Cricket Quiz Question for Today

In two parts -

* Which former England captain celebrates his 53rd birthday today?; and

* the harder and more obscure part, what is the connection between his birth date and a certain Test number he reached?

Alec Stewart?

Don't know, sorry!

So 53 today means DOB of 8-4-63.

Alec Stewart, born 8 April 1963 and test run aggregate = 8463.

Good coincidence

Well batted DH

Top of the class, Dummy

I have a cricket question, this seems like a decent place to put it.

So a mate of mine was playing this weekend. Our team was woefully short on players so he was called in despite the fact he'd be late owing to him playing a football match beforehand. Without him, our team only had nine players.

He turned up late as agreed and our team were fielding. He got changed and took to the field as normal. However, when the innings ended and it was our turn to bat, the umpires wouldn't allow him to bat because he was late.

What is the actual rule regarding this as there was a lot of confusion at the ground.

I know you have to be on the field of play for a certain amount of time to bat, though he may have had to wait till a certain amount of wickets had fallen. As he did actually field, I'm surprised he wasn't allowed to have a go.
I take it this game was of quite a high standard, and not your average village green match?

Unless I'm much mistaken, the rule is that the player has to have spent at least as much time "passively participating" in the match - i.e. fielding or waiting to bat - as time he spent away from the field, before he can "actively participate", i.e. bowl or bat.

Let's take an example, say a 50 over match. If the player arrives after 30 overs of the first innings (his side fielding first) he has to wait until 30 more overs have elapsed before he can take an active part, i.e. he couldn't bowl (since there are only 20 overs left) but could bat at any fall of wicket after the 10 over mark. There's actually an exception here that would allow him to bat at number 7 (or anywhere lower) if five wickets were to fall before that time had gone - as far as I know this is because the competitive minimum number of players to constitute a team is 7. If he arrived after 20 overs, he could bowl in the last 10 overs of the innings (i.e. after another 20 overs had elapsed).

So he should have been allowed to bat.

Of course different leagues may have different rules, but this is how the official rules are written, and unless the league he was playing in has official rules which specifically deal with such a case those should apply.

Unless this league has some peculiar rule of its own I suspect the umpire was in error. As MFC says there might be restrictions on when he could bat ; but I know of no reason why he should be prevented from doing so altogether.

Hijacking the thread for a daily question:

Ten players have appeared in tests for England as the designated keeper (ie people taking over keeper duties do not count) over the last 20 years. Name them (without using t'interweb) with bonus points for whoever names the guy with least caps.

Thanks for the explanations lads!

Jack Russell
Stewart
Prior
Ambrose
Read
Jones
Foster
Bairstow
Buttler
?

Stella wrote:Jack Russell
Stewart
Prior
Ambrose
Read
Jones
Foster
Bairstow
Buttler
?

Nine down, but the all important one to go.

Yeah, I also got those 9 with a bit of thought. Had to cheat for the tenth so won't spoil it - knew him but thought he would have been earlier. Of the 9 named, surprised that Ambrose got as many as 11 caps.

I'm racking my brain!

Googled the answer. I have obviously heard of him but would never have got it.

Stella wrote:Googled the answer. I have obviously heard of him but would never have got it.

I reckon Tiger and Wikipedia have got the dates wrong!

I can't even remember him playing for England

Steve Rhodes? Don't think it's last 20 years, but he played some Tests in the 94-95 Ashes...

Oh wait, Ashes tours! Warren Hegg! 98-99 Ashes tour he played a couple of Tests!

You let me do all the donkey work, then took all the glory!

Well done all.

Now taking in the vogue for keeper/batsmen in those 20 years - how many of those had an average high enough to warrant the description keeper/batsman?

Stewart
Prior
Ambrose
Bairstow

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Oh wait, Ashes tours! Warren Hegg! 98-99 Ashes tour he played a couple of Tests!

I would have confidently staked Stella's life on Hegg's Tests being earlier than that. I'm pretty sure he was being spoken about as a Test prospect a decade earlier. Sorry, Stella!

LondonTiger wrote:Well done all.

Now taking in the vogue for keeper/batsmen in those 20 years - how many of those had an average high enough to warrant the description keeper/batsman?

define "average high enough"

Stewart IIRC didn't actually average much as keeper, about 30 or so (and something like 47 when he wasn't keeping).

Prior certainly, almost sure he averaged over 40.

Bairstow albeit small sample size.

Russell, Hegg, Read, Jones, Foster all averaged under 30, I think Buttler does too.

Not sure about Ambrose, but if pushed I would say he averaged somewhere between 30 and 35, so depends on criteria?

Any time!

Just checked Ambrose's average. It was lower than I thought.

Having checked, doing Stewart a bit of a disservice there, averaged nearly 35 when keeping, though still significantly less than when not keeping, where he averages 46.7

A bit generous on Ambrose, whose average is a smidge under 30 (29.8)

Buttler actually averages exactly 30 in his short Test career so far.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Having checked, doing Stewart a bit of a disservice there, averaged nearly 35 when keeping, though still significantly less than when not keeping, where he averages 46.7

A bit generous on Ambrose, whose average is a smidge under 30 (29.8)

Buttler actually averages exactly 30 in his short Test career so far.

Given any opportunity, Stewie still goes on about this at meetings with Surrey members. Referring to the decision to give him the gloves, jettison Read and bring in an extra batsman: ''The selectors tried to solve a problem and created another.''

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Having checked, doing Stewart a bit of a disservice there, averaged nearly 35 when keeping, though still significantly less than when not keeping, where he averages 46.7

A bit generous on Ambrose, whose average is a smidge under 30 (29.8)

Buttler actually averages exactly 30 in his short Test career so far.

In his tests in the last 20 years, so while they excluded Read, Stewart averaged 38. He was the exception to the others in that time in that in the he batted as a Batsman and kept wicket - rather than batting at 7 (or below).

Geraint Jones average shocked me slightly.

For me only Prior, who until the achilles problem also turned himself into a pretty good keeper, and Stewart deserve the nomenclature Keeper/Batsman. Bairstow's sample size really too small and anyway despite the plaudits from Mark Church this week he is really a Stopper/Batsman.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;keeper=1;orderby=runs;spanmax1=12+May+2016;spanmin1=12+May+1996;spanval1=span;team=1;template=results;type=batting

New question:

10 England bowlers have managed a 10 wicket match haul in tests in the last 20 years. Name them.

I certainly can't manage all 10 but I'll give Stella a break and do some of the donkey work.  

Anderson, Broad, Hoggard and Harmison for sure (I hope!). Think the spinners also do well - Swann, Panesar and Tufnell.

Assuming that's right, leaves 3 to find .... please don't tell me Dominic Cork got a Test tenfer, suspect you may have him or at at least one or two of his ilk scraping unworthily into this list.

Those seven correct.

At least two of the remaining three can be described as worthy.

Assuming I'm not overlooking someone recent (Finn?? Nope, don't think so), what's making this more tricky for me is pinning down the years. At my age, there seems hardly any difference between the last 20 or 25 years!

I'll guess three other names from circa two decades ago - Fraser, Caddick and - my wild card -de Freitas. However, not sure they got tenfers and, even if they did, whether they were in the last 20 years.

Someone I'm pretty sure didn't is Gough. Read that somewhere before and would undoubtedly have heard him banging on about it if he had!

Giles?

guildford, Fraser definitely got a ten-wicket haul in Tests: Windies tour 97-98 where he picked up his best figures in the first innings and a few more in the second, first Test, which we lost BTW. Also 4th Test vs SA in 98 (the famous win) he picked up five in each innings IIRC. Fun personal story about that series (or shameless plug ), my brother and I won the video "story" about the win, called "England's glory" after answering a TMS quiz the following summer. Those were the days (when one didn't have Sky - living in France - or other possibilities, so you were "stuck" with radio 4 to know what was going on)

I'm almost sure De Freitas wasn't playing tests in the last 20 years.

Not 100% sure on Caddick, though he did have his "hot" streaks, so possible. Darren Gough? Must have been at least close a few times.

Peter Such did well in a Test at the SCG in 98-99, but not ten wickets well I don't think.

Guys like Johnson and Giddins had some great bowling performances in innings, but not in two of the same match. Same with Flintoff.

Simon Jones? Don't think so either.

Can't think of any others off hand, so will go with Fraser, Caddick and Gough to add to guildford's original list of 7.

Just remembered. Caddick IS right, he got a ten wicket haul at Sydney in the 02-03 tour (England's consolation win).

Ooo how about Ryan Sidebottom otherwise? He picked up a few big hauls IIRC.

Caddick got a seven for against the west indies in 2004. Without looking I don't know how may he picked up in the first innings.

Stella wrote:Caddick got a seven for against the west indies in 2004. Without looking I don't know how may he picked up in the first innings.

Caddick wasn't anywhere near the England team in 2004. Are you thinking of the 200 series? Caddick did get wickets (including a 5-14 or something ridiculous at Headingley) but don't think he got a seven wicket haul. Or the WI tour in 2004 where Harmison got a seven for?

Caddick also got a seven for on the SA tour in 99-00 (third test) but didn't top it up to ten in the second innings - that was the game Kirsten batted for days to score 275 (then equal highest SA individual score) before being bowled by Mark Butcher's off-spin...

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Stella wrote:Caddick got a seven for against the west indies in 2004. Without looking I don't know how may he picked up in the first innings.

Caddick wasn't anywhere near the England team in 2004. Are you thinking of the 200 series? Caddick did get wickets (including a 5-14 or something ridiculous at Headingley) but don't think he got a seven wicket haul. Or the WI tour in 2004 where Harmison got a seven for?

Caddick also got a seven for on the SA tour in 99-00 (third test) but didn't top it up to ten in the second innings - that was the game Kirsten batted for days to score 275 (then equal highest SA individual score) before being bowled by Mark Butcher's off-spin...

Yep, 2000. It was when we bowled at the windies for 50 odd. Caddick may have got just the 5?

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Ooo how about Ryan Sidebottom otherwise? He picked up a few big hauls IIRC.

Is the tenth, with Gus and Caddick having been 8 & 9

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=bbm;qualmin1=1;qualval1=ten_wickets;spanmax1=12+May+2016;spanmin1=12+May+1996;spanval1=span;team=1;template=results;type=bowling

Stella wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Stella wrote:Caddick got a seven for against the west indies in 2004. Without looking I don't know how may he picked up in the first innings.

Caddick wasn't anywhere near the England team in 2004. Are you thinking of the 200 series? Caddick did get wickets (including a 5-14 or something ridiculous at Headingley) but don't think he got a seven wicket haul. Or the WI tour in 2004 where Harmison got a seven for?

Caddick also got a seven for on the SA tour in 99-00 (third test) but didn't top it up to ten in the second innings - that was the game Kirsten batted for days to score 275 (then equal highest SA individual score) before being bowled by Mark Butcher's off-spin...

Yep, 2000. It was when we bowled at the windies for 50 odd. Caddick may have got just the 5?

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/10633.html?class=1;opposition=4;season=2000;spanmax1=02+Oct+2000;spanmin1=03+Apr+2000;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling;view=innings

Here you go. 5-16 at Lords, presumably the one you were thinking of (WI bowled out for 54, followed by a nervy England run chase). I was actually thinking of the 5-14 at Headingley...

On the subject of England's bowlers, here's a short trip down memory lane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVQf7T0M7dU

The first few minutes are very nice, and include footage of Trueman and Snow

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Stella wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

Stella wrote:Caddick got a seven for against the west indies in 2004. Without looking I don't know how may he picked up in the first innings.

Caddick wasn't anywhere near the England team in 2004. Are you thinking of the 200 series? Caddick did get wickets (including a 5-14 or something ridiculous at Headingley) but don't think he got a seven wicket haul. Or the WI tour in 2004 where Harmison got a seven for?

Caddick also got a seven for on the SA tour in 99-00 (third test) but didn't top it up to ten in the second innings - that was the game Kirsten batted for days to score 275 (then equal highest SA individual score) before being bowled by Mark Butcher's off-spin...

Yep, 2000. It was when we bowled at the windies for 50 odd. Caddick may have got just the 5?

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/10633.html?class=1;opposition=4;season=2000;spanmax1=02+Oct+2000;spanmin1=03+Apr+2000;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling;view=innings

Here you go. 5-16 at Lords, presumably the one you were thinking of (WI bowled out for 54, followed by a nervy England run chase). I was actually thinking of the 5-14 at Headingley...

Yes I was thinking of the 54 all out match.

OK, to keep with the "10" theme.

10 England batsmen have recorded Test Double Hundreds since Jan 1st 2000.

Tresco
Bell
Pietersen
Stokes
Thorpe?
Cook
Key
Trott
?
?

Rats! Been out for a couple of hours and thought I had got another. Devon Malcolm. Now find out his haul against S Africa, that I was thinking of, was in '94, just outside the 20 years.

Like FA Cup Finals, I remember the years of test series in the late '60s, through the '70s and into the '80s - then it becomes blurry. It'll happen to you lot too - if you're lucky!

PS MfC - thanks for the link, I'll enjoy that later. Snow was a very fine fast bowler, imo should be remembered more. Played a pivotal role in our winning the Ashes down under in '70/71. See I got those years!

LondonTiger wrote:OK, to keep with the "10" theme.

10 England batsmen have recorded Test Double Hundreds since Jan 1st 2000.

Adding another to Stella's possibles and probables - pretty sure this list includes the guy I've been singing the praises of recently. Collingwood.

Adelaide?