´óÏó´«Ã½

Hi Bill. I was wondering, what is the lowest score a team has achieved in a first-class innings when every batsman has contributed runs.

Also, what is the record number of ducks in a single first-class innings.

Eddie, West Yorkshire

Hi Bill,

As a regular reader of your column, I can't help noticing that many of the records for poor scoring, or short-lived, test matches seem to date back to early days (19th century/early 20th). The distinct impression is that batsmen were weaker then (or bowlers stronger).

So...what was the highest aggregate score across all four innings before the first world war? How does it compare to the current record?

Steve, Northampton

Hi Bill,

Recently in one of our second team matches all of the wickets that we took were by the method of bowled, i was wondering how often this has occured in test match cricket and if one bowler has ever taken all 10 wickets by the method of bowled

Richard, Ipswich

Bill

three questions this time not about stats or rules but the other achievements of cricketers

1. When Andrew Strauss was dropped for the Sri Lanka tour I thought it would be the first time an England team was selected not containing a graduate for several years until I noticed that Monty has a degree in computer science. When was the last England team not to contain at least one graduate and how often has it happened?

2. I can think of the following who played first class cricket - a prime minister (Sir Alec Douglas-Home), a track and field world record holder (CB Fry), an FA cup winner (Denis Compton), a Nobel Laureate (Samuel Beckett). What other famous achievers have played first class cricket? NB: I thought Sam Mendes (Oscar winner) had but I can't find him on crickinfo.

3. I'm sure I read that there was a once a cricket match at Lords between writers and actors (including Arthur Conan Doyle) but I can't find any record of it. Did it happen or did I dream it? Was it a first class match? What other games of this type were played?

Matthew
West Yorkshire

Bill, I was wondering about very low Test batting averages. Does Chris Martin (NZ) have the worst average ever? The other candidates I could think of (Walsh, Kaneria, Tufnell, Mullally, Bob Holland, Bert Ironmonger) all seem to have marginally better figures.

P.S. Many thanks for the linear scoresheets that you sent me last month!

Regards,

Stephen G Jones
Hampshire

question 5- Stephen Jones

Martin does indeed hold the lowest average, if taken after 30 innings

the top (bottom) 5 are (AVE-RUNS-WKTS)

CS Martin - 2.39 - 74 - 140
I Manjuaral - 3.68 - 81 - 28
M Singh - 3.81 - 99 - 88
BS Chandrasekhar - 4.07 - 167 - 242
FH Edwards - 4.25 - 170 - 91

you can see from this Martin, and Chandrasekhar, actually have more wikets than runs!

question 4 - Sir ian Blog

the game in question, Authors vs Actors, was in 1907, featured, for Authors, amongst others
AC.Doyle
A Anderson
AA Milne
PG Wodehouse

and for Actors, with others who have not kept their fame over the years,
C Aubrey Smith
BS Foster

the Actors won scoring 253 for 4 and bowling the Authors out for 193 (actually the Authors batted first and it was going to be a 2 innings match, but the 2nd innings were abandoned)

the turn of the century was repleat with these types of matches, one armed vs one legged, smokers vs non, right vs left handers, etc....non of these were first class

question 3 - Tractor Boy

as stated in previous blogs the mosts for each dismissal in test innings are

10 - caught (52 times)
9 - bowled (twice)
7 - lbw (twice)
5 - stumped (once)
4 - run out (twice)

Bill - having won the toss and insertd the opposition as Daniel Vettori did in the last test, how many instances are there in Test Cricket of losing the match by an innings?

Peter Graham Bexley Kent

Bill,

In the recent test match where Flynn had his tooth knocked out, I believe that the tooth hit the stumps. What would have happened if the tooth had dislodged the bails?

Would this be out "Hit wicket"?

Thanks,

Pete H

Re: 7

There are 25 instances of a captain putting the other side in only to lose by an innings including these where the runs margin was 100 or more:

294 - NZ (452-9d) v Z (59, 99, T Taibu), Harare, 2005
239 - I (610-3d) v B (118, 253, Habibul Bashar), Mirpur, 2007
175 - A (735-6d) v Z (239, 321, HH Streak), Perth, 2003-04
166 - SL (586-6d) v Z (184, 236, SV Carlisle), Colombo SSC, 2001-02
154 - A (601-8d) v E (190, 257, L Hutton), Brisbane, 1954-55
147 - A (284) v E (65, 72, AE Stoddart), Sydney, 1894-95
117 - E (428) v P (131, 180, Javed Burki), Leeds, 1962
112 - WI (416) v A (76, 228, KJ Hughes), Perth, 1984-85
107 - SA (529-4d) v B (170, 252, KHaled Mashud), East London, 2002-03
105 - NZ (518-9d) v WI (179, 234, BC Lara), Wellington, 1999-2000

Re my question 7 - your response 9

Many thanks for your reply

Peter Graham

Re question 8 - I believe under the laws of cricket only the bat, clothing or equipment used by the batsman can be counted should the wicket be "put down" in the case of a "hit wicket" dismissal

Peter Graham

Hi Bill
I have two questions that aren't related to anything in particular. First, why do the ´óÏó´«Ã½ refer to the rules of cricket? There are no rules, but there are 42 Laws.
Secondly, is it true that you used to score at St Albans Road Playing Fields when you were at Reigate Grammar School? This is now our home ground (Nutley Hall Cricket Club) and it's a nice thought that you might have sat where I sit now, pencil in hand.
Many thanks, Bill Benton

Hi Bill

Has a bowler ever doubled as a fast bowler and also a spinner?
Is it allowed for a bowler to change bowling style within an over and if so does this require notice to the batter?

thanks
Simon

question 11 - Rabbo2

actually the two laws, Hit Wicket and Wicket Put Down, both refer to the strikers person/body

however, the Law about Wkt Put Down APPEARS to make the distinction between person, permanently attached to the batter, and equipment/clothing, not permanently attached which would suggest that any part of his body this becomes detached (yikes!) would not count as a way to Hit your own wkt

basically it all hinges on an "or" in law 28

Is the clause after the "equipment" part of the phrase before the "OR" or only that after the "OR"?

read the laws yourself and decide
law 35
1. Out Hit wicket
(a) The striker is out Hit wicket if, after the bowler has entered his delivery stride and while the ball is in play, his wicket is put down either by the striker's bat or by his person as described in Law 28.1(a)(ii) and (iii)

law 28 (my CAPS)
1. Wicket put down
(a) The wicket is put down if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground by
(i) the ball.
(ii) the striker's bat, whether he is holding it or has let go of it.
(iii) the striker's person OR by any part of his clothing or equipment becoming detached from his person.
...

question 13 - SG Moore

did you even read Bill Frindalls answers at the top of the page, the raison d'etre for the entire blog?

if thats not enough read posts 12 in blog 171 or 33 in blog 170, or several others

To take the hit wicket theme further. If a batsman's cap falls off and hits the stumps, he is out. How about false teeth (or a syrup)?

Statistically, in terms of numbers of overs lost as a percentage of those scheduled to be played, which test ground in the world suffers the worst weather?
I will assume a minimum number of tests played as 5.

My initial thoughts are Centurion Park and Bourda, Georgetown but no doubt it will end up being Old Trafford or Headingley!

While compiling statistics for Cleethorpes Cricket Club, our statistician found the instance of a Mr Lord, who collapsed and died of a heart attack whilst batting. The book recorded his departure "retired dead", and his career average had been calculated with this counted as being out. Is this correct, or should a batsman retiring injured, or indeed dead, be counted as not out for such purposes?

Michael Shelton

Re #18 - when a batsman retires hurt or ill (dead is an extreme case...) he should be recorded as not out.

The first Test career bowling milestone I remember was Fred Trueman reaching 300 wickets and since then the others have been well publicized. Can you tell me who were the first bowlers to reach 100 and 200 wickets?

Derek Leslie Romsey Hampshire

Ref post 15 - I believe there have been numerous "characters" who have varied their style of bowling in the same over; names such as Keith Miller, Gary Sobers and Fred Trueman come to mind.

Derek Leslie

question 21 - DND Leslie

Johnny Briggs was the first to 100 in 1895
Clarrie Grimmett to 200 in 1936
Trueman to 300 in 1964
Richard Hadlee to 400 in 1990
Walsh to 500 in 2001
Warne reached 600 in 2005
and finally Warne to 700

I was listening (via the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website) to the commentary of Durham's opening Twenty20 match against Derbyshire on Wednesday. It was a bit of a farce by the end, and I've got four questions about it;

1. By the time Durham came to bat it was so dark that the commentators couldn't tell what was going on. They didn't know who one of the batsmen was until after he was out, they couldn't see the electronic scoreboard and they didn't know Durham had scored the winning runs until the players shook hands. I know people try to play through bad conditions a bit more in twenty20, but are there no guidelines to say when bad light can stop play?

2. Durham's innings was reduced to 7 overs, and the commentators kept referring to how many runs Durham needed for a win and how many for a tie. I thought there was no such thing as a tie in duckworth lewis matches. Am I right or not?

3. Was Doshi the first player in twenty20 to score a hat-trick and end up on the losing side?

4. The commentators referred to a few shots as "a french cut". What does that mean?

cheers
Dave
Newcastle

Ref Post 23(4)
A French Cut (also Chinese Cut or Surrey Cut or Harrow Drive) is an inside edge which just misses hitting the stumps.

Mike
Coventry

Bill, love the column, keep it up! I am a budding scorer, having been injured for my final year at school and wanting to still be involved.

I am intruiged by your reference to "linear scoring", what does this entail, and how can I learn to do it? It seems to be far more comprehensive.

Also my question, I heard tell a few years ago of a Pakistani U19 bowler who bowled both left and right arm orthodox. Is this story true, and if so what happened to him?

thanks again
Duncan

Hello Bill - Would you inform me how many ways a batsman can be given out, and what they are? Thanks - John Everiss - Daventry, Northamptonshire.

Hello Bill,

I imagine this will be quite a tough Q......in the last 3 year period since the 2005 Ashes England have been bowled out many times for less than 200. Is there any other 3 year period where this has ocurred more often?

Thanks,

Mark

Re Law 26

I remember a dispute I had with an umpire about 12 years ago in a Dorset PCB Div 1 game. I'll argue to my dying day that I was robbed and the rules didn't actually cover what happened. Perhaps you can throw some further light on the rule.

It was a very tight finish and we only required one wicket to win the game, the opposing team 4 runs. I bowled probably the best bouncer I ever bowled at the unwitting tailend batsman who literally didn't see it. He never moved (until the ball cracked off his forehead that is!). The ball few over second slip and to the ropes. The umpire duely signalled 4 leg byes and removed the bails. I argued that the batsman had played no shot and the runs should not stand. The umpire explained that the batsman was taking evasive action and so the runs must stand. I countered that to be taking evasive action, the batsman would have had to have moved or at least appeared to be trying to get out of the way of the ball. The umpire had no answer to this but let the runs stand anyway.

The batsman was duely carried away having unwittingly won the game for his team. Had the runs not stood and he had retired hurt, we would have won. I still feel robbed to this day!

I was recently playing in a match where the wickets had been set too far apart and the ball managed to go through the stumps while being bowled. The umpires simply reset the stumps and continued with the game, i was wondering whether this was the correct decision.

re 26, there are 10 ways of being out;
1. bowled
2. lbw
3. caught
4. run out
5. stumped
6. hit wicked
7. double hit
8. timed out
9. obstructing the wicket
10. handling the ball

Bill, Bill, Bill!

Even you make mistakes.

You state that 2 bowlers taking 7 wickets each in the same Test has occured only once; Benaud and Lindwall in Madras 56.

How about the Oval 97 when Kasper and McGrath did it?

Rajiv Radhakrishnan

Re 31.

in that same match Tuffers also took a 7 for (as well as a 4 for in the second innings)

Re. 30
I love the idea that you can be out "Hit wicked"!

The perfect dismissal for Ali G? Or is this just a clever ploy for re-introducing "6 and out" that we used to play when I was little.

Also to correct method 9 it's "obstructing the field", i.e. doing something that prevents the fielding side from otherwise taking a wicket or preventing runs (such as barging a player over as they're preparing to catch the ball).

Hi Bill,

Has there ever been a situation where the four main bowlers were all left handed batsmen, and what is the greatest number of left handed batsmen to appear in a test side

Tim Sussex

Re 33

Fair enough, I consider myself humbled.

Actually, I think a couple of columns ago someone was talking about an 11th way. Although it's not listed as one of the 10 ways of being out, you can be "retired out" if you retire for a reason other than injury and don't return

Bill,

At my local cricket club there is a bowler who is 6ft 4 and another who is 6ft 3. In the penultimate game of the rain affected 2004 season both these giants took 3 wickets each. This is not extraordinary but on further inspection I noted that
the first initial of each of their chronological 'victims' was the same. (E.g. bowler ones first wickets name started with J as did bowler 2, bowlers ones second wicket started with P as did bowler twos etc) .

Moreover, the luckless batsmen were knocked over in height order (smallest first) ending ironically with the 6ft 3 and half (height exactly between aforementioned bowlers) number 11.

This immediately got me thinking.

Is there a case in Test cricket where two bowlers only an inch apart in height, but both over 6ft, have taken 3 wickets each in the same innings, with each of their individual subsequent wicket's first names starting with the same letter as that of their teammates first names, and the 6 wickets were taken in ascending height order, with the final one standing the exact height placing him precisely half an inch smaller than one of the bowlers and half an inch taller than another.

My friend tells me there have been two such cases, both post war. Can you help me find them?

Hi Bill,

Consider the following situation. The side batting first in a one day match gets bowled out relatively cheaply (e.g. for 150). The side batting second gets off to a flier and are 100/0 in the tenth over. The bowler then notices some dark clouds looming and proceeds to deliberately bowl a series of wides in the hope that rain arrives before 10 overs are bowled and the DL sytem can determine a result.

Is there anything in the laws of the game for an umpire to intervene i.e. deliberatley not call a wide?

Tony

Hi Bill,

Not sure if you have had this one before, who was the last England batsman to retire with an average of 50+,
Colin

question 38 - Hawkeye1963

well taking 10 innings as a minimum there have only been 11 Englishmen to average more than 50 in tests;

Compton 50.06
Walters 52.27
Tyldesley 55.00
Hutton 56.67
Russell 56.88
Hobbs 56.95
Hammond 58.46
Duleepsinhji 58.53
Barrington 58.67
Paynter 59.23
Sutcliffe 60.73

the last of these to play in a test was barrington in 1968

the closest a current player comes is Pietersen with an average of 49.56

in fact in all world cricket only 35 players have retired with averages greater than 50 (after at least 10 inns) and there are 12 current players with an average higher than 50


regarding questions 26/30/33/35

there are 11 ways to be out, but the 11th way is not appealed for (and so not "given out" as the question)

as question 35 correctly states you can be RETIRED OUT (different from retired hurt), which was covered in blog 168, but here it is again
from LAW 2. Point 9 (my CAPS)

A batsman may retire at any time during his innings. The umpires... shall be informed of the reason for a batsman retiring.
(a) If a batsman retires because of ... unavoidable cause, he is entitled to resume his innings ... If for any reason he does not do so, his innings is to be recorded as -Retired 'not out'.
(b) If a batsman retires for any reason other than as in (a) above, he may only resume his innings with the consent of the opposing captain. IF FOR ANY REASON HE DOES NOT RESUME HIS INNINGS IT IS TO BE RECORDED AS RETIRED "OUT"

this has in fact happened twice in Tests, well twice in the same test, both Attapattu and Jayawardene were out like this vs Bangladesh in 2001

Hi Bill,
i know that one bowler is not allowed to bowl consecutive overs but does this still apply if he/she wants to bowl one over left handed and one over right handed assuming the umpire is informed.
Dan, Surrey

Hi Bill.

Love the column. Just finished watching the twenty20 international where England comprehensively beat New Zealand at Old Trafford and have a question in regards to the numbers beneath the England badge on the front of the players shirts. Kevin Pietersens was 7 - what does this relate to ?

I know in the Test Match Team it relates to the order in which you made your debut, ie Michael Vaughan was the 600th player to play Test cricket for England. But KP played in the 1st ever twenty20 game for England v Australia at the Rose Bowl in 2005 and he came into bat at number 4 so where does 7 come from ? The only thing I can think of he may have been the 7th last player to play in that game for England to make his ODI debut ?

I would love you to clarify the situation.

Thanks,

Ross Marshall
Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England

Re 7 - You're welcome!

Re 1 -

The lowest completed first-class innings not containing a single duck is 37 by A Shaw's XI v Australians, Holbeck, 1882. The lowest with one duck, 27 by Lancashire v Surrey, Manchester, 1958, and the lowest with two, 23 by Sussex v MCC, Lord's, 1838.

In tests the lowest with no ducks is 75 by Australia v South Africa, Durban, 1949-50. In ODIs, 54 by India v Sri Lanka, Sharjah, 2000-01, In Int2020, 123-9 by Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, Khulna, 2006-07.

Following on (kind of) from a question in Number 172 about different Bowling styles from a bowler in the same over, is it recorded anywhere which style was used to take wickets? For example how many of Gary Sobers' 235 wickets were taken with Spin Bowling or Fast Bowling?

Re 1

9 players were dismissed without scoring in the first innings (and the not out batsman was also on 0) for Muslims v Europeans at Pune, 1915/16. The only two batsmen who scored (Feroze Khan 8 and M Yusuf Baig 4) put on 18 for the 4th wicket. There were also 9 extras for a total of 21. For the Europeans, FA Tarrant had bowling figures of 7-6-6-5 so something like a third of the total came in just one over. Khan and Baig were dismissed in consecutive balls by HL Simms who then completed his hat trick before taking another wicket two balls later to make 4 in 5, There were also 6 ducks in their second innings, making 15 in the match which must be somewhere in the reckoning for the match record too. Only four of the Muslims team scored at all, and extras top-scored in both innings. No, they didn't win! The Europeans' openers scored 96 before being parted - more than both Muslim's innings!

question 41 - Ross E Marshall

well if its the same as ODIs and Tests, and i believe it is, the shirt numbering is alphabetical in the first game, Pietersen was 7th alphabetically

Collingwood
Flintoff
Gough
Harmison
Jones
Lewis
Pietersen
Solanki
Stauss
Trescothick
Vaughan

Hi Bill and all,

With Anthony Ireland being removed from the attack in Gloucestershire's tie with Warwickshire is his bowling figures of 0.1-0-12-0 the most expensive single delivery over in all cricket?

Regarding the ffirst question about 2 bowlers getting seven wickets - the last match of ashes 1997 - McGrath, Tuffnell and Kasprowitz each got 7 wickets in 3 cosecutive innings - I am sure that is unique

36 - Can anyone help me out with this question?

I have a bet riding on this.

With all the talk of reducing first class cricket to 3 days it got me wondering.....

How many overs does the average test match last?

Thanks,
Mark

Hi Bill:

I have to tell something about the answer for the first question of this column. There are more than one (1) ocation of two bowlers of the same side taken 7 wickets of the same test match. Refer :Test # 1377 The Ashes, 1997, 6th Test Kennington Oval, London 21,22,23 August 1997. In this match there were three (3) 7 wickets holds (2 from Australia - McGrath and Kasprovicz, 1 from England - Tufnel)

Thanks!

BILL

I'm sure there's a whole load of cricketers who've never gone on to play Tests, but did manage to be official 12th man for one, as per my old Playfair annuals.

Can you confirm my suspicions that this includes the 5th of the Mohammed brethren, Raees (1950's?) and the wonderfully-named Anwar Zeb (c.1978-1981) amongst Pakistani nearly-men?

Thanks

Steve

Hi Bill,

Re. first question of 2 players taking 7 wickets for the same team in a test match. What about England Vs Australia at The Oval in 1997 - McGrath 7/76 + Kasprowicz 7/36? Interestingly Tufnell also took 7/66 for England in this match!

Hi Bill, just looking through a few old cricket scorecards. In 1932/33 in the first test at Christchurch between New Zealand and England, both English openers, Herbert Sutcliffe and Eddie Paynter, were dismissed first ball.
Is that unique in test match history ?

Shaun, UK.

Cheers David.

Re 34 - The recent England v New Zealand series saw Broad, Sidebottom, Anderson and Panesar as England's main 4 bowlers. All left handed batsman even though Broad and Anderson are right handed bowlers.

Hi Bill,

I have just been watching the first one day game between England and New Zealand at the Riverside.

Ian Bell has just been run out again and this seems a regular mode of dismissal for him.

Can you tell me who has experienced the most run outs in their career, either one day or tests?

Many Thanks

Rob, Oxford

Hi Bill,

Recently Ponting completed 10000 test runs which I think was the 3rd quickest amonst the lot. Is this measured with respect to tests or innings played? Can you tell me which batsman got to the mark the quickest as per balls faced?....and which batsman has the best strike rate with minimum 5000 runs?

Thanks and cheers!

Shammi, Mumbai, India.

Hello Bill
Why is it that a declared right hand batsman is allowed to play a shot as a left hander when a bowler would be noballed for even bowling underarm if he had not previously informed the umpire of his intention so to do?
This is not a genuine reverse sweep in which the batsman is hampered by having his hands in an awkward position to play the shot but is, in my opinion, plain cheating.

question 55 - Jobba

the top players for runs outs are (runouts/innings):

in tests
Border (12/265)
Sobers (10/160)
Hayden (10/167)
Hooper (10/173)
Taylor (9/186)
Ponting (9/210)
Dravid (9/210)

in ODIs
Atapattu (41/259)
ul-Haq (40/350)
Akram (38/280)
Dravid (37/308)
Yousuf (36/250)

Bell has 3 from 70 test innings and 10 from 63 ODI innings, which for ODIs would be 15.9% compared to Atupattus 18.1% (Healy managed 25% of 120 ODI innings run out)

question 56 - Slowerball

generally First to is calculated on innings, so Lara was the quickest to 10,000 taking 195, ponting was 3rd taking 196

if you calculated the time taken then Dravid was the fastest, taking 11years 280 days and Ponting 2nd (12y174d)

of the seven players to have scored 10,000+ runs 2 didn't have all the balls they faced recorded (Gavaskar and Tendulkar) for the others strike rates are:

Lara 60.52
Ponting 59.04
Waugh 48.65
Dravid 41.95
Border 40.98

of all players over 5000 runs the one with the highest strike rate is Gilchrist (81.96 for 5570 runs), only 5 others have rates over 60 (Hayden, Lara, Botham, Smith, Jayasuriya)

question 57 - Rollestonian

i think you'll find that underarm bowling is illegal, even if you inform the umpire!

see law 24 part 1

(b) Underarm bowling shall not be permitted except by special agreement before the match.

as regarding changing batting hands, why is that cheating? the umpire takes the leg stump as the leg stump when the bowler began his run up, anything the batsman does after that is his business, if he wants to complicate his life, be more prone to lbw, and risk his non-protected thumb, and thigh, and fore-arm, as a bowler i say let him

question 58 - Portolan

Changing hands is not allowed by the bowler and is cheating by the batsman because it denies the bowler the opportunity to set an appropiate field.

question 59 - Rollstonian

yes, changing hands is, if as you stated in the original question, the umpire and batsman is informed, but "even bowling underarm" certainly isn't

as i said the disadvantages probably out-weigh the advantages, its for the batsman to decide, the same as setting a 6-3 or 5-4 or other field

i wouldn't call it cheating, but i suppose each to his own

In reference to the question about two bowlers taking 7 in the same match, Glenn McGrath and Mike Kasprowicz took 7 in the first and second innings respectively at the Oval in 1997.

Here's a bit of a geeky question. In the latest ICC Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament (2007/2008), the Scottish team appeared young to say the very least. The oldest in the team was 29 years old and the youngest, 15. A number of players were in the age range of 15-17 and the captain was 20. In all international cricket (men's as well as women's), is this the youngest team ever in terms of average age?

Prashant from New York

Re 35

Yes you can be out retired out, but I don't think it's really a mode of dismissal as such. Its happened twice in Test cricket, both in the same innings of the same match (the second match of the Asian Test Championship in 2001 between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka).

Bangladesh batted first and were all out for 90.

In reply Sri Lanka put on 144 for the first wicket (Atapattu and Jayasuriya) before Jayasuria was out LBW and replaced by Sanggakkara who was caught with the score on 269-2.

Jayawardene came in and joined Atapattu, but as soon as Atapattu reached his double century at 201, and with the score at 440, he walked off (retired out) because the Sri Lankans wanted to give as many of their batsmen a chance as possible, and the Bangladeshis weren't looking like getting him out.

Jayawardene put on another 90 with the new batsman (Vandort), but as soon as Jayawardene got to 150, he also walked off, with the score now on 530-4. When Vandort was out, Sir Lanka declared at 555-5

Bangladesh put on a much more spirited display in their second innings, but were all out for 328, losing by an innings and 127 runs before tea on day 3

Presumably retiring out is seen as more sportsmanlike than deliberately giving a dolly catch back to the bowler?

Hi Bill,

Seeing KP's change of stance in the recent ODI stirred my aging memory. I have a vague memory of someone "turning round" and taking stance with the wrong hand in a test match about 20-25 years ago. Could it have been Sir Ian winding up Denis Lillee or is my memory playing tricks?

charlie - essex

Hi Bill

Can you supply the answer to this question please.

In our Saturady league game, the umpire made a mistake counting overs bowled by a bowler. Retrictions limit bowlers to 12 overs.
He started to bowl a 13th over, and took a wicket with the first ball.
Should we have gone back and restarted the over with a new bowler, or having been brought to his attention should the bowler have been replaced ?

I would be very grateful for your input.

Thanks

Keith Atkinson, Gloucestershire.