Trivia #02: Anecdotal, "little-known" facts

THINGS YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CRICKET (but didn't know where to look for)

Play at Taunton in July 1954 was relieved by a maiden century by Leslie Angell, the Somerset opening batsman, and by a strange bowling performance from Hanif Mohammad of Pakistan. He displayed unusual versatility by bowling four right-handed deliveries and two left in one over befor lunch, a feat he repeated after tea.

Playing against Worcestershire in 1955 Robin Marlar bowled three consecutive deliveries in one over with three different balls. The first two had been driven out of the ground and declared 'lost' as a result of big hits by R. G. Broadbent.

In 1979 a cricketer tried to take his bat through the French customs at Calais. He explained what it was used for, but the official was completely baffled by it. He then handed him a list of a thousand items, inviting him to select a suitable category. Eventually the bat was admitted into France as an 1.25 francs had to be paid.

As might be expected, much bigger scores were made from single hits in the days when the ball was not considered lost if it could be seen. According to one history of the MCC, during a match in Australia a ball was hit high into the air and lodged in the junction of two branches in a tall tree. Everyone could see it and, while fielders were borrowing a shotgun and eventually shot the ball down, the batsmen trotted up and down the pitch 286 times.

Occasionally a fielder running full pelt to stop a ball crossing the boundary line just gets a leg to it and helps it cross the line. Something rather different once happened at Hove when Sussex were playing the West Indies. When N. I. Thomson hit a delivery from A. L. Valentine to square leg a black dog bounded on to the pitch seized the ball and carried it over the boundary, hotly pursued by players and umpires. The four runs were credited to Thomson, not the dog.

Just before tea in one Warwickshire v. Oxford University match, Norman Horner played at a ball which went for four runs, which the umpire signalled as byes. During the meal the umpire had after-thoughts and credited Horner with four runs - perhaps the first time that a batsman had scored a boundary at the tea-table.

The history of Radley College tells of W.E.W. Collins, have dismissed three men with one delivery. ' The first victim was hit on the thumb and was led out bleeding profusely, his colleague fainted and the next man in decided not to bat '.

John Kelly of Derbyshire achieved a remarkable analysis against Lancashire at Old Trafford on 5 July 1955 and the press gave it some prominence. It read: 0 Overs, 0 Maidens, 4 Runs, 0 Wickets His first and only delivery was a no-ball, hit for four by Jack Dyson.

One of the most astonishing bowling analyses on record was returned by R.G. Nadkarni in the India v. England Test at Madras in 1964. It read 31-27-5-0 and, according to reports, English batsmen said he was 'unhittable'.

Some catches are made by fielders who know very little about it. During the second Test at Kanpur in 1959 Neil Harvey, Australia, caught Nari Contractor off a ball he never saw. He was fielding at short leg when the Indian pulled a delivery from Alan Davidson in his direction. Harvey turned his back and ducked, and the ball stuck between his thighs.

Barry Jarman, of Australia, was in the news on 4 Aug. 1964 when the tourist met Glamorgan. The umpire at the bowler's end gave him out caught, and the other umpire gave him out stumped. He appears in the scorebooks as caught by the wicket-keeper, E.W. Jones.

Tom Goddard, according to an old friend , was once run out twice in a match without receiving a single ball. Similar misfortune attended R.Mcleod in a match between Melbourne and North Melbourne in 1896.

The record for the quickest 'pair' - a duck in each innings - achieved by Peter Judge, of Glamorgan, last man in against India at Cardiff. He was bowled first ball by Sarwate and, to save time when the county followed on, Judge and J.C. Clay stayed on the field to open the second innnings. Sarwate clean bowled Judge again, first ball.

team was dismissed for a duck at Elgin at the weekend in a North of Scotland League game.' Daily paper report on 1 June 1964.

The Daily Mirror reported on 25 May 1964 that the all-male team of Martin Walter Ltd, a firm of vehicle-builders in Folkestone, Kent, had been skittled out for 0 after 23 mins., eight maiden overs and two balls. So 28-year-old Mrs Jean de Were, at various time scorer, secretary and umpire to the scoreless XI, said that she would take over as coach if her husband would baby-sit while she supervised net practice.

In 1829 James Broadbridge literally threw his bat at a wide ball and was caught at point by Mr Ward.

The scorebook of the Aden-based Venturers CC recorded on 10 August 1967 ' Play delayed 10 minutes by mortar attack'.

When Jim Laker took 19 wickets against Australia at Manchester in 1956 he was given 190 sterling pounds i.e, 10 pounds for each wicket - by the printing firm Thomas De La Rue.