Is Joe Root the first England captain to be run out in successive Test innings?
And have any cricketers taken part in the Winter Olympics?
Joe Root is the third England captain to be run out in two successive Test innings • Getty Images
The owner of this peculiar distinction is seamer George Parker, who won two Test caps in England in 1924. South Africa's bowlers, used to matting pitches at home, struggled on turf in England, and the management cast round for alternatives. Parker, who was born in Cape Town in 1899, had been in England for four years, and was playing for Eccleshill in the Bradford League. He made his first-class debut in a rain-affected match against Oxford University, and took four wickets - and was hustled into the Test side for the opening match of the series at Edgbaston.
Joe Root's run-out on the opening day of the third Test against West Indies at Old Trafford made him only the third England captain to fall this way in successive Test innings. The first was Archie MacLaren, who was run out in the final innings of the 1901-02 Ashes, in Melbourne, and fell the same way on the first day of the return series in England, at Edgbaston a couple of months later. Another Lancastrian, Mike Atherton, was run out in successive innings in 1995, against West Indies at Old Trafford and then at Trent Bridge, where he did at least score 113.
I'm not aware of any cricketers - internationals, anyway - who have participated in the Winter Olympics. The nearest I can think of is the left-arm seamer Dirk Nannes, who played white-ball internationals for Australia and Netherlands: he was also an accomplished moguls skier, who took part in World Cup events - but he missed out on the Winter Olympics, although he has commentated on them for Australia television. "My dream as a young bloke was to ski for Australia at the Winter Olympics," he told the Sydney Daily Telegraph in 2018. "It's my first love. I didn't find cricket until I was 26."
That match in Port-of-Spain in 1967-68 effectively allowed England to win the series, as they won the game after Sobers' two declarations, and took the rubber 1-0. The only other captain to declare twice in a Test and lose is South Africa's Graeme Smith, who closed at 451 for 9 and 194 for 6 against Australia in Sydney in 2005-06. Smith was trying to level the series, which Australia won 2-0 as a result of their victory in this match.
The 1980s West Indian allrounder Eldine Baptiste is the answer to the first part - he played ten Test matches, all of which were won. And the unfortunate holder of the opposite record is Alok Kapali of Bangladesh, who appeared in 17 Tests and lost the lot. Kapali, who's still playing domestic cricket, holds another peculiar Test record: he took only six wickets with his legbreaks, but they included a hat-trick - Bangladesh's first in Tests - against Pakistan in Peshawar in August 2003.
Steven Lynch is the editor of the updated edition of Wisden on the Ashes