Lillee’s clanger
The Laws had to be amended to decree that a bat must be made of wood after Dennis Lillee used an aluminium one against England in Perth during the 1979/80 Ashes tour. The umpires made Lillee discard
Monthly Archive:: August 2005
Close for ‘Blowers’
Henry Blofeld, the most recognisable voice on Test Match Special, ‘died’ during a heart operation in 1999. He spent 47 hours under anaesthetic and a lung collapsed. “One’s lucky to be alive,” the Etonian said, recovering from
Kapali’s breakthrough
The first hat-trick for India in Test matches happened as recently as 2001. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was the bowler, dismissing Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne at Calcutta. Yet Bangladesh’s first hat-trick happened within only two
Gas cape Wisden
The museum at Lord’s has a wonderfully evocative item on display – a 1939 Wisden Almanack used by prisoners enslaved by the Japanese on the Burma railway. The much-read almanack, re-bound with gas cape remnants and rice
Cricket’s spectacle
Tim Booth-Jones, batting for Sussex against Warwickshire at Hove in 1981, was surprised by a bouncer from Gladstone Small and the ball flicked off his spectacles. The glasses carried through to wicketkeeper Geoff Humpage, who threw them
Pompey wonder-bat
Chris Smith and Mark Nicholas each scored a hundred for Hampshire with the same bat in the same innings against Gloucestershire at Portsmouth in 1989. When Smith was dismissed, I watched as he passed his yellow-handled Fearnley
Where’s Allaaaaaah!
John Barclay mentioned to a taxi driver in India during the England Schools tour of 1970 that the umpires never gave anything out. “Ah, that’s easy,” said the driver. “What you must shout loudly, instead of ‘howzat’,
Gatting below best
Mike Gatting finished with 10 centuries and a surprisingly mediocre average of 35.5 in 79 Tests during a strong West Indies era. In fact only Graeme Hick (31.32) and Mark Butcher (34.58), as specialist batsmen, had worse
Dentist lights up
A batsman playing for a Dentists’ XI against Bournemouth School in 1949 had matches in his trouser pocket ignited by a delivery that struck him on the hip. Bryan Burdett, at leg-slip, recalls: “As I went to
Butcher’s surprise four
Adam Hollioake dropped his brother Ben from the Surrey team for the championship match against Derbyshire at the Oval in 2000 and gave Gary Butcher, Mark’s brother, a chance from the second team. Butcher claimed four wickets