21 cricket facts and records which will amaze you

8) Cricket and Jack the Ripper

Montague Druitt was a fast bowler who played for the MCC back in the 19th century. In 1888, he was found drowned in the Thames, nearly the same time as the killings by “Jack the Ripper” stopped. The police filed the case as suicide, and Druitt was suspected to be the serial murderer for quite some time. However, in further studies since the 1970s, the theory has almost completely been dispensed with.

9) The hat-trick that never was

10) Chris Tremlett

There are many bowlers who have taken a hat-trick in the past and there will be many more in the future. Even more so, there will be players who would be on a hat-trick countless times further. However, I doubt if there will ever again be an incident like the one involving Chris Tremlett. It will probably forever remain the closest a bowler gets to a hat-trick. After being on a hat-trick on his ODI debut, Tremlett’s following delivery hit the stumps but did not dislodge the bails, hence denying him a hat-trick. Watch the video below to know more about the incident:

10) A true soldier on and off the field

A. D. Denton of Northamptonshire lost one leg while serving his country in the First World War. However, in 1919 and 1920, he returned to play three more first-class games, wherein he had one of his brothers running for him, and he fielded exclusively at point. When the Lancashire captain was approached for special permission, he wrote: "If any fellow has been to the war and has had his leg off and wants to play, he is good enough for me and can have 20 runners.”

A perfect tribute to a man who never gave up.

11) The two Jayas’ unique connection with Sri Lankan world records

13) Mahela Jayawardene (L) and Sanath Jayasuriya

They do not say Sanath Jayasuriya was a match winner for nothing. Sanath was the top-scorer in the highest Test score (340 out of 952), highest ODI score (157 out of 443) as well as the highest T20 score (88 out of 260), thereby scoring the highest amount of runs in the highest totals in each format of cricket. Another ‘Jaya’, Mahela Jayawardene, was a part of all three of these and was the only other Sri Lankan player to be so.

12) Bordering on the insane

Legend has it that when Fred, the younger brother of the famous WG Grace, caught Australian big-hitter George Bonnor at point, the ball had gone so high into the sky that the batsmen were well into the third run when the catch was taken.

13) The eldest Grace had more brute than grace

The elder brother of Sir WG Grace, EM Grace, was known to be one of the hardest hitters of a cricket ball. Owing to sprawling localities and too many closed spaces, the balls he struck for Thornbury were often lost. One umpire thought he had his bases covered when he kept up to nine spare balls at his disposal. It worked for a while, but Grace, on his way to a stupendous double century, used up the full quota of balls that the umpire had, and play simply had to be stopped!

14) Hey, forget about playing! It’s time to go home

Before the time when Test matches were limited to five days, there used to be timeless Test matches wherein the play went on until a definitive result was reached. In one such Test, where the English were on tour to South Africa, the match dragged well into the 10th day and the Englishmen were perilously close to chasing a world record target of 696. At the close of play on the 10th day, the Englishmen were comfortably placed at 654/5, requiring merely 42 for victory.

However, the captain of the ship that was supposed to take the team back to England refused to wait any longer, for reasons probably best known to him. And thus ended rather prematurely the story of what might have possibly been one of the most difficult all-time records to be broken.