7th January, 2002

Name: Ramana
Message: Mr MM, What would have been the reason for the abnormal change in the pitch during the semifinals of the world cup 1996 between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata?

Answer 1: The pitch did not do anything different when India batted in the second innings. It was just that after Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal the Indians batted poorly.

You will also agree that while Tendulkar was at the crease batting looked easy. Moreover batting under lights while chasing 250-plus is always difficult.

Name: Anand
Message: I recently read somewhere that the longest Test lasted for 10 days? How in the world did that happen?

Answer2: The Durban Test match between South Africa and England was to be played as a timeless Test match and some eleven days later it was still left drawn since England had to begin their two-day rail journey back to their ship at Cape Town.

It still remains the longest ever first-class match of ten days of actual play. The match was abondoned as a draw after 43 hours 16 minutes of actual play.

The brief scores of the Test are provided below:

#271
SOUTH AFRICA v ENGLAND (1938-39) - 5th Test
Played at Kingsmeand, Durban on 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (no play - rain), 13, 14 March 1939

Result: Match drawn

South Africa 1st Innings 530
PGV Van der Bijl 125, AD Nourse 103; RTD Perks 5/100, H Verity 2/97, DVP Wright 2/142

England 1st Innings: 316
LEG Ames 84, E Paynter 62, L Hutton 38; EL Dalton 4/59, ABC Langton 3/71, ES Newson 2/58

South Africa 2nd Innings: 481
A Melville 103, PGV Van der Bijl 97; K Farnes 4/74, DVP Wright 3/146, H Verity 2/87

England 2nd Innings: 654 for 5
WJ Edrich 219, WR Hammond 140, PA Gibb 120; EL Dalton 2/100, ABC Langton 1/132

Captains: A Melville, WR Hammond
Toss: South Africa
Umpires: RGA Ashman, GL Sickler

Name: B.L.NANDAKUMAR
Message: What is the speed limit of a bowler to be called a medium pacer/medium fast bowler/fast bowler? Who is the fastest bowler of India and emerging fast bowler at MRF PACE FOUNDATION?

Answer3: There is no such fixed speed limit to classify a medium pacer/ medium fast bowler/fast bowler. Basically depending on the bowler's speed he is classified as a medium pacer, medium fast/fast bowler by the commentators and jounalists.

There have also been cases where a bowler like Courtney Walsh has been initially classified as a fast bowler, and then later termed as a medium fast bowler, as he reduced his pace considerably at the fag end of his career.

Name: Sudhakar Kalaga
Message: Can you please provide us with the list of top 20 players, who involved in 'Most number of 100 run partnerships' in both forms (Tests & ODI). Also, if you can provide 'Top 10 players & Number of 100 run partnerships invloved' for each position.

Answer4:
In Test matches Australian Allan Border has been involved in maximum 63 100-plus partnerships.
The summary of his partnerships being 2nd wkt (2 times); 3rd wkt (15), 4th wkt (20); 5th (16); 6th (8); 7th (1); 8th (1).

While in ODIs Sachin Tendulkar has been involved in fifty 100-plus partnerships.
The summary of his 50 hundred-plus partnerships are as follows: 1st wkt (23), 2nd wkt (11), 3rd (10), 4th wkt (3) and 5th wkt (3)

Name: Amar
Message: Is the wicket-keeper allowed to bowl in a Test or one-day match? If so, how many such instances have been there? If not, what is the reason for the law?

Answer5: Yes, a wicket-keeper is allowed to bowl in any form of cricket. There have been several instances in both Tests and ODIs where wicket-keepers have bowled and picked up wickets.

The most famous being the case of English wicket-keeper Alfred Lyttelton who against Australia in the Oval Test match in 1884 was asked remove his keeping pads and bowl. He then went on to pick up four Australian wickets.

His bowling analysis of 12-5-19-4 still remains the best by any wicket-keeper in international cricket.

Name: Gaurav
Message: Who has been recorded as the quickest Indian bowler ever? Who is regarded as the quickest bowler in Indian cricketing history? How many Indian bowlers have managed to bowl in excess of 90 mph?

Answer6: Many old timers regard Mahomed Nissar who played in six Tests for India from 1932 to 1936 as one of the fastest Indian bowler. However during the recent times both Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar have bowled at speeds ranging from 90 to 93 miles per hour.

Name: Ameet Nivsarkar
Message: We had the distinction of seeing 4 NZ batsmen score a century in an innings (against Aus)recently. How many times has this happened before in Tests ? Can you give a list of all such instances? Also, has any team scored 5 centuries in an innings ?

Answer7: Scoring four or more hundreds in an innings in Tests is not a rare feat. This has occured on 19 occasions, with Australia (v West Indies, at Kingston, June 1955) and Pakistan (v Bangladesh, at Multan, August 2001) having the distinction of scoring five hundreds each.

Name: mahesh
Message: If batsman makes a triple hundred in Test cricket ,will his stats read as 3 hundreds or just a hundred?In the same manner if he scores 150+ is,is it taken as a 100 & a 50?

Answer 8: In the batsman's career stats the triple hundred will be shown as just a hundred only. Likewise his 150-plus score will also be considered as a hundred.

Name: SAIBAL GHOSH
Message: Which former England Test cricketer played football for a club called Schunthorte United?

Answer9: England all-rounder Ian Botham from 1977 to 1992 in 102 Test matches appeared for Scunthorpe United as a striker in the 1980s.

Name: Rohit
Message: When and where did India play their first one-day match and what was the result?

Answer10: India played its first ODI match against England on 13 July 1974 in a 60-over match. India lost the match by 4 wickets. The brief scores of the match are given below

#12
ENGLAND v INDIA (1974)

PRUDENTIAL TROPHY - Match number 1
Leeds (Headingley) 13th July 1974 (Day game)

England won by 4 wickets [23 balls remaining]

India 265 (53.5 ov)
BP Patel 82, AL Wadekar 67, FM Engineer 32 CM Old 3/43, GG Arnold 2/42, RD Jackman 2/44

England 6/266 (51.1 ov)
JH Edrich 90, AW Greig 40, KWR Fletcher 39 ED Solkar 2/31, BS Bedi 2/68, S Madan Lal 1/43

Captains: AL Wadekar, MH Denness
Toss: England
Umpires: WE Alley, HD Bird
Man of the match: JH Edrich (Eng)

Mail Cricket Editor