All bowlers taking wickets in an ODI, players who’ve been on both sides of a hat-trick, and more
Steven Lynch11-Dec-2007The regular Tuesday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questionsabout (almost) any aspect of cricket:
Darren Gough is caught off Shane Warne in Melbourne, 1994. Gough and Warne are two of three players who have been on both sides of a Test hat-trick © Getty Images
In one of the recent one-day internationals between Zimbabwe and WestIndies, 11 different bowlers claimed a wicket. Is this a record?asked Michael Podbury from Zambia
That match at Harare lastweek is one of a surprisingly long list of 35 ODIs in which 11 differentbowlers claimed a wicket. But the record is 12, which has happened threetimes – oddly, two them on the same ground within nine days in July 2001.The first instance came in the match between West Indies and Sri Lanka at Port-of-Spain in 1995-96. Ithappened again at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in 2001, when Sri Lankaplayed New Zealand – and again the following week when New Zealand playedIndia at the Premadasa. For a fulllist, click here.Who is the oldest player to become a Test captain for the first time? Myguess is Anil Kumble, who is 37? asked Vivekanand from India, amongothers
Actually Anil Kumble is welldown this list – 23 players have been older when they first captained in aTest. Two of them are Indians – HemuAdhikari, who was 39 when he took charge for the first time, againstWest Indies at Delhi in 1958-59,and Vinoo Mankad (37 years 264days to Kumble’s 37/36), against Pakistan at Dacca in 1954-55. The oldestfirst-time Test captain of them all is Australia’s Warren Bardsley, who was 43 years216 days old when he stepped in for the unfit Herbie Collins against Englandat Headingley in 1926. For a fulllist, click here. How many players have been involved in a Test hat-trick, both as abowler and as a batsman? asked Chris Higginbottom
Three people have been on both ends of a Test hat-trick. The first wasEngland’s Darren Gough -after being part of Shane Warne’s triple atMelbourne in 1994-95, he turned the tables with a hat-trick of his ownat Sydney on the next Ashes tour in 1998-99. Warne wasn’t part of thatone, but he was the third victim in Harbhajan Singh’s hat-trick forIndia against Australia at Kolkata in 2000-01. The third man to complete this odd double isSri Lanka’s Nuwan Zoysa.He took wickets with the first three balls of his first over (the second ofthe match) against Zimbabwe at Harare in 1999-2000, and was then the middle victim in Mohammad Sami’s hat-trick forPakistan at Lahore in 2001-02. For a full list of Test hat-tricks,click here.Besides Mohammad Azharuddin and Bill Ponsford, is there any other playerwho started and ended his Test career with a century? asked AKSrivastava from India
Two batsmen, apart from Azharuddin and Ponsford, have scored acentury in their first and last Test matches. Both of them are Australians:Reggie Duff, who made 104 (fromNo. 10) in his first Test in 1901-02 and 146 in his last, in 1905, and Greg Chappell, who startedwith 108 against England in 1970-71 and signed off with 182 against Pakistanin 1983-84. This excludes any current players, and the two men – Andy Ganteaume and Rodney Redmond – who scoreda century in their only Test.Who has taken the most wickets on one particular ground in one-dayinternationals? asked Raymond Spice from Surrey
Two men have taken more than 100 one-day wickets at a single ground – andit’s the same one, the Sharjah CAStadium, which has hosted more ODIs (198) than any other ground. Wasim Akram took 122 wickets there,eight more than his long-time new-ball partner Waqar Younis managed, althoughWaqar played in fewer matches (61 to Wasim’s 77). Muttiah Muralitharan comes next,with 82 wickets at Sharjah, and he has also taken 64 at the PremadasaStadium in Colombo. For a fulllist, click here.Is it true that Sir Don Bradman was once dropped from the Australianteam, and a batsman named Otto Nothing took his place? asked PSKBalaji from India
It is true – well, almost. This happened during the 1928-29 Ashesseries. Don Bradman had made hisdebut in the first Test atBrisbane, but scored only 18 and 1 as England clocked up a massivevictory, by a record 675 runs. Bradman retained his place in the squad forthe next Test, at Sydney, but waseventually made 12th man – the only time in his whole career that he wasever dropped from any side. The man who replaced him was a Queensland-borndoctor called Otto Nothling (notethe L). Nothling actually did better than Bradman had – he scored 8 and 44,but Australia lost again and he was dropped. Bradman returned for the thirdTest, at Melbourne, scored 79 and112 … and the rest, as they say, is history.
