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Interesting bits of cricket history/facts/stats/trivia that you find

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
A bit of light reading and cricket history has to be good for all of us at the moment!


In 1939, the longest Test in the history of cricket commenced. The 'never-ending' match that is often referred as the timeless Test was played between South Africa and England at Durban. The match that was played from March 3 to March 14 witnessed action on 9 out of scheduled 12 days as March 5 and 12 were rest days and play on March 11 was abandoned due to rain. The match involved 43 hours and 16 minutes of play, 1,981 runs scored, 5,447 deliveries were bowled and ended in a draw.

It was the fifth Test of 1938-39 series where both teams had agreed before the commencement of the Tests that the final match will be timeless if the series was level or any of the teams would be one-up. England went into the final Test 1-0 up in the series having won the third Test of the series and hence the timeless Test began.

The match was not expected to last for 12 days, so England were booked to leave Durban for Cape Town on March 7 to play the final match of the tour against Western Province before taking the mail-ship on March 17 to home. As the match kept on going, it was declared a draw by mutual agreement on the twelfth day as the English team could not afford to miss their ship.

MATCH DETAILS

South Africa won the toss and decided to bat on a batting paradise pitch and a bowler's nightmare. The decision worked in the favour of South African skipper Alan Melville as his team put up 530 runs in the first innings. Van der Bijl (125) and Nourse (103) were the top scorers for the hosts. Pacer Reg Perks picked up 5 wickets for England in the innings.

In reply, England were bowled out 316, handing their opposition a lead of 214 runs. Leg Ames top scored with 84 as Eric Dalton returned bowling figures 59/4. South African batsmen continued their good form with the bat in the second innings as they amassed 481 with skipper Melville hitting 103. Ken Farnes was England's best bowler as he took 4/74.

The visitors were set a target of 696 to win the match and then England embarked on an innings journey that never got over. The English team batted for six days in total that included two days which didn't see any action.

On March 14, when the visitors were on 654/5 and only 42 runs shy if the target it was decided to end the match as a draw after rain interrupted the play after tea. The English team also had to make a two-day train journey to Cape Town to take the mailship to go back home.

Frustrated with the length of the game without a result, Wally Hammond in his farewell speech said that timeless Tests are not in the best interests of the game.
https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-duration-of-the-longest-cricket-match


 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
Only three players in test history have batted in every position from 1-11.

Can you name them without googling?
 

Raz0r6ack

U19 12th Man
Hebert Sutcliffe averaged 69.80 after 40 Tests with 16 hundreds. He was 38 years old.

I don't think any other player other then Bradman has averaged that much after playing that many Tests.
 

Coronis

International Coach
Hebert Sutcliffe averaged 69.80 after 40 Tests with 16 hundreds. He was 38 years old.

I don't think any other player other then Bradman has averaged that much after playing that many Tests.
Closest I could find off the top of my head was Hammond at 65.41 after 40 matches. Smith did get up to 64.81 after 67 matches.
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Going through my David Frith book "England v Australia" I say Syd Gregory.
Someone who played for an extremely long time despite not being that good, even for the era. I'll never forget Arthur Mailey's description of him as 'a loveable but amazingly weak character'.
 

the big bambino

International Captain
Someone who played for an extremely long time despite not being that good, even for the era. I'll never forget Arthur Mailey's description of him as 'a loveable but amazingly weak character'.
His average was one below the overall average from 1890 - 1912 (his test cricket years) which doesn't seem too bad. However he is ranked 36th best average out of the 77 men who played 10 or more matches. Even amongst Australians he is ranked 16th. So ordinary at best and I can only suggest his longevity is a result of an ability to make him self available for selection at a time when many players had to give up the game to make a living.

I'd like to know the reasons for Mailey's description of his character but can't find any article on it. His wiki profile alludes to the assessment when it said he couldn't control the behaviour of some members of his 1912 team.
 

Raz0r6ack

U19 12th Man
Closest I could find off the top of my head was Hammond at 65.41 after 40 matches. Smith did get up to 64.81 after 67 matches.
If every batsman that averaged 50+ retired at their peak average. Minimum 40 Tests.

RankPlayerAverageMatInnsNORunsHS10050
1Don Bradman102.984771864883342712
2Hebert Sutcliffe69.84063838391941616
3Walter Hammond65.41406683794336*1312
4Steve Smith64.81671221668702392626
5Gary Sobers63.7765111166059365*1923
6Viv Richards62.764367439542911316
7Everton Weekes62.694067439502071417
8Len Hutton61.71701231566653641931
9Jack Hobbs61.285082745962111423
10Adam Gilchrist61.064663133053204*916
11Neil Harvey60.844069638332051513
12Ken Barrington60.66751211464912562033
13Ricky Ponting59.991071792592392573335
14Matthew Hayden58.975187846593801814
15Kumar Sangakkara58.9412721917119073193750
16Sachin Tendulkar58.87901441575952172830
17Rahul Dravid58.751041762290492702346
18Javed Miandad58.565586144217280*1024
19Jacques Kallis58.2111189319197189*2945
20Greg Chappell58.184274133549247*1318
21Clive Walcott58.144169736052201512
22Sunil Gavaskar57.525093749472212021
23Virender Sehwag56.734065235743091110
24Mohammad Yousuf56.6573122964022232326
25Andy Flower56.65698194472232*1225
26Joe Root56.1544801138752541021
27Brian Lara55.86406823687375820
28Virat Kohli55.181138107054254*2622
29Mahela Jayawardene54.671081781390223742735
30Kane Williamson54.31831441371152512432
31Younis Khan54.311031841790713133130
32Thilan Samaraweera54.2562981743952311225
33Graeme Smith53.954069534532771112
34Allan Border53.79961672874782052334
35Dennis Compton53.634068832182081312
36Michael Hussey53.5247811038001821119
37Frank Worrell53.4478093792261922
38Cheteshwar Pujara53.38538874324206*1416
39Shivnarine Chanderpaul53.11582694911684203*3065
40Michael Clarke52.9791152157257329*2326
41Angelo Matthews52.834576163170160420
42Hashim Amla52.7882141136757311*2328
43AB de Villiers52.2891152167111278*1935
44Geoff Boycott52.168118175263246*1529
45Steve Waugh51.871392204192862002742
46Mohammad Azharuddin51.84060329531991010
47Inzamam-ul-Haq51.791101822083913292544
48Gordon Greenidge51.5956941142822231124
49Damien Martyn51.4355881239091651221
50Doug Walters51.364983938012421223
51David Warner51.344991444672531620
52Kevin Pietersen51.095091444452261614
53Bill Lawry50.885395744782101322
54Misbah-ul-Haq50.85188163658161*826
55Jonathan Trott50.6406963188226914
56Alvin Kallicharran50.254677735181871117
57Ted Dexter50.06406653054205718
58Patsy Hendren50.03467383252205*721
59Alastair Cook50.02861521071032942329
 

SillyCowCorner1

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San
If every batsman that averaged 50+ retired at their peak average. Minimum 40 Tests.

RankPlayerAverageMatInnsNORunsHS10050
1Don Bradman102.984771864883342712
2Hebert Sutcliffe69.84063838391941616
3Walter Hammond65.41406683794336*1312
4Steve Smith64.81671221668702392626
5Gary Sobers63.7765111166059365*1923
6Viv Richards62.764367439542911316
7Everton Weekes62.694067439502071417
8Len Hutton61.71701231566653641931
9Jack Hobbs61.285082745962111423
10Adam Gilchrist61.064663133053204*916
11Neil Harvey60.844069638332051513
12Ken Barrington60.66751211464912562033
13Ricky Ponting59.991071792592392573335
14Matthew Hayden58.975187846593801814
15Kumar Sangakkara58.9412721917119073193750
16Sachin Tendulkar58.87901441575952172830
17Rahul Dravid58.751041762290492702346
18Javed Miandad58.565586144217280*1024
19Jacques Kallis58.2111189319197189*2945
20Greg Chappell58.184274133549247*1318
21Clive Walcott58.144169736052201512
22Sunil Gavaskar57.525093749472212021
23Virender Sehwag56.734065235743091110
24Mohammad Yousuf56.6573122964022232326
25Andy Flower56.65698194472232*1225
26Joe Root56.1544801138752541021
27Brian Lara55.86406823687375820
28Virat Kohli55.181138107054254*2622
29Mahela Jayawardene54.671081781390223742735
30Kane Williamson54.31831441371152512432
31Younis Khan54.311031841790713133130
32Thilan Samaraweera54.2562981743952311225
33Graeme Smith53.954069534532771112
34Allan Border53.79961672874782052334
35Dennis Compton53.634068832182081312
36Michael Hussey53.5247811038001821119
37Frank Worrell53.4478093792261922
38Cheteshwar Pujara53.38538874324206*1416
39Shivnarine Chanderpaul53.11582694911684203*3065
40Michael Clarke52.9791152157257329*2326
41Angelo Matthews52.834576163170160420
42Hashim Amla52.7882141136757311*2328
43AB de Villiers52.2891152167111278*1935
44Geoff Boycott52.168118175263246*1529
45Steve Waugh51.871392204192862002742
46Mohammad Azharuddin51.84060329531991010
47Inzamam-ul-Haq51.791101822083913292544
48Gordon Greenidge51.5956941142822231124
49Damien Martyn51.4355881239091651221
50Doug Walters51.364983938012421223
51David Warner51.344991444672531620
52Kevin Pietersen51.095091444452261614
53Bill Lawry50.885395744782101322
54Misbah-ul-Haq50.85188163658161*826
55Jonathan Trott50.6406963188226914
56Alvin Kallicharran50.254677735181871117
57Ted Dexter50.06406653054205718
58Patsy Hendren50.03467383252205*721
59Alastair Cook50.02861521071032942329
Sanga’s peak tho
 

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