21 cricket facts and records which will amaze you

15) You gotta catch that, Dad!

Andrew Flintoff

Freddie Flintoff is an amazing man. Apart from being a professional cricketer, he has dabbled in boxing and is also a very popular TV personality in the United Kingdom, which goes to show the vast range of talents at his disposal. That being the case, one can only wonder how good a sniper he’d have been if given a chance, considering he once hit a ball straight to his dad in the stands who, unfortunately, dropped a sitter. Flintoff still claims that to be the most memorable drop in his life, and is never shy of gloating about it.

16) Chris Tremlett, upgraded

If you thought Chris Tremlett was unlucky, you probably haven’t heard of SMJ Woods. Woods, sometime in the 1880s, hit the stumps as many as eight times in an over but had only three wickets to show for it. The first three were off no-balls, the fourth one finally got him a wicket, the fifth kissed the leg stump and went away for four byes, the sixth and seventh deliveries fetched him a couple more wickets while the eighth delivery again went for four byes after hitting the stump.

17) Oldest first-class debutant

What do you think would be the age of the oldest first-class debutant? What about the oldest player to play a first-class game? Well, for one, they are the same person. Raja Maharaj Singh made his first-class debut at the age of 72, captained the side, batted at No. 9, scored four runs, did not bowl, took no catches, and never played again. Interestingly, it was Jim Laker who dismissed Maharaj Singh, a batsman 44 years elder to him.

18) Oldest Test debutant

We had mentioned earlier that Charles Bannerman does not hold the distinction of the longest-standing record in Test cricket. Who does, then? Well, that distinction belongs to England’s James Southerton. He was 49 years and 119 days old at the time of his Test debut, against Australia in the first ever Test match in 1877, making him the oldest Test debutant ever. Remarkably, there has been nobody till date who has made their debut at an age older than Southerton.

19) Longest surname ever

The first-class player with the longest surname is a certain Fijian cricketer named IL Bula. An easy enough abbreviation for a man whose full name spells something like Ilikena Lasarusa Talebulamaineiilikenamainavaleniveivakabulaimainakulalakebalau. And no, we did not just make this up. It literally translates to “returned alive from Nankula hospital at Lakeba island in the Lau group.”

Questions like why he was named so will not be entertained. Seriously, no.

20) The free haircut

Yes, there has been an instance of a haircut on the cricket field as well. To make things even stranger, it was a Test match at Manchester and not a domestic game. Sunil Gavaskar was batting capless on a windy day in 1974, and after a few deliveries, umpire Dickie Bird had had enough. Tired of Gavaskar’s hair blowing into his eyes, he called for a pair of scissors and promptly did a Goldilocks on Gavaskar.

21) The ball that went through the stumps

Mushtaq Ahmed

We discussed Tremlett. We discussed Woods. However, the award for the unluckiest bowler has to go to Mushtaq Ahmed. Bowling to Symcox, by some absolute miracle, Ahmed bowled a ball that passed between middle and off stump without dislodging a bail. Watch the video to believe it: