Did Everton Weekes once miss the start of a Test in which he was playing?
And did he only ever hit one six in his career?
Journalist Pat Landsberg notes that Everton Weekes hit two sixes, not one as is commonly thought, both in the same Test against Australia • Getty Images
There was a lovely article on ESPNcricinfo a few years ago, by Tony Cozier, in which Sir Everton Weekes explained the other six away as a two plus four overthrows during a Test in India. But actually I think the great man's memory might have failed him on this occasion, as it seems fairly certain that he hit two sixes - both in the same Test, against Australia in Port-of-Spain in 1954-55.
The match in question was the fourth Test of England's tour of the West Indies in 1947-48, in Kingston. And not only did Everton Weekes miss the start, he actually saw the match in progress from the aeroplane taking him to Jamaica!
Everton Weekes made his Test debut, against England in Bridgetown, on January 21, 1948. The mantle of the male player who appeared in a Test longest ago now passes to someone who started just two days later - Australia's Neil Harvey, who is now 91, first donned the baggy green on January 23, 1948, against India in Adelaide. There are currently two other survivors of Test cricket in the 1940s, as this list shows: John R Reid of New Zealand, and the oldest surviving male Test player, John Watkins of South Africa, who turned 97 earlier this year.
Adil Rashid has indeed played 19 Tests - all on different grounds, a record he shares with Faoud Bacchus of West Indies - but it's not quite the most any Englishman has played without one against Australia: another Yorkshireman, Ryan Sidebottom won 22 caps without ever facing the Aussies. Keaton Jennings and Nick Knight played 17 Tests, and Nick Compton and Eoin Morgan 16, without ever playing against Australia either. The Australian with the most Test appearances without one against England is Joe Burns, with 21 caps so far: like Jennings and Rashid, he may yet move up this list, or leave it entirely.
The surname of the three one-Test wonders - all right-arm seamers - is Banerjee. Two of them were around at the same time, and although they were both from Calcutta (now Kolkata), I don't think they were related. The most famous of the trio is Sarodindu Nath "Shute" Banerjee, although his fame derives more from a tenth-wicket stand in a county match on India's 1946 tour of England, when he and Chandu Sarwate put on 247 against Surrey at The Oval. Sarwate scored 124 not out and last man Banerjee 121, in the only instance in first-class cricket of Nos. 10 and 11 both scoring centuries. Banerjee's only Test came a couple of years later, against West Indies in Bombay in 1948-49. He took five wickets - four in the second innings as West Indies chased quick runs - so might be considered unfortunate not to have been given another chance, although he was already 38.
Steven Lynch is the editor of the updated edition of Wisden on the Ashes