticians all around the world.

Which gold medalist’s name has been blacked out?

Johnny Douglas

John William Henry Tyler (JWHT) Douglas – often referred to as “Johnny Won’t Hit Today” by the Australian crowd because of his initials – the first Test captain to win an Olympic Gold.

Identify all four cricketers.

The Pollocks and the Cairns

The fathers and sons:Peter and Shaun PollockLance and Chris Cairns

Caribbean Netherlands, one of the Leeward Islands, is a part of the West Indies, has a unique distinction among all Test-playing nations. What?

It is the only Test-playing nation where they drive to the right of the road – the exact opposite of what they do in England and almost all Commonwealth countries.

Neville Cardus was a great friend of X, a champion leg-spinner. Cardus once claimed in a London club that he could read X’s googly from X’s leg-break.

A tennis ball was acquired. X, followed by a substantial group from the club, bowled at Piccadilly Circus while Cardus acted as the wicket-keeper.

Cardus misinterpreted the ball as a leg-break and moved towards his left, but the googly went towards Leicester Square.

Identify X.

Arthur Mailey

Between Ian Healy’s Test debut and Adam Gilchrist’s last Test only one other person has kept wickets for Australia in Tests. Name him.

Phil EmeryEmery played a single Test at Lahore in 1994-95 when Healy had fractured his left thumb.

Connect the two men.

VV Kumar watched Daag to see himself

VV Kumar picked up five wickets in an innings and seven wickets in a match on his debut Test. Desperate to see himself bowling he entered Wellington Cinema to catch himself in action in the newsreel preceding Dilip Kumar’s Daag.

Identinfy the missing cricketer.

Basingstoke, 1992 Southampton, 1996 Hyderabad, 2008-09

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Paul-Jean Bakker, Kevan James, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the only ones to bowl Sachin Tendulkar for a duck in a First-Class match outside Tests.

Identify the following 12-a-side teams.

CBK Beachcroft (c)Arthur BirkettJohn SymesFrederick CumingMontagu TollerAlfred BowermanAlfred PowleslandWilliam DonneFW ChristianGeorge BuckleyFrancis BurchellHarry Corner

Philip Tomalin (c)Timothée Jordan

AJ SchneidauRobert Horne

Henry TerryF Roques

William AndersenDouglas Robinson

William AtrillW Browning

Arthur McEvoyJ Braid

The squads for the only cricket match at Olympics between England and France at

Vincennes, August 2000

Years

What do the red and blue lines represent?

Innings played and runs scored by Chris Martin in his Test career.

Which cricket term was called a ‘tice’ till 1861 till the name was changed?

A yorker.

Fill in the blanks.

London, 1964. Neville Cardus and Jack Fingleton were returning from a dinner in Soho on an evening during a Test at The Oval. Their taxi got stopped in the theatre crowd. When an impatient pedestrian patted the taxi with his umbrella, the taxi-driver jumped out and punched the man.

To calm him down, Fingleton, somewhat circumspect of the outcome, went on to praise the driver’s action. The driver replied, “I’ve been watching that ____ _____ bat all day at The Oval. I’m in no mood to put up with any more bloody nonsense.”

Bill Lawry

India’s first ever Test win came in February 1952 at Madras. Though the fourth day (February 9) was considered the rest day for the Test, it was later decided to reschedule the rest day on the second day (February 6).

Why?

King George VI passed away.

It was a double blow for England, unfortunately.

Fill in the blanks.

Sabina Park, 1972. West Indian Fast bowler Uton Dowe was hit brutally by Keith Stackpole, and Rohan Kanhai, the captain, took him off and sent him to deep fine-leg for the rest of the day.

When nothing seemed to work Kanhai decided to bring Dowe back. A voice in the crowd roared: “Hey Kanhai, you not heard de eleventh commandment: ____ ____ _____ ____.”

Dowe shalt not bowl

Abdul Qadir was dropped early in his career. However, Imran Khan brought him back for the 1982 series against England – on the condition that Qadir would have to change his appearance a bit.

What change?

Spot a goatee

Imran thought that the goatee would enhance his image as a ‘mystery spinner’ in front of the British media.

Whose movies as an actor are listed below?

Mohsin Khan

What was the title of the Wisden article that the text below is a part of?

“Daryll Cullinan hit a six into a (omitted intentionally). It was about ten minutes before the ball was cool enough for the umpires to remove the grease. Even then, the bowler [Roger Telemachus] was unable to grip the ball and it had to be replaced.”

Fried Calamari Stopped Play

From which historical innings are these bowling figures taken?

West Indies being bowled out for 25 by Ireland at Sion Mills in 1969

Name the cricketer who connects these five countries.

John Traicos

Greek originBorn in EgyptPlayed cricket for South Africa and ZimbabweCurrently lives in Australia

Whose name has been blacked out?

Steve Waugh

Identify the player whose father was a prolific Test cricketer.

Rajdeep Sardesai

Fill in the blanks (the same word will be used thrice):

The following knock-knock joke was in vogue after India won the World Cup Twenty20 in 2007:Knock knock.Who’s there?__________.__________ who?__________ five runs.

Misbah

Knock knock.Who’s there?Misbah.Misbah who?Misbah (mis’ bah’) five runs.

This rank tail-ender topped the batting charts for Australia on their tour to England in 1953. He had remained unbeaten in 16 innings out of 17, and had scored 102 runs to give him the grand average of 102.00.

He later attributed it to “a lot of application, concentration, and dedication”, and added that “class always tells”.

Who?

Bill Johnston

In the 1982 Lord’s Test, the trio of David Gower, Allan Lamb, and Robin Jackman did something on the third night ignoring a commonly followed superstition.

All three of them were struck by the (supposed to) outcome of the superstition the next day.

What did they do?

They had duck for dinner.All three scored ducks the next day.

Ashley Giles had ordered coffee mugs and other memorabilia with the words ‘King of Spin’ on it to be printed during his Warwickshire testimonial year. However, a printing error made Giles an unanimous target of jokes and earned him a cruel nickname.

What exactly was printed on the memorabilia?

King of Spain

Connect the two players.

Best identical figures in each innings of a Test – batting and bowling.

Duleep Mendis had scored 105 in each innings against India at Madras in 1982-83 – the highest identical score in a Test.

Bhagwat Chandrasekhar has taken 6 for 52 in each innings against Australia at Melbourne in 1977-78 – the best identical figures in a Test.

This Queensland cricketer caught Alec Stewart and Angus Fraser in the Brisbane Test of 1990-91 as a substitute fielder. He later went on to play for Netherlands in the 1996 World Cup.

Identify the player.

Peter Cantrell

Cantrell played all five matches Netherlands had played in the 1996 World Cup and reached double-figures in each of them. He also picked up the wickets of Chris Cairns, Ijaz Ahmed, and Hansie Cronje with his off-breaks.

This country defeated a touring MCC side containing the likes of Pelham Warner and Gubby Allen in 1926-27. The header of the match is provided here. A portion of the scorecard is on the next slide. Name the country that has been blacked out.

Argentina

On the unofficial tour to India in 1935-36 Ron Oxenham topped the Australian bowling averages with 75 wickets at an absurd average of 7.40. There was a joke regarding why he was so successful against the Indians. What was the joke?

Oxen and ham

It was joked that since Hindus are not supposed to eat beef and Muslims are not supposed to eat pork Oxenham was found ‘distasteful’ by batsmen of both religions.

Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem Gunga Din inspired, among a lot of other things, the following:

- a 1939 called Gunga Din directed by George Stevens that was remade as Sergeants 3 in 1962 by John Sturges- a 1962 song by Sonny Gianotta- a 1969 song by The Byrds

- a 1996 parody (Gunga Dot) in the television show Animaniaca

- a 1998 song Ian Gillian’s 1998 album Dreamcatcher

What did it inspire in the world of cricket?

The Heavy Roller of the Eden Gardens is called Gunga Din

Added trivia: the Warwickshire leg-spinner Asif Din was nicknamed Gunga.

The Uttar Pradesh fast-medium bowler Ashish Winston Zaidi had been considered as a contender for the national side, especially in the 1990s. What unusual nickname (in jest, of course) did he earn as a result of his secular-sounding name?

Amar Akbar Anthony

The Oval Test of the 1902 Ashes – famous for Gilbert Jessop’s fourth-innings 104 and George Hirst’s “we’ll get ‘em in singles” – is considered as one of the greatest ever.

An author, present at the ground on the eventful final day of the Test. He had to leave early for work and ended up missing all the action.

He shortly decided to give up his bank job and supposedly take up writing so that he could watch as much cricket as he wanted to.

Who is this legendary author?

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse

What happened next?

Sultan Zarawani was hit on the head

Sultan Zarawani, the UAE captain, dared to walk out to bat against Allan Donald in a sun hat.

Pat Symcox heated up Donald with the words “Al, this guy’s asking for it”.

The inevitable happened: Donald hit him on the head, knocking the sunhat off.

Identify the England legend.

Gary Lineker

With 282 goals in club football and 48 more at the international level Lineker remains one of the greatest strikers in the history of football.

Identify both men.

Denis and Leslie Compton

Both brothers went on to play for Middlesex in cricket and Arsenal in football. Denis, of course, had played Tests for England as well.

Why is this Test significant?

Intikhab Alam removed Colin McDonald with his first ball in Test cricket in the Karachi Test of 1958-59. However, this Test is remembered by cricket fans around the world as something that had happened only once in the history of Test cricket. What?

Dwight Eisenhower was present at the ground

Eisenhower remains the only USA President to have watched a Test match at the ground.

Though he did not play international cricket, two of his brothers did, and so did two of his sons. He, however, is the most remembered in his family after an incident in the 1980s. Identify the person.

Shakoor Rana

His brothers Azmat and Shafaqat had played for Pakistan as had his sons Mansoor and Maqsood.

Identify this boxer whose boxing career numbers are given below:

Andrew Flintoff

X played against a touring Kenya side for in 1999-2000 and against touring Ireland and Canada sides in 2010-11.

Other than that X’s competitive cricket was mostly restricted to Kanga League, Liverpool League, and the Dr DY Patil T20 Cup.

X is yet to play First-Class cricket.

A couple of months back X created a record in the history of Indian Premier League.

Identify X.

Pravin Tambe, the oldest IPL debutant

Who has the highest batting average in Tests for Australia?

Hint: Had this been Bradman we would not have asked it, correct?

This gentleman averaged 102.50 with the bat, and has been resting safely at the top for quite some time now.

Albert Trott

Trott had scored 38 not out, 72 not out, 85 not out, 10, and 0 – giving him an average of 102.50.

However, he moved to England thereafter and played two Tests for them. He scored 23 from four innings – which brought his average down to 38.00.

Connect the three legends.

Most Test wickets in each century

19th century:Johnny Briggs, 118 wickets at 17.7520th century:Courtney Walsh, 492 wickets at 24.5621st century:Muttiah Muralitharan, 498 wickets at 21.23

Connect the following.

11th bowlers used in a Test innings

Arthur Shrewsbury, 3-2-2-0 vs Australia, The Oval, 1884

Graham Yallop, 3-0-15-0 vs Pakistan, Faislabad, 1979-80

Ajay Ratra, 1-0-1-0 vs West Indies, St John’s, 2002

Herschelle Gibbs, 1-0-4-0 vs West Indies, St John’s, 2005

In the India-Pakistan ODI on January 3, 2013 at Kolkata about 850 seats were cordoned out ensuring that no spectator was allowed to sit there.

Why were the seats cordoned??

Mohammad Irfan’s height

The sight-screen had to be raised because of the 7’1” Mohammad Irfan. As a result several seats behind the sight-screens became unusable.

Connect.

Cricketers who have changed religion during their careers

Kripal Singh became a Christian from a Sikh

Mohammad Yousuf became a Christian from a Muslim

Wayne Parnell became a Muslim from a Christian

In an interview given to The Daily News at Perth, a touring Indian cricketer once said “In Calcutta they call all babies ______. The name just stuck to me. In fact, I am not 18 as some seem to think; I am 20.”

Who was this cricketer?

Probir ‘Khokan’ Sen

Rapidfire: Identify these international cricketers from their middle names.

De CourcyTe-Ihi-O-Te-RangiMaitlandMortimer MaglinneLaxmanarsuElconn LynwallHumanBhalchandraChokshanadaMelbourne

GwylCharles Glyndwr

LogoPrabha Shanker

WillemEdward Killeen

OgonjiSamson

Charlie GriffithJulius Garvey

The names

Everton De Courcy WeekesHeath Te-Ihi-O-Te-Rangi DavisGlenn Maitland TurnerFrank Mortimer Maglinne WorrellMotganhalli Laxmanarsu JaisimhaCurtly Elconn Lynwall AmbroseHendrik Human ‘Boeta’ DippenaarAjit Bhalchandra AgarkarKumar Chokshanada SangakkaraXavier Melbourne Marshall

Michael Gwyl BevanStuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill

Murphy Logo Su’ADanish Prabha Shanker Kaneria

Dale Willem SteynMichael Edward Killeen Hussey

Steve Ogonji TikoloMarvan Samson Atapattu

Kenneth Charlie Griffith BenjaminDarren Julius Garvey Sammy

The legendary Clarrie Grimmett is usually credited with the invention of the flipper. However, with time the batsmen around the world could decipher his flipper easily as Grimmett’s fingers made an audible flick while bowling.

How did Grimmett solve this problem?

He flicked the fingers of his left-hand audibly when he did not bowl the flipper

As a foxed Jack Fingleton told his mate, “Why, you old fox, Grum, I do believe you bowled a leg break with your right hand and flicked the fingers of your left!”

James Southerton of Surrey retired out playing against MCC at The Oval in 1970.

Why did he decide to retire? A scorecard of the innings is on the next slide.

He thought he was out

Southerton cut a ball to WG Grace. Grace caught it on the bounce and did not appeal, and neither did he try to celebrate. Neither did any of the fielders.

Southerton thought he was out but nobody (the fielding side or either umpire) agreed to him. As a result he decided to retire out.

The famous Indian umpire Madhav Gothoskar once went for an umpiring training in Nairobi. He found that the cricketers never abused each other during matches due to a specific reason. He wanted this to be implemented everywhere to stop foul language being used on a cricket ground.

What was the remedy suggested by Gothoskar?

Appointing female umpires

While working for BBC Test Match Special Brian Johnston obviously received a lot of fan mail.

One day he was surprised to find out a letter from Ken Barrington’s mother. She had complained to ‘Johnners’ on the grounds that he had accused her of carelessness and ignoring her son on air.

What was the statement Johnston had made while commentating?

“Ken Barrington completes an excellent century though he was dropped when he

was two.”

For once Johnston was left speechless.

Which person connects the two?

Amitabh Bachchan

He had provided the background voice for Lagaan and was on the judges’ panel with Fanie de Villiers at the Miss World Contest of 1995.

Identify the cricketer whose business card reads- Millennium 2000 No 3 Sportsman From All sports (The Sunday Times England News Survey)- Pride Of Performance- Life Membership from MCC- Ryder Medal From Australia- Life Achievement Gold Medal Award- Founder of Cricket Academy For Boys And Girls

Abdul Qadir

Long question warning:

At Sabina Park in 1991 the rank tail-ender A, who had a zero reputation of playing fast bowling, walked out as the number 11 to prevent C from getting a hat-trick.

As C ran in to bowl A pulled out and walked towards square-leg to annoy C. A furious C almost yorked A and then bounced at A. A escaped as the ball lobbed in the air safely. A scampered for a single to avoid C.

(continued on next slide)

Much to A's peril, the umpire said “Bad luck Mr A, it’s over.” A was now up against the equally dangerous D at the other end; he heaved at the first ball, somehow connected, and managed a single.

B, who had scored a hundred and was well-set, blocked out next five deliveries of D without attempting to take the strike. At the end of the over B walked up and told A: "I just want to have another look at how you play C, buddy!"

A fuming C removed A almost immediately.

Identify A, B, C, D.

A: Mike Whitney, B: David Boon,C: Patrick Patterson, D: Courtney Walsh

Connect.

Only bowlers to have dismissed Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly in the

same Test innings

This cricketer had a decent First-Class career, picking up 212 wickets at domestic level playing mostly for Delhi and Railways. His detailed career records are provided in the next slide.

Identify the player who is mostly remembered in Indian cricket for doing nothing.

Sunil Valson

Some names need no explanation.

Monte Lynch was a somewhat average First-Class cricketer who was surprisingly selected to play played three ODIs for England against West Indies in 1988.

There runs a popular joke that Lynch was selected because the England captain, who was on the selection committee, had read a slip of paper erroneously.

What had happened?

Mike Gatting had read LYNCH for LUNCH

When a selector had passed Gatting a slip of paper asking “Shall we have Lynch?” or something similar the captain had apparently responded with a hearty “Yes!”

This cricketer was standing at short-leg on his Test debut when his captain suddenly asked him to bowl. He forgot to take off his shin-pad off before bowling but took a wicket with his fourth ball in Test cricket.

Back home his legendary father was listening to radio while driving. He got so emotional (or, as a few skeptics say, so surprised) that he got distracted, drove down a one-way street, and was stopped by the police. On hearing his story and upon recognising him the police let him go without a fine.

Identify the father and the son, both of whom went on to captain their country.

Colin and Chris Cowdrey

Players A and B held a record individually till the 2012-13 season when C and D combined to equal their feat.

The four players are shown in the next slide. What is the record?

A C

B D

All ten wickets falling to players with the same first name.

Jim Laker and Anil Kumble were the only ones on the list with their ten-wicket hauls till very recently.

Against South Africa at WACA last season Mitchell Johnson took four for 110 and Mitchell Starc six for 154 to become the third entry on the list.

At Headingley in 1984, Malcolm Marshall famously came out to bat with a broken arm; he batted one-handed, hit a four, and helped Larry Gomes reach a hundred – before picking up 7 for 53.

In the next Test at Old Trafford, however, there was an encore. A batsman’s arm was broken by Winston Davis, but he emerged with his hand in a sling under his sweater; he helped Allan Lamb to get a hundred.

Name this unsung Hampshire hero whose career ended with that Test.

Paul Terry

Why was Denis Compton’s name looked up in the Walt Disney Studios employees’ list in 1995?

Tim Rice thanked him at the Oscars

When Tim Rice won the Academy Awards for Can you feel the love tonight? From Lion King he thanked Compton, his childhood hero, during the awards.

A confused Disney employee then looked up the employee list and famously came up with the words “We don’t know who Denis Compton is. He doesn’t appear to be of Disney Studios or have anything to do with them.”

In which format of the sport should you ideally have a 20% probability of getting out every ball?

Book-cricket

A scene from Asterix and the Magic Carpet. Just give the words that have been blacked out.

“Owzat!” “Not out, I’m afraid.”

Who is missing from the list and why?

Mohammad AmirWisden Cricketers of the Year 2011. Amir was named one of them but was stripped of the award on being found guilty of spot-fixing. Scyld Berry, then the editor of Wisden, said before the case that he was open to re-enter Amir if he was found innocent.

Though never in the league of the illustrious twins Dean Waugh was good enough to play domestic cricket for New South Wales and South Australia.

He is, however, often referred (rather jokingly) to as ‘Korea’. Why?

The Forgotten War (Waugh)

Why did Steve Waugh give Brett Lee the nickname ‘Oswald’?

Brett Lee was scheduled to bat just below Shane Lee and Ian Harvey in the Australian batting-order.

There was something unusual about a certain dismissal in the fifth Ashes Test of 1936-37 at Melbourne.

The scorecard and the particular dismissal are highlighted in the next slide.

Why made this dismissal (at least as per as the knowledge of the quizmasters) unique in the history of Test cricket?

All three were killed in World War II

Pilot Officer Ken Farnes died in an accident while flying over Oxfordshire in 1941.

Sergeant-Observer Ross Gregory was killed on active service in Assam in 1942.

Captain Headly Verity died from wounds from a battle in Sicily in 1943.

After his retirement X wrote the following in the preface of his autobiography Sticky Wickets:

- he had been described by Hindustan Times as one of the most disliked men in India- he had been nominated as Public Enemy No.1 by Sydney Morning Herald in 1999- his effigy was burned on several occasions- he was booed by a packed house in an ICC World Cup final

Identify X.

Malcolm Speed, ex-CEO, ICC

The following trophies in Indian domestic cricket used to be very hard-contested till they were discontinued in 2002.

Why were they discontinued?

- Devraj Puri Trophy- M D Sounderrajan Trophy- Mona Mitter Memorial Challenge- Talim Shield- Mewar Trophy

The regional first round of Ranji Trophy was discountinued

Prior to 2002 the Ranji Trophy first round was played on a regional basis, one group per region. The top team from each group was awarded the following prizes each season:

Devraj Puri Trophy: The North Zone championM D Sounderrajan Trophy: The South Zone championMona Mitter Memorial Challenge: The East Zone championTalim Shield: The West Zone championMewar Trophy: The Central Zone champion

Who said the following, and on what topic?

“In the 2007-08 summer I saw the Russell Crowe film American Gangster where this policeman character is hung out to dry by his colleagues when he won't play by their code of keeping the money they find. On _____, I felt isolated in the same way – silently accused of betraying the team.”

Adam Gilchrist on walking

Piyush Chawla had played for Sussex in 2009. He was affectionately given a nickname that was similar to the nickname of a Sussex legend who had retired some time back.

What was Chawla’s nickname, and who was he named after?

Pushy

… to rhyme with ‘Mushy’, the nickname of Mushtaq Ahmed.

When West Indies visited England in 1980 their tour match against Essex was the first match to be played under lights in England.

The officials wanted to change the laws so that the boundaries hit square of the wicket would be counted as two because of the short distance – but eventually decided against it.

Essex lent their mobile score-box because the scoreboard at the ground was not equipped to handle a cricket match.

Just name the venue.

Stamford Bridge

Two days after this match Chelsea and Wrexham played out a very dull 2-2 draw at the same ground. The bored crowd kept shouting "We want cricket!" in the dying moments of the match.

The all-rounder Shujauddin Butt played 19 Tests including all five Tests in the 1954-55 series in India. His career details are provided in the next slide.

Why did he spend some more time in India in the early 1970s?

As a prisoner of the 1971 war

The annual SA Premiere Masters Invitation XI cricket match between Australia XI and Rest of the World is held every year in the vineyards of Chateau Tanunda in Barossa Valley, Australia.

The 2007 match, played on November 23, witnessed six sixes in an over by Vinod Kambli. More significantly the match saw two gentlemen in action together after a long time.

The last time they had been on a cricket ground together was in a historic Test played 21 years before this match.

Identify the two men.

Vikram Raju and Dara Dotiwala

X is a large town and Borough in West Kent, England, South-East of Central London by road. X came into being as a spa in Georgian times and had its heyday as a tourist resort under Beau Nash when the spring attracted visitors.

Though X's popularity waned with the advent of sea bathing the town remains popular and derives about 30% of its income from the tourist industry.

Despite its general anonymity X holds a significant place in the history of Indian cricket. Identify X.

Tunbridge Wells

A Twenty20 match was played in April 2009 en route to A between two teams called B and C. The match was to commemorate an achievement by B and C on May 29, 1953 at A.

C won the toss, batted first, and scored 152 for 5. David Kirtley top-scored with 45. B were bowled out for 116. Charlie Campbell won the Man of the Match award with 3 for 23.

B and C were both named among Time’s 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Identify A, B, C.

A: Mount EverestB: Tenzing Norgay Sherpa

C: Sir Edmund Hillary

The match was played at the base camp of Mount Everest.

Identify this batsman whose career had a strange bias towards the South African attack at their prime.

The career break-up is provided on the next slide.

Hint: A close look at the oppositions may reveal the nationality of the batsman.

Azhar Mahmood

X, one of the greatest English batsmen of all time, was taking a cricket bat, signed by the England and Australian teams, to a club near High Wycombe. On his way X left the car to ask directions at a garage.

When he returned to his car X was faced by four muggers who demanded money. “Sorry,” X apologised, “I haven't any on me, but I have something for you in the car.”

“They fell for it”, X later recollected. X then got out the bat and said: “I may not be able to take you all, but I will certainly take the first one of you because you must know that I know how to use this.” The muggers fled.

Identify X.

Denis Compton

The champion England wicket-keeper Godrey Evans took up another job elsewhere as a cricket expert after his retirement.

However, a decision on Evans’ behalf in the early 1980s made his company lose £15,000, causing him and the Director of his organisation, Ron Pollard, in a lot of embarrassment.

The company had not encountered financial a loss of this magnitude since 1894. What was Evans’ error?

Evans decided the 500:1 stakes for Headingley 1981 as a cricket expert

In the anthology The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing there is a section on articles about Victor Trumper and Don Bradman. It is titled The D__ and the D___.

The second D-word is, of course, Don. What is the first D-word – the one that had been used to describe Trumper?

Dove.

In 10 for 66 and All That Arthur Mailey had famously lamented “I felt like a boy who had killed a dove” after dismissing Trumper.

Connect.

They were both kicked out of whites-only compartments in South Africa

On the rebel tour to South Africa in 1982 Colin Croft was kicked out of a whites-only compartment from a train at Cape Town.

However, unlike Gandhi, Croft received a full apology when he visited South Africa as a journalist in 1998: a man called Willie van Zyl approached Croft, identified himself, and apologised for the incident.

Cricketers have had surnames of various lengths and ethnicities. Only one man, though, has the letters of the word CRICKET inside his surname. Name him.

Marcus Trescothick

This is probably for the first time that the lady on the next slide is making an appearance in the Kolkata cricket quiz fraternity.

She was the topic of a story that ran in the Wisden almanac of 2004, which was also the first time that an audio version of the Bible of Cricket had been launched.

What was the story?

She was the subject of a cricket challenge.

Catherine Zeta-Jones owns a property in Swansea where she pays the occasional visit; her residence is located next to the Mumbles Cricket Club, who has offered a hefty amount to anyone who could hit the ball into her compound and then retrieved it.

In which city do you come across this place?

Wellington, New Zealand

Identify this gorgeous lady who was closely connected to Bengal cricket, Milan (Italy), and Sussex.

TC Longfield’s daughter Susan

Susan Longfield, a model and the daughter of TC Longfield – the first captain to lead Bengal to a Ranji Trophy victory.

Born in Milan, Italy, her husband went on to be a Sussex legend, and played 62 Tests for England, leading in 30 of them. He went by the name of Ted Dexter.

This question dates back to the era where personal collectible scorecards were in vogue among spectators during matches.

In the 1950 match between MCC and Surrey there was a sudden announcement: “For FJ Titmus on your scorecard please read Titmus, FJ.”

Why?

Titmus was a professional

The amateurs were the only ones who were allowed to have their initials before their surnames. Titmus was a professional.

When EW Swanton was captured as a Prisoner of War in 1939 by the Japanese he had a book on him. The book became so popular with the other Prisoner of War that it was used like a library book and had to be booked days in advance.

The book was stamped ‘not subversive’ by the guards; it became so battered that it had to be rebound by rice glue. The book remains in the Lord’s Museum since Swanton’s death in 2000.

What book was this?

Wisden 1939

Tom Cartwright was an English all-rounder who played five Tests for England and had a 25-year long First-Class career.

He was selected for a tour in the 1960s from which he pulled out because of an injury.

This withdrawal resulted in one of the most significant incidents in the history of sport.

What?

Cartwright was replaced by Basil D’Oliveira. South Africa had objected to his inclusion, which resulted in their ban for over two decades.

X should ideally have been elected the captain of England in an Ashes.

To solve subsequent issues of this nature X took up a job as the Director of Marsham Tyres and earned a salary much higher than what cricket paid him.

This made X an amateur, as a result of which he was allowed to lead England in the next series.

Identify X.

Wally Hammond

Aamer Sohail was bowling: he bowled one down the leg-side, X edged it, but Moin Khan dropped X.

Nine runs later, with two balls to go, Sohail packed the leg-side with fielders and started darting on the leg-stump. X played the penultimate ball to Ijaz Ahmed at mid-wicket but could not manage a run.

Desperate for a run X tried to hit the ball to Ijaz’s left, but the fielder had already anticipated it and there was no run. The batting side declared overnight.

Identify X.

Mark Taylor: he declared at 334 not out

The person is known in USA as the author of The Black Jacobins which focuses on the leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who was born a slave but rose to prominence by adopting the French Renaissance ideals.

The author also wrote one of the most talked-about books in the world of cricket.

What is the name of the ‘cricket book’?

Beyond a Boundary

X, the captain of the side, and Bob Barber were playing chess in the pavilion. When a wicket fell Barber went out to bat.

After a while Barber asked for a change of gloves. When the substitute fielder arrived Barber asked him to tell the captain ‘Bb5’.

Identify X, who was a chess player and universally accepted as one of the shrewdest minds to have played cricket.

Mike Brearley

Tim Albone, former correspondent of Time, did an extensive research for about three years on a national cricket team. With a lot of effort he found access to the lives and homes of the players as well the team-meetings.

The book, Out if the Ashes, was in the news in recent past, and is not only considered as one of the best cricket books of recent times, but also as an insight into life in the country.

The team of which country was Albone’s research based on?

Afghanistan

Identify X, where

is to

is the same as

is to

Gideon Haigh

The innings that contained that iconic partnership. Whose name has been blacked out?

Venkatapathy Raju

It was his last Test.

Why were the old-timers present at New Road turn nostalgic on July 23, 2004 when they witnessed these two gentlemen put up 127 runs for the second wicket for Middlesex against Worcestershire?

Their grandfathers use to put on century partnerships quite frequently

Len Hutton and Denis Compton had batted together 29 times, adding 1,605 runs together at 61.73 with six century stands.

The old-timers were, as expected, happy to see the grandsons Ben and Nick put on a century partnership.

The West Indian X is generally remembered as the bowler who picked up ten for 49 against Public Schools at Lord’s with his leg-breaks at the age of 13.

When X lost his leg-breaks he turned to off-breaks, and when even that did not work X took to batting and scored a few hundreds for Somerset (including two hundreds in five days against Kent and Sussex).

X played only two Tests in 1939, both as vice-captain. X’s father (who had the same name as X) had toured England with an early West Indies side of 1906. X’s brother Jimmy played all five Tests on the India tour of 1948-49.

Identify X, who is considered as one of the greatest underutilised talents in world cricket.

John Cameron

X was a champion batsman born at the wrong place in the wrong time. X is generally remembered for his innings at Johannesburg in 1953-54 and is usually considered as one of the greatest batsmen his country had ever produced.

X had suddenly vanished from the international scenario at an age of almost 36 and everybody assumed that he had retired. Then X suddenly made a comeback when X was almost 42 and batted like there had been no gap in his career and scored magnificent 151 – one of the greatest innings Eden Gardens has ever seen – a few days afterwards.

Identify X.

Bert Sutcliffe

X was a Nobel Laureate who passed away in 2008. X was a Chairman of the Gaieties Cricket Club; when X passed away in 1997 a memorial cricket match was played between Gaieties Cricket Club and Lord’s Taverners at Lord’s on September 23, 2009.

X is most remembered in the world of cricket for his iconic quote: “I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God created on earth: certainly greater than sex, although sex isn't too bad either.”

Identify X.

Harold Pinter

The four men in the next slide were mentioned in one of the most famous quotes in the history of the sport.

Just identify the speaker of the quote and its significance.

John Arlott’s last lines on BBC Test Match Special

The Master had signed off during the English Centenary Test at Lord’s in 1980 with the words “Nine runs off the over, 28 Boycott, 15 Gower, 69 for two and after Trevor Bailey it will be Christopher Martin-Jenkins” in his usual matter-of-fact nonchalant tone.

Play was stopped and players and spectators applauded in unison when the announcement was made at the ground.

On the first Test his debut tour, Sunil Gavaskar (he missed the Test himself) saw Garry Sobers taking a blinder in the slips to dismiss Kenia Jayantilal.

He got excited and told his neighbour Eknath Solkar – “Wow! All I want to do now is to see _____ ________ _______ _____ ____ and it doesn’t matter if I play on this trip or not.”

Fill in the blanks.

Rohan Kanhai’s falling sweep shot

The first ever Twenty20 Tournament involving three or more international sides was held at Kenya in 2007 – just before the inaugural World Cup.

The four teams participating in the tournament were Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Uganda playing each other in a round-robin format. Who won the tournament?

There was no winner

It was decided beforehand that these matches will be treated merely as ‘warm-ups’ for the World Cup and hence there would not be a tournament winner.

Just for the sake of information Pakistan had topped the table and Bangladesh won two; Uganda, however, pulled off an upset by defeating Kenya by two wickets.

Other than the usual awards the 2000-01 Frank Worrell Trophy had four special awards for the best batsman, bowler, and fielder of the series as well as one for the outstanding individual performance.

Who was the Best Fielder Trophy named after?

Joe Solomon

Some pictures are self-explanatory.

We all know of Garry Sobers’ six sixes in an over against Malcolm Nash at Swansea in 1968.

When Lancashire toured Glamorgan in 1977 Frank Hayes fell two short of Sobers’ target (he hit 6, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6) in an over, once again at Swansea. At that time this was second on the list of maximum runs scored off an over with six legitimate balls.

Identify the bowler.

Malcolm Nash, again

He seemed to have a knack for this.

India had defeated all teams that had won the World Cup before (West Indies, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) en route to their 2011 World Cup title.

Which team was the last one to achieve this feat before 2011?

Do note that the West Indies sides of 1975 and 1979 will not be counted since they had no champion to beat.

India, 1983

Incredible, isn’t it?

DB Deodhar had played 81 First-Class matches from 1911 to 1948, mostly for Maharashtra and Hindus, scoring 4,522 runs.

Bill Ashdown had played 487 First-Class matches from 1914 to 1947, mostly for Kent, scoring 22,589 runs and picking up 602 wickets.

What have these two men uniquely achieved?

They played on either side of the wars

Deodhar and Ashdown are the only ones to have played First-Class cricket before World War I and after World War II.

The international record for this is four – held by three sets of people. The Test record is also four – held by one of these sets.

X was in the squad for the first Test in Pakistan at Dacca in 1954-55. He was eventually named the 12th man. Had X played the Test the record of four mentioned above would have stretched to five.

Identify both X and the record. The 22 players from the Test are named on the next slide.

PakistanHanif Mohammad

AlimuddinWaqar Hasan

Maqsood AhmedWazir Mohammad

Imtiaz AhmedAbdul Hafeez Kardar

ShujauddinFazal Mahmood

Mahmood HussainKhan Mohammad

IndiaPankaj RoyPananmal PunjabiMadhav MantriVijay ManjrekarPolly UmrigarGulabrai RamchandDattu PhadkarVinoo MankadNaren TamhaneGhulam AhmedSubhash Gupte

Raees Mohammad; had he played here five brothers would have played

international cricket

The eldest of the illustrious Mohammad brothers, Raees never got to play a Test; the closest he got to a Test cap was being 12th man in this Test.

The four Mohammad brothers (Hanif, Wazir, Mushtaq, and Sadiq) had played Test cricket (two of them played in this very Test), which is a record; they are also tied with the Ranatungas and the Ngoches in all international cricket.

Had Raees played at Dacca the record for most brothers playing international cricket would have extended to five.

Audio-visual questions follow.

Who was the bowler?

(Dwayne Leverock catch.mp4)Everyone remembers this catch. The 17-year old bowler, however, became only the second person (after Ian Harvey) to take a wicket with his first ball in World Cup cricket.

Malachi Jones

Who is the male lead actor in this song?

(song picturised on Sunil Gavaskar from Savli Premachi)

Sunil Gavaskar

(video of song picturised on Sunil Gavaskar from Savli Premachi)

Visual: Identify the bowler

LaraDismissal.mp4

Zoe Goss