Cricket Quiz Question for Today

First topic message reminder :

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?

Root in the 200 club

Other 8 look correct to me - Thorpe double hundred away to NZ in 2001/2

Collingwood is the other one

My 8, Colly, and Root.

How did I forget Root?

guildfordbat wrote:
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!

Is that the series Illingworth was captain? Snow was, from all accounts, and from what footage one can find, a very fine fast bowler. I actually saw him play in a Lords Taverners match vs France a few years back, fair to say he was no longer quite as threatening though Nice chap, very happy to sign autographs, etc.

MfC - spot on about that series. It's a shame there isn't more and better quality highlights of it. To win down under at that time was a fantastic achievement with Illingworth and Snow at the forefront. It actually turned from a 6 match series into a 7 match one. One of the the Tests was abandoned without a ball being bowled and so an extra Test was tagged on at the end. This was all agreed by 'men in suits' and totally unbeknown to Illingworth who went ballistic when he found out.

Snow was quite a controversial figure in his playing days. Banned at one time for shoulder charging Gavaskar and then having a run in with umpire Constant. Mellower off the field though and, like Willis, a writer of poetry.

Stella wrote:My 8, Colly, and Root.

How did I forget Root?

To be fair his double hundred isn't that memorable as it was in a match that ended in frustration for England, and a week later it was even worse as the series became a pretty poor defeat at home

Root's hundreds at key points in big series are much easier to remember

Which 10 outfielders are England's leading catchers in test matches?

Ah yes, I remember reading Illingworth's own account of that series, and him not being particularly impressed with the "men in suits" at times. There was a moment in one of the Tests where Snow hit an Australian (may have been Terry Jenner) on the head as he tried to duck a short one. Umpires warned him, and things turned a bit sour thereafter. One has to remember that this was before the time of neutral umpires, and Aus umpires weren't always known for their - ahem - objectivity. It may even have been this series where England failed to win a single LBW decision from them?

Anyway, back to the story, the crowd got involved and started throwing bottles or something at Snow, fielding at long-leg, to the point where Illingworth pulled his team from the field. One of the "men in suits" then tried to cajole them into returning, with suggestions that Snow could be made to field at cover-point, which didn't go down particularly well with Illingworth to say the least.

There was also a nice quote from Snow that Illingworth may have been a bit of a tool in many respects but that "bless his little cotton socks, he did understand fast bowlers". While Illingworth does have a rather high opinion of himself (reading his accounts) there's no doubt that he was a very shrewd captain.

Stella wrote:Which 10 outfielders are England's leading catchers in test matches?

Botham for sure
Cook
Gooch
Thorpe
Trescothick?
Strauss?

Would think most of them would be fairly modern (more matches) and slip fielders (where the majority of catches are taken)

You have six.

Collingwood
Atherton
Hussain
Flintoff

but those are fairly wild guesses...

Colly is right.

Anderson, Bell, Colly?

Bell is correct.

Two more slightly olders players to get.

Most of the slips I remember from older days would not have played enough matches. Where did MCC field?

Gatting?

No, before Gatt's time.

Nope, no idea

I'll be away from the internet for a couple of hours, so the other two are

Cowdrey
Hammond

Stella wrote:I'll be away from the internet for a couple of hours, so the other two are

Cowdrey
Hammond

That probably answers my question from earlier

Ok, one which stems from yesterday's goings on. I'm hoping it wasn't mentioned on commentary.

Dasun Shanaka took his first two wickets in Test cricket before he had conceded a run. Who is the only bowler to have achieved the same feat for England this century?

Hmm. This has me thinking.

Jimmy got wickets on debut against Zimbabwe but I think he went for runs early. Was it Swann ? He always tended to get a wicket in his first over ...but it is probably someone obscure who I'll never think of...

Hi Alfie - thanks for not allowing this to completely sink like a stone.

No, not Jimmy but, I think, bang on with the time and the opposition (currently checking that ).

Not Swann either. In fact, not a big name at all. Only played 3 Tests. MfC and ''Missing in Inaction'' Mike Selig should certainly know of this player from the county they support.

Sidebottom?

Nope, not Sidebottom.

JDizzle should also know of this bowler from the county he supports although he may have been there a bit before JD's main time.

He is now back as a coach at the other county side he played for and which MfC and Mike follow.

My man made his Test debut at Durham in 2003 in the second Test against Zimbabwe. (Jimmy made his debut in the first Test of that series.)

Googled it.

It's funny, I was going to same him as well

Hah ! I know who it is now...had forgotten him. For some reason he was muddled in my head with Giddins who made his debut four years earlier against NZ and also took wickets before disappearing , but I thought it might have been that match in Durham.

Initials RJ...

Well done! Time to put this one out of its misery - Richard Johnson.

Just the 3 Test caps - admittedly against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh - but a tremendous return. 16 wickets at 17 and a strike rate of 34 balls.

guildfordbat wrote:Well done! Time to put this one out of its misery - Richard Johnson.

Just the 3 Test caps - admittedly against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh  - but a tremendous return. 16 wickets at 17 and a strike rate of 34 balls.

Was he dropped or obtain an injury?

Hi Stella - not 100% sure (usual sort of situation, I would be confident of staking your life on it but not mine ) but feel he was on the fringes of the team, got selected when others were injured, he then got injured, the others came back and that was it, particularly as further injuries blighted his later career at county level.

guildfordbat wrote:Nope, not Sidebottom.

JDizzle should also know of this bowler from the county he supports although he may have been there a bit before JD's main time.

He is now back as a coach at the other county side he played for and which MfC and Mike follow.

My man made his Test debut at Durham in 2003 in the second Test against Zimbabwe. (Jimmy made his debut in the first Test of that series.)

Would only have got it from this clue! Do remember him doing exceptionally well for a (very) short period of time. Swann was my first thought as didn't he get two in his first over?

Will leave this one over the weekend, in honour of the T20 Blast starting can anyone tell me...

- Highest run scorer since it's inception in 2003
- Most sixes (Same person)
- Most wickets
- Most wickets by an England Qualified player (A hint to the one above!)

JDizzle wrote:


Will leave this one over the weekend, in honour of the T20 Blast starting can anyone tell me...

- Highest run scorer since it's inception in 2003
- Most sixes (Same person)
- Most wickets
- Most wickets by an England Qualified player (A hint to the one above!)

Hi JD - complete guesses but I hope you'll take pity on me and give me some marks for showing my workings.

- Most runs and most sixes: probably needs to be someone who was there at the beginning and is still going now. Also clear from him having most sixes is that he's a tonker. I'll therefore have a punt on Ryan Ten Doeschate - saw him play for Essex against Surrey at an Esher outground in one of Surrey's first t20 games back in 2003.

- Most wickets: from your clue, he's not England Qualified. Like the batsman question, probably again needs to be an old stager. Maybe Azhar Mahmood (although his Qualification status is a mystery to me these days!).

- Most wickets by an England Qualified player: spinners have often done well in t20s. Need another old timer. Maybe my man James Tredwell.

Anyway, good questions and well linked in to this year's Blast. Fear I haven't done them justice.

You'd be thinking along the right lines with regards to playing since the beginning and being a bit of a biffer, but whilst Tendo is fourth on the sixes list he is about 20th on the run scorers.

Azhar currently sits second! Closely behind the another T20 specialist.

Nail on the head with spinner, but not necessarily an old stager (although Traders does appear high up the list). A relative new comer to the competition, but this player still has a phenomenal record.

Is the batsman Darren Stevens?

Is the spinner Rashid?

Yasir Arafat for most wickets?

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Is the spinner Rashid?

Rashid probably has more wickets in Big Bash than he has in English T20 (pretty sure Richie Pyrah has most for Yorkshire), my guess would be Parry of Lancs.

Stella wrote:Is the batsman Darren Stevens?

sounds about right.

Arafat and Stevens are both correct. Richie Pyrah and Stephen Parry are both well up there on wickets, but neither are correct.

Danny Briggs for wickets?

Fatty Patty?

James100 wrote:Danny Briggs for wickets?

JDizzle wrote:

James100 wrote:Danny Briggs for wickets?

Interested and surprised by that. I was aware Danny Briggs had a reputation for being at his best in the limited overs game but didn't realise he was so prolific in t20s. I'll look out for him there now. Never been fully convinced on the few occasions I've seen him in the Championship.

Btw, JD, see from cricinfo that he was only 25 last month - little more than a year older than the Burger Van!

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:

James100 wrote:Danny Briggs for wickets?

Interested and surprised by that. I was aware Danny Briggs had a reputation for being at his best in the limited overs game but didn't realise he was so prolific in t20s. I'll look out for him there now. Never been fully convinced on the few occasions I've seen him in the Championship.

Btw, JD, see from cricinfo that he was only 25 last month - little more than a year older than the Burger Van!

114 wickets in 89 games at an economy of less than 7 is very impressive! Will be interesting to see if he has the same success now he has left Hampshire.

Well, the Burger Van could be Surrey's answer to Brigge (or not!), but we will never know whilst they just continue to offer him new deals and never play him!

For some reason I thought Samit had 115 wickets in domestic T20 (and 7 in internationals)

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/friends-life-t20/engine/records/bowling/most_wickets_career.html?id=113;type=trophy

Only 109 according to this!

Which batsman hit the first ever ODI century?

Stella - I actually remember it from the time. Even went to one of the games in that ODI series. I'll leave the name if others want to have a go. Just to give the clues that it was by an English batsman in the early '70s.

Denis amiss?