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| Sunday, 16 May 2004 |
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Dubious distinctions in cricket There are various types of 'achievements ' on the cricket field. But, there are at the same time, moments which one would fain have avoided! Here are some of the latter type: It some times is a wise policy to duck to balls pitched short of length but always unfortunate to add just those round things to your score. Evans, of England, who had a uncanny a sight behind the stumps as anyone could possibly have, generally failed to follow the line of the ball correctly when standing at the crease, with heavier of the two gloves off his hands. He collected the highest number of ducks in career-19. But he also played in most tests-91. Roy (India) and Ramadhin (West Indies) filled their lap with 14 in as few as 38 and 43 Tests respectively. Roy's haul included the record 5 in a Tests series and 4 in a row, during his tour of England in 1952. He shares this latter honour with Miller of New Zealand, who also made the mark away from home, in South Africa in 1953-54. The " pair " has been the misfortune of many but only Darling and Benaud (Australia), Hazare (India), Worrell (West Indies), and Imtiaz (Pakistan) were its victims as skippers. Those who began their Test career with it are Wimble, Willought by, Jones, Lewis, and McCarthy of South Africa; James, Badcock, Butterfield and Rowe of New Zealand; G.F.Grace of England; Ramchand of India; and Valentine of West Indies. They are topped by Peel of England who is the only player to bag it thrice. Yet a king will be a king anywhere. The South African, Wesley, was out to first ball in each innings of the same Tests, at Trent Bridge in 1960. The bowler was Statham. Mike Smith (England) missed the coveted "king pair ", just by one ball, at Kanpur in 1961-62. Beyond the " pair ", the Autralians recorded three consecutive ducks in both their innings at Leeds in 1899. In the outfield, the pride of place must belong to Pellew who performed altogether a different sort of hattrick. He floored catches off three successive balls at Lord's in 1921. He was fielding at slip where a slip is most conspicuous! Apart from batsmen who have hit a century on their first appearance in Tests, there have also been two who got out at 99 on debut- the Australian, Chipperfield, in the first Test against England at Nottingham in 1934 and the West Indian, Christiani, also in the first Test against England, in Barbados in 1948. The Springboks met with really hard luck at Birmingham in 1924. None of the eleven reached double figures and, as if to atone for their loss, the extras piled into 11. The Kiwis, even when they tumbled for the lowest-ever total, 26, in the second innings of the second Test against England at Auckland in 1954-55, had Bert Sutcliffe with 11 tagged to his name. To think that they needed only 46 to avoid defeat by an innings! That is nothing in comparison to what happened to rival teams at Newenden in 1925, where Five of Sussex were pitted against Five of Kent. Neither side opened the account, and there were no extras, Clark, the wicket-keeper, with Somerset in 1930, played in 5 matches and 9 innings without ever scoring a single. There have been only two instances in all cricket when a side lost the match without capturing any wicket of their opponents in either of the two innings. Leicestershire lost to Lancashire in the 1956 county fixture and Jammu and Kashmir lost to Railways in the 1960-61 Ranji Trophy in such an ignoble manner. The openers, who remained not out in both the innings of the match, were Wharton and Dyson for Lancashire and Mehra and Kundeeram for Railways. Australia and Pakistan share the record for lowest score in a full day's play. Only 95 runs came off (Australia 80, Pakistan 15 for two) on the first day of the only Test in 1956-57, at Karachi. For just one side plodding through a whole day, none beat the Pakistanis who made 104 on the fourth day of the third Test against the very same Australia on the very same Karachi ground in 1959-60. Individual credit is all Mc-Glew's the South African, who took 545 minutes to complete the hundred in the third Test at Durban in 1957-58 against Australia. Bailey of England holds the record for slowest half-century. Evans, also of England, made the first scoring stroke after 95 minutes of dour batting against Australia at Adelaide in 1946-47. The safe tactics, in the game certainly came from the Englishmen, particularly the master, Hutton. And Pakistanis, it seems, keep an eye on the calendar and not the clock. Hanif was at the wicket for 16 hours 13 minutes in Barbados in 1957-58! Which has been the worst collapse? India's 0 for four wickets at Leeds in 1952? Or India's 6 for five wickets at the oval in 1952? Or Australia's 7 for six wickets at Manchester in 1888? No. The worst collapse was at Kingston in 1953-54 when England slumped from 277 for two to 285 for nine! They lost seven wickets for 8 runs! Four went without addition to the score, five for a single, six for just 3 runs, and seven for 8. In first-class matches, Northamptonshire, after being 96 for no loss, lost all ten wickets for the addition of 10 runs, against Essex at Brentwood in 1946. Khan Mohammed of Pakistan is the only bowler to have conceded over 200 runs without taking a wicket. His actual analysis in the third Test against West Indies at Kingston in 1957-58 was: 54 overs, 5 maidens, 259 runs, no wickets. The Australian, Fleetwood-Smith's one wicket cost the most runs, 298, at the Oval in 1938. De Hough of Kent got a wicket with the first ball he bowled in first-class cricket, shattering the bails of Dixon of Essex at Leyton in 1919, and that was the only wicket he ever got! Lock was hit for 8 off one ball by Insole at Clacton in 1956 and Killick was hit for 34 off an over by Allerton at Hove in 1911. Bardsley (Australia) and Worthington (England) were out to the first ball of the match at Leeds and Brisbane, in 1926 and 1936-37, respectively. At Adelaide, on December 21, 1951, twenty-two wickets fell when Australia (82 and 20-2) met West Indies (105). It was a bad day for the batsmen. Sobers and Worrell batted right through January 10-11, 1960 in Barbados against England. From 114 at the end of the third day's play, they carried the score to 279 on the fourth and 486 on the fifth, getting separated on the last day when the total stood at 501. Their partnership lasted 579 runs. Those were bad days for the bowlers. Bradman needed only 4 more runs to give himself a career average of 100 but was out for nought. He bid a sad farewell to cricket. For a country, India's record is most glum-looking. She is the only country to have twice lost a five-match Test series - against England in 1959 and against West Indies in 1961-62. |
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