12th March, 2002

Name: Toby
Question: Mr. Menon, have any cricketers fought on the cricket field with their hands rather than with ball and bat?

Answer 1: The closest cricketers came to fighting on the field with their hands was in the Perth Test match when Javed Miandad and Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee almost came to blows. The latter lashed out and kicked Pakistani captain Miandad. The ugly incident occurred at 3.00 pm on Monday, 16 November, 1981, the fourth day of the first Test in a three-match series.

Lillee had delivered the seventh ball of his ninth over, when Miandad turned the ball towards square leg and with Mansoor Akhtar set off for a comfortable single. Miandad, watching the ball, was merely walking through for a single when, two-thirds of the way down the pitch, Lillee, having completed his follow-through, took a step to his left and hindered the Pakistani captain.

Miandad definitely was impeded, and when he saw the ball being returned to the keeper, Rod Marsh, he pushed Lillee with his hands to be able to safely complete the single. But moments later, Lillee came from behind and let fly with a left-foot kick, which struck Miandad at the back of the leg. Lillee's uncouth action was compounded when Miandad retaliated by wielding his bat above his head in an apparent effort to strike Lillee.

Lillee immediately shaped his fists like a boxer, causing umpire Tony Crafter to leap between the two players and restrain the infuriated Lillee from getting entangled with Miandad.

It was a pathetic scene, which involved two of the world's most volatile cricketers, who forgot the ethics of the game. It was bad sportsmanship at its very worst.

Name: Binoy
Question: Who are the batsmen who have scored five consecutive centuries in Test matches.

Answer 2: The only batsman who has scored five Test hundreds in a row was West Indian Everton Weekes from 1947-48 to 1948-49.

Name: Ankit
Question: Hello Sir, I was going through all the quesiotns posted by the users and your answers as well. I must say, you're just amazing!

Anyway, comming to the question: I remember an instance -- New Zeland vs India (I think in Nagpur), where New Zealand walked in (batting first) with three batsmen. (One of them: Mark Gratbatch, and I think Adam Parore was running for the other opener).

Is any player allowed to carry an injury in to the match? Would he be allowed a runner had the team known that the player is injured even before the match has started?

Answer 3: Law 2.1 clearly states that if the umpires are satisfied that a player has been injured or become ill after the nomination of the player, they shall allow the player to have a runner while batting.

Name: Vikas
Question: When was was the women's World Cup first played and who were the winners?

Answer 4: The women's World Cup was first played in 1973; England were the winners.

Name: Ashish
Question: Many bowlers have taken hat-ricks, but has anyone taken four successive wickets or more in Tests or one-day cricket?

Answer 5: No bowler has ever taken four wickets in four balls in either Tests or ODIs. However, such feats have been performed in first-class cricket on several occasions.

Name: J. Shivakumar
Question: Sir, I vaguely remember Sobers declaring at 92/2 to make the match interesting and the West Indies lost the match, I think. Can you provide the details ? Thanks

Answer 6: The brief scores of the Test match are given below.

England were set to score 215 runs in 165 mins, won with just three minutes to spare. Sobers, with his attack weakened by a thigh muscle injury to fast bowler Charlie Griffith, gambled on a slight chance of winning rather than let the five-match Test series stagnate. In fact, this was the only Test match in the series that had a result.

#635 WEST INDIES v ENGLAND - 1967-68 (4th Test)
Port-of-Spain, 14th - 19th March 1968
England won by 7 wickets

West Indies 1st Innings 526 for 7 dec
RB Kanhai 153, SM Nurse 136, GS Camacho 87 DJ Brown 3/107, IJ Jones 2/108

England 1st Innings 404
MC Cowdrey 148, APE Knott 69*, G Boycott 62 BF Butcher 5/34, WV Rodriguez 3/145

West Indies 2nd Innings 92 for 2 dec
MC Carew 40*, GS Camacho 31, SM Nurse 9 JA Snow 1/29

England 2nd Innings 215 for 3
G Boycott 80*, MC Cowdrey 71, JH Edrich 29 LR Gibbs 2/76, WV Rodriguez 1/34

Captains: GStA Sobers, MC Cowdrey
Toss: West Indies
Umpires: R Gosein, D Sang Hue

Name: Rachana Reddy
Question: Dear Menon, can you provide the following information for us.
Who has scored maximum runs in a World Cup match?
What is highest score made by a team and
who has taken maximum wickets till now in the same. Thank you.

Answer 7: South African Gary Kirsten's unbeaten 188 against UAE at Rawalpindi in the 1996 World Cup is the highest individual score, while West Indian pace bowler Winston Davis's 7-51 agaianst Australa in 10.3 overs at Leeds in the 1983 World Cup has the best bowling figures. The highest score is 398-5 in 50 overs by Sri Lanka against Kenya at Kandy in the 1996 WC.

Name: Ramesh
Question: Who took ODIs first hat-trick and who were the victims?

Answer 8: Pakistani pace bowler Jalal-ud-din claimed ODI's first hat-trick against Australia at Hyderabad (Pak) on 20-9-1982. His victims were Rodney Marsh, Bruce Yardley and Geoff Lawson.

Name: Raj
Question: Who is the first bowler to take five wickets on debut in one-dayers

Answer 9: Sri Lankan Uvais Karnain holds the distinction of being the first bowler in ODIs to take five wickets on debut - against New Zealand at Moratuwa on 31-3-1984.

Name: Swami
Question:
1. What is the maximum no. of consecutive maiden overs bowled in Test cricket and ODIs ? Please give the details of the Test/ODI - Date/Venue/Teams/Bowler etc.
2. Which bowler has bowled the maximum no. of consecutive maiden overs in Test cricket and ODIs ?

Answer 10: The Test record is 21 maidens in a row by India's left-arm spinner RG "Bupu" Nadkarni against England at Madras in January 1964, while the ODI record is believed to be held by West Indian medium pacer Phil Simmons, who bowled six maidens in a row against Pakistan at Sydney on 17-12-1992.

Mail Cricket Editor