Century-Old World Record Broken (4 May 1996)

4 May 1996

Century-old cricketing world record broken

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Friday

Deep in the heart of southern Africa, a century-old cricketing world record has been broken.

Wayne James, captain and wicketkeeper of Matabeleland in Zimbabwe, held 11 catches in a match in Bulawayo last month. Add to that two stumpings, and James now boasts the world record for dismissals behind the stumps in a first class match.

The old record of 12 dismissals was set by Ted Pooley who had eight catches and four stumpings for Surrey against Sussex in a match at The Oval in London in 1868.

It has been equalled twice since then _ Don Tallon held nine catches with three stumpings for Queensland in 1939, and Brian Taber did the same for New South Wales in 1968 _ but it had never been bettered.

News of James` heroics on April 20 seeped out of Bulawayo slowly, and is only now reaching the rest of the world.

Not that world beating was on James` mind as the remarkable cup final progressed.

"I honestly didn`t know about the record until afterwards,`` he said afterwards at the Bulawayo Athletic Club ground. "Thirteen dismissals seems incredibly low for a wicket-keeping world record, especially after all those years.``

Like all good wicket-keepers, James can bat too.

Not content with his place in the record books, the 31-year-old used the same cup final against Mashonaland Country Districts to joined a rare group of players who have scored 99 runs in each innings of a match.

In the first innings he took the crease with his team on 15 for three and guided them to 220, falling just one run short of his century off 185 balls.

In the second, he was facing the bowling on 99 with the match scores level and Matabeleland poised for victory.

But Mashonaland`s left-hand pace man Brian Strang delivered a wide leg side ball that flew to the boundary for four byes, handing Matabeleland the cup and denying James his century.

"I didn`t actually know about the first 99 because the main scoreboard had gone on the blink,`` James said afterwards. "And the second time? Well, that`s cricket. I had my chances in the previous over but couldn`t score, but at least we won the cup.``

Source :: Daily News (http.//www.lanka.net)