The Lord’s Dishonour Boards (Aug 2021)

You know all about the Test honours boards at Lord’s, which have been covered in this blog a few times.

You also know who never did well while playing in several matches at Lord’s: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/those-who-missed-the-bus-at-lords/

Now imagine the concept of a Dishonour Board. For batting, this would be anyone who gets a genuine pair (dismissed for a duck in both innings) at Lord’s:

Dismissed for a pair at Lord’s:

India contributed Murali Vijay and Kuldeep Yadav in the 2018 Test. Earlier that season, Stuart Broad was dismissed for a silver pair (out second ball in each innings). Anderson and Curran both got pairs against India in 2021.

In 2021, Sam Curran became the first to get a golden pair (out first ball in each innings) at Lord’s. No instance could be found of a bronze pair (third ball).

As you may guess, most of these players are not specialist batsmen (though Prior, Stokes and Murali Vijay are exceptions).

Botham’s pair in 1981 was the final trigger to his dismissal from the captaincy, when England trailed 0-1 in the second Test of an Ashes series. Brearley came back as captain, and the rest was history  as England won three Tests in a row to win 3-1.

Now we look at those who bowled in each innings of a match and had match figures of  0-100 or worse:

The most runs conceded are 143 by West Indian Fidel Edwards and 142 by Australian AC Agar. The most overs bowled is 51 by R Berry in 1950. That was in the historic victory when the West Indies won in England for the first time.

The only instance from India is that of Shastri, who came up against Gooch’s 333 and 123 in 1990.

And finally, we look at wicket-keepers who did not make a dismissal after fielding in both innings of a match:

Leslie Ames appears here three times in the 1930s. A number of other prominent keepers ranging from Waite to de Villiers are here as well.

Now someone like Andy Zaltzman can take this up further and put up the Dishonour Boards at Lord’s.

More odd station signs around India

(Copyright of the pictures rest with the respective photographers)

If one looks at the use of words in English, Hindi and other languages on station signs then many inconsistencies can be found. Here are samples from different parts of the country.

We start with this place in a somewhat remote part of Assam. North is transcribed into Hindi, but one can make out that it is “Uttor” in Assamese.

It is a normal practice to use the Hindi word “Chhavni” for Cantonment. Not everywhere. Here are two examples from Karnataka, where both Chhavni and Hindi Cantonment are used:

Our next stop is the station formerly known as Chakki Bank and now Pathankot Cantt. See the Hindi and Punjabi signs at the same station:

Hope the concerned persons have made up their mind now.

Similarly at Nellore South where both Dakshin and Hindi South are/were used:

(Can someone clarify what is written in Telugu?)

Elsewhere in South India, a standard pattern for Hindi words is not followed:

Note that South and Town have been transcribed (not translated) into Malayalam. (Can someone clarify what is written in Kannada for Bengaluru East?)

Various forts:

In Chennai, the Tamil word has been transcribed into Hindi. In Ankai Killa, the suffix is in Hindi unlike in the other places.

Now to some well-known stations in Assam which are now closed:

The words Lower and Hill have been transcribed into Hindi and Assamese.

There are many “New” stations on the NF zone, but only one “Old”:

Here the words New and Old have been transcribed into Hindi, Bengali and Assamese.

But for variety we have:

New Delhi..

New Amravati is in Maharashtra, hence the top line is supposed to be in Marathi.

Our last stop is at Agra, which has Cantt, Fort and City:

Here at least a consistent pattern has been followed.

But you can see that the usage of English words in Hindi and other languages is quite arbitrary all over the country.

 

Odd station signs in Chennai

Note these station signs where the Hindi inscription seems to have been taken from Tamil rather than English:

Now compare the sign of Park Town above (top right) with the nearby Park:

One wonders about the logic.

Finally, a similar one from Coimbatore:

The Rishabh and Rahul show

(Figures as on August 23, 2018)

While Virat Kohli was Man of the Match, the twin fielding feats of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul played a large part in India’s victory at Nottingham.

First we look at fielding performances on debut, with reference to Rishabh:

Innings fielding on debut:

Rishabh’s 5 dismissals is the best for India on debut by a wicketkeeper, though Yajurvindra had taken 5 as a non-keeper. A few Indian keepers had earlier taken 4 catches in an innings on their debut.

Match fielding on debut:

Here, both Rishabh and Yajurvindra made 7 dismissals on debut. Rishabh’s 7 is the best by any Indian keeper on debut. Some Indian keepers had made 5 dismissals on debut.

Note that Yajurvindra’s 5 in the innings and 7 in the match remain the best by any debutant non-keeper.

We look at fielding performances by non-keepers.

(This is for all matches, not merely on debut).

Innings fielding:

The world record is 5, shared by the fielders listed above. The first to achieve this was VY Richardson, maternal grandfather of the Chappell brothers. Several current and recent players can be seen. KL Rahul is one of many who took 4 catches (in the 4th innings, to add to the 3 he took in the first innings).

Match fielding:

While current player Rahane is the only one to take 8 catches in a match (which, by the way, India lost), KL Rahul is one of several to take 7 catches. Note that no one had taken 7 catches in a match until Greg Chappell in 1974.

 

 

Best innings fielding on Test debut

This is being written in the middle of the 3rd Eng v Ind Test.

These figures may have concerned the player’s first or second innings as  a fielder.

Note the only non-keeper Yajurvindra Singh, who took as many catches as Rishabh Pant.

He had a short career of 4 Tests, as did Maclean.

Emery played only one Test, as he had the misfortune to play in the Healy era.

Six off first ball on debut-and soon vanished

When Rishabh Pant hit his second ball on Test debut for six, the keepers of arcane statistics pointed out that this had only been surpassed by New Zealander Mark Craig, who had done this on his first ball while making his debut in 2014. More importantly, he took 8 wickets in the match and played a major role in one of New Zealand’s rare victories in the West Indies.

See: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/497543.html

and this extract from Steven Lynch’s column:

“Has anyone hit his first ball in Test cricket for six? And how about his last ball? asked Julian Metcalfe from England
The only player so far to hit the first ball he received in Test cricket for six was the New Zealand offspinner Mark Craig, who cracked Sulieman Benn of West Indies over the long-off boundary in Kingston in June 2014. In the field that day, probably nodding approvingly, was Chris Gayle, who remains the only man to hit the very first ball of a Test match for six – from the debutant Sohag Gazi of Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2012. The only man known to have hit his last ball in Test cricket for six was another West Indian, Wayne Daniel, against Australia in Port-of-Spain in 1984.”

Craig seemed set for a long career, particularly as he soon became one of  the few to make the double of a fifty and ten wickets in a Test during his first year of international cricket.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=start;qualmin1=1;qualmin2=10;qualval1=fifty_plus;qualval2=wickets;template=results;type=allround;view=match

However, his Test career lasted little over two years and he is no longer in contention for the NZ team. Probably this was more because his bowling figures had declined, though he continued to score useful runs in the lower order.

He played 15 Tests and no ODIs and T20Is.

Here you can see his Test career (2014-2016):

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/497543.html?class=1;template=results;type=allround;view=match

“He did nothing in the Test”

Following the second Test at Lord’s, there were some snide remarks directed at Adil Rashid who did not bat, bowl or take a catch in the match. He had however scored a few runs and took 3 wickets in the first Test.

It is fairly common to end a match without runs, wickets or dismissals, particularly when rain affects a large portion of the match. In 2018 alone six Test players have experienced this, including Kuldeep Yadav and Murali Vijay in the same Test.

An afterthought: Lakmal was captain in that Test. Probably we should exclude captains from a listing like this.

Is there anyone who never scored a run, took a wicket or made a fielding dismissal in his entire Test career? Yes, more than you may guess.

A total of 21 players, of whom only TAP Sekhar played 2 Tests and the rest never got another chance.

The only one who did not bat or bowl at all was JCW MacBryan in 1924, who was a victim of a badly rain-affected Test where his side never got to bat and the opponents also got less than a day to bat.

What of those who never batted or bowled in their career but at least made one dismissal?

There is only one instance:

This was wicketkeeper V Rajindernath who made 4 stumpings (but took no catches) in his only Test.

In ODIs and T20Is there are more such cases. One instance related to the current Sri Lankan player Akila Dananjaya who did not bat, bowl or field in his first ODI (mainly as he never came into bat before rain prevented the opponents from batting). Still, he is now one of his team’s key players in Test and limited-overs matches.

This was the scorecard of his debut ODI:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/12294/scorecard/582191/sri-lanka-vs-new-zealand-5th-odi-new-zealand-tour-of-sri-lanka-2012-13

 

When Dunga meets Bunga Bunga

You have heard of Dunga (if you follow soccer). Even if you don’t, you would have heard of Berlusconi and his Bunga Bunga parties. And they come together in a small town in Pakistan.

The soccer player Dunga: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunga

It is mentioned that the nickname comes from the Portuguese for Dopey, one of the seven dwarfs.

As for Bunga Bunga, read a quick summary here. It is important to note that this phrase was not invented by the Italian leader but has a long history going back to Britain in the early 20th century:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-12325796

A more detailed description of the old hoax is in here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunga_bunga and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought_hoax

And they come together in a small town in Pakistan’s Punjab province:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunga_Bunga

It even has a train station, but this has not seen service for a few decades:

Note: It was pointed out that the Urdu characters would be better interpreted as Donga Bonga.

The two Stalins

Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin became Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 2021.

His father thought it was a good idea to name him after the Soviet leader when he was born on March 1, 1953.

On that day the original Stalin suffered a cerebral haemorrage and subsequently died on March 5.

This coincidence is duly mentioned in the Wikipedia article on MKS: “M. K. Stalin was born in Madras, now Chennai, on 1 March 1953. He was named after Joseph Stalin, who died four days later.”

Incidentally, Stalin was a nickname he adopted in the course of his political career. He was born in 1878 with the name of Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, which was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in Russian.

He was one of the relatively few non-Russians who were important figures in the Soviet Union. His name in Georgian was: იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი

Georgian looks unlike any other European language.

Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin#Death,_funeral_and_aftermath:_1953

The Lord’s triple honours list

You know about the honours boards at Lord’s: one for scoring a century, one for 5wi and one for 10wm. (Then there are separate boards for home, visitors and neutral players. Ignore that for now).

How many players do you think qualify to be on all three boards? One of them joined the club during this Test.

An elite group of all-rounders, with only one visitor (Miller) among them.

CR Woakes scored a century in this match. He had earlier taken 5wi and 10wm in 2016.

He really seems to like Lord’s, as we see from his record here:

Of those who appear on two or more boards. Vinoo Mankad and Ian Botham are the only ones to have taken a century and 5wi in the SAME match.

No one has scored a century and taken 10wm in the same Test at Lord’s. This has been achieved only three times in all Tests, by Botham, Imran and Shakib.

As an afterthought, here are the only two who have scored a fifty and taken 10wm in the SAME Test at Lord’s:  they would be duly listed for their 5wi and 10wm, but not for their fifty.

A similar piece from Cricinfo: http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/24350452/chris-woakes-lord-love

Tail piece: Some readers seem to be unsure about the existence of the 10wm boards. Maybe they are a relatively recent innovation. However, we have some pictures to verify this:

Part of the 10wm board.

Also, when someone gets 10wm with two fivers, both fivers are mentioned on the fiver board. If he gets one fiver and another haul of less than 5 wickets in the match, both are mentioned (and marked) as you can see here:

And finally, one of the obscure boards for neutral Tests:

These were set up in 2010 and so far cover only two Tests, Aus v SA in 1912 and Aus v Pak in 2010.

 

 

Best performances by losing captains-2

Hope that you have read part 1: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2018/08/05/best-performances-by-losing-captains/

We look at other performances by captains in tests lost by their team. We will see that India is well represented here.

Best innings bowling (including all instances of 5wi and above):

Kapil is the only captain who has taken more than 7 wickets here. BS Bedi, Imran Khan and Courtney Walsh have multiple appearances. Current players include Shakib Al Hasan (multiple appearances), Graeme Cremer and Jason Holder.

Best match bowling (8wm and above):

Kapil again heads this, from that same match in 1983. Bedi is the only other one with a 10-for. Current players include Jason Holder and Graeme Cremer.

Best innings fielding (5 dismissals):

Includes a few current players such as Mushfiqur, SPD Smith and Sarfraz. Sammy and Smith are the only non-keepers here.

Best match fielding (6 dismissals):

Current player Sarfraz Ahmed tops this list along with AC Gilchrist, while MS Dhoni and SPD Smith also appear. SP Fleming and SPD Smith (twice) are the only non-keepers. Gilchrist was a “regular” stand-in captain.

Best all-round performance (50 and 5wi):

Holder and Shakib from the present, while Imran Khan has two appearances from the same series in 1982. The best performances would by by Imran (July 1982) and Holder.

 

Best performances by losing captains-1

The 1st Test between England and India saw England winning, though Virat Kohli’s 149 and 51 attracted attention more as it was almost a solo performance. Let us see that best batting performances by captains whose side lost.

Best innings scores (140 and above):

Only one double century here. Remember that this is only for captains, so there are higher scores like Lara’s 221 (when not captain) which do not appear here.

Tendulkar and Kohli (in Jan 2018) have scored more than Kohli’s 149 here. Pataudi and Kohli (yet again, this time from 2014) appear further down. Cook and Mushfiqur are other current players here.

Now for Best match totals (190 and above):

Here, Kohli has the highest among all losing captains with 256 in 2014. His 200 in this match is in third place for India, with Pataudi in second place. Cook also appears here.

Next we will look at the best bowling, fielding and all-round performances by losing captains. A number of current players figure in these.