A bronze pair (or jack pair) is a pair of dismissals for zero with exactly three balls in each innings.
There are only 7 such dismissals in all Tests, and the first was as late as 1978. However, the number of balls in an innings was not always recorded in earlier years.
BP Bracewell, NZ vs E, Oval, 27/07/1978
DE Malcolm, E vs NZ, Birmingham, 05/07/1990
DL Vettori, NZ vs SL, Galle, 03/06/1998
GP Wickremasinghe, SL vs P, Karachi, 12/03/2000
AFG Griffith, WI vs Z, Port of Spain, 16/03/2000
Kamal Rabbi, BD vs E, Chattogram, 20/10/2016
KOA Powell, WI vs NZ, Hamiltom, 09/12/2017
1 On Test debut.
2 Dismissed by RJ Hadlee both times. Malcolm took 5wi and 8wm.
5 Dismissed by HH Streak both times.
6 On Test debut.
No wicket-keeper or captain has made a bronze pair. Nor has anyone playing in his last Test.
We have seen the instances of Golden ducks (dismissed after 1 ball) and Silver ducks (2 balls). Now we have Bronze ducks (or jack ducks (after king ducks and queen ducks).
A total of 921 bronze ducks have been recorded in Tests.
Those with the highest number (5 and above) are:
I Sharma (Ind)-8
M Muralidaran (SL)-7
DL Vettori (NZ)-7
GA Gooch (E)-6
CA Walsh (WI)-6
SK Warne (A)-6
GP Wickremasinghe (SL)-6
SCJ Broad (E)-5
CS Martin (NZ)-5
The only prominent batsman here is Gooch.
For India (3 and above) are:
I Sharma (8), highest for all teams
Z Khan (4)
M Shami (4)
G Gambhir (3)
Kapil Dev (3)
V Sehwag (3)
SR Tendulkar (3)
This includes some of the top batsmen of their time.
India and Ireland have played 8 T20Is, of which India won 7 and 1 match was washed out.
One match was played in England, and the rest in Ireland.
Results:
Most runs-75 and above:
The most runs are by Balbirnie, closely followed by Hooda and RG Sharma.
Highest innings-50 and above:
Hooda is the only one to make a century, while Sharma has come close. The highest in this series was 72 by Balbirnie. Balbirnie and Sharma are the only ones to make two fifties.
Most wickets-5 and above:
Chahal, K Yadav and Young share the top spot with 7 wickets.
Best innings bowling- including all 3wi and above:
Zaheer Khan and Kuldeep Yadav have the best innings figures. CA Young’s 2-2 was the best in this series.
Most dismissals-3 or more:
Headed by Dockrell (4 as fielder) and Tucker (4 as keeper).
Most innings dismissals (2 or more):
Thompson and Tucker have both taken 3 in an innings.
None of the longest-lived Test cricketers are living today.
Coming back to the longest-lived first-class cricketers, only Alex McAllister of Scotland (born 19/12/1920) is still living. However he had played only one f-c match.
The oldest ever f-c player is J Manners (105+) and oldest Test player is N Gordon (103+).
The oldest Indian f-c player was DB Deodhar (101+).
Vasant Raiji and Raghuram Chandorkar were the oldest living f-c players for some time.
It was recently reported that India’s Rusi Cooper was the oldest living f-c cricketer, but this is incorrect as the aforesaid Alex McAllister was older than him. Sounds a little unfair as Cooper’s cricketing record was certainly better than his.
Cricinfo has similar tables, but only for Test cricketers. See:
Here are some nasty acronyms which were used on the Indian railways in the past. Most of these were mentioned in older issues of “Indian Railways” magazine. So they may be more familiar to railway employees than the general public.
Bribes Never Refused – BNR, predecessor of the SER before the 2002 reorganization.
Great Improvement Possible – GIPR, predecessor of most of CR as it was pre – 2002
Sambar Idli Railway – SIR, most of the present SR
Mails Slowly Moving – M & SMR, now part of SR, SWR and SCR
and the nastiest would be:
Beastly, Bad and Cannot Improve – BB & CIR (predecessor of the WR as it was pre – 2002).
Those familiar with civil aviation may know many such jokes concerning airline companies.
The Queen Pair or Silver Pair occurs when a batter is dismissed second ball for a zero in both innings. This has happened 23 times in Tests (as on Aug 22, 2023).
GF Grace, E vs A, Oval, 06/09/1880
OG Smith, WI vs A, Port of Spain, 11/04/1955
BS Bedi, I vs E, Delhi, 17/12/1976
AL Mann, A vs I, Sydney, 07/01/1978
Mudassar Nazar, P vs E, Birmingham, 29/07/1982
CEL Ambrose, WI vs E, Oval, 08/08/1991
DK Morrison, NZ vs A, Hobart, 26/11/1993
CJ McDermott, A vs P, Sydney, 30/11/1995
GD McGrath, A vs E, Melbourne, 26/12/1998
GD McGrath, A vs E, Sydney, 02/01/1999
Manjural Islam, B vs Z, Harare, 26/04/2001
M Ntini, SA vs SL, Colombo (SSC), 11/08/2004
LL Tsotsobe, SA vs I, Durban, 26/12/2010
Robiul Islam, B vs P, Mirpur, 17/12/2011
MN Samuels, WI vs NZ, Kingston, 08/06/2014
I Sharma, I vs A, Adelaide, 09/12/2014
AB de Villiers, SA vs E, Centurion, 22/01/2016
Babar Azam, P vs WI, Bridgetown, 30/04/2017
LA Dawson, E v SA, Lord’s, 06/07/2017
SCB Broad, E vs P, Lord’s, 24/05/2018
TA Boult, NZ vs P, Dubai (DSC), 24/11/2018
AK Markram, SA vs I, Pune, 10/10/2019
TG Southee, NZ vs I, Wankhede, 03/12/2021
Notes:
1: Debut, only Test
3: Captain
4: Last Test
5: Dismissed by Botham both times.
8: Took 5wi and 8wm.
9,10: In successive Tests.
11: Dismissed by Watambwa both times.
14: Dismissed by S Ajmal both times.
16: Dismissed by Lyon both times.
17: Captain
20: Dismissed by Mohammad Abbas both times.
21: St Sarfraz b Yasir Shah both times.
Dawson and Broad are the only ones to make silver pairs at Lord’s. And Mohammad Abbas dismissed Broad both times. They deserve a little board at Lord’s.
This is one of the pictures which appear on the net without any description:
It is possibly from around 1900. The question is about the full inscription as station names including “and” are generally not used in South Asia, though they can be seen in Britain.
The picture does not show the full sign. It occurred to me that it was the sign at Taxila Jn, which would have the inscription “Change here for Havelian and Abbottabad”.
While Havelian is about 15 km from Abbottabad, there has never been a station at the latter place.
This being in Punjab, there are inscriptions in Gurumukhi and Urdu which are difficult to read. Hope that someone can confirm what is written here, as the top with the main English inscription is missing.
After sharpening, we get the above image with “Taxila Junction” in Devanagiri on the right.
The “King Pair” or golden pair is when a batter is out for zero on the first ball in both innings.
Here is the full list of these occurrences in Tests up to 17 Aug 2023.
W Attewell, E v A, Sydney, 29/01/1892
EG Hayes, E v SA, Cape Town, 24/03/1906
AEE Vogler, SA v A, Sydney, 09/12/1910
TA Ward, SA v A, Manchester, 27/05/2012
RJ Crisp. SA v A, Durban, 28/02/1936
IA Colquhoun, NZ v E, Auckland, 25/03/1955
C Wesley, SA v E, Nottingham, 07/07/1960
BS Chandrasekhar, I v A, Melbourne, 30/12/1977
GB Troup, NZ v I, Wellington, 21/02/1981
DJ Richardson, SA v P, Johannesburg, 19/01/1995
AG Huckle, Z v P, Harare, 21/03/1998
AB Agarkar, I v A, Melbourne, 26/12/1999
AC Gilchrist, A v I, Kolkata, 11/03/2001
Javed Omar, B v I, Mirpur, 25/05/2007
RJ Harris, A v E, Adelaide, 03/12/2010
V Sehwag, I v E, Birmingham., 10/08/2011
R Herath, SL v P, Sharjah, 16/01/2014
D Prasad, SL v P, Pallekele, 03/07/2015
JM Anderson, E v I, Visakhapatnam, 17/11/2016
N Pradeep, SL v P. Abu Dhabi, 28/09/2017
Nurul Hasan, B v WI, Kingston, 12/07/2018
V Fernando, SL v SA, Centurion, 26/12/2020
SM Curran, E v I, Lord’s, 12/08/2021
While most of the names here are not recognised batters, there are some such as Richardson, Gilchrist, Javed Omar and Sehwag.
Notes:
2. Hayes was dismissed by JH Sinclair in both innings.
4. Ward was making his debut, and was a keeper. He was part of a hat-trick by TJ Mathews in both innings. This was the first-ever Test at a neutral venue.
5. Crisp was playing his last Test.
6. Colquhoun was a keeper. His dismissal was part of the record 26 all out in the second innings. He was dismissed by Appleyard in both innings. This was his last Test.
7, Wesley was dismissed by Statham in both innings.
8. Chandrasekhar took 6-52 in both innings and thus 12-104 in the match. This helped India to win its first Test in Australia.
9. Troup was dismissed by debutant Shastri in both innings.
10. Richardson was a keeper. He took 7 dismissals in the match.
12. Agarkar took 3 wickets in each innings.
13. Gilchrist was a keeper. His first-innings dismissal was part of a hat-trick.
The 5-match series in August 2023 included 2 in the US. The West Indies won 3-2, while India had won 4-1 a year ago in the WI.
A summary of all T20Is between these teams:
India have a healthy 19-10 lead, leading at home and on neutral grounds. The teams are tied 5-5 in WI.
We now look at individual performances, starting with Batting:
Most runs (250 or more):
Headed by RG Sharma, with N Pooran moving into second place.
E Lewis is the only one with 2 centuries.
RG Sharma and V Kohli have the most 50+ scores (6).
Now for the highest innings (75 or more):
The highest scores in this series were by BA King, Y Jaiswal and SA Yadav. Yadav’s 83 was the best for India against WI in WI, surpassing his own 76 in 2022.
Highest strike rate (Minimum 250 balls faced):
Here, V Kohli has the highest strike rate followed by RG Sharma and RR Pant. None of them played in this series.
Now for Bowling:
Most wickets (8 or more):
K Yadav and Arshdeep Singh have the highest totals of 17 and 14 wickets respectively.
Only OC McCoy has taken 5 or more wickets in an innings. Two others have taken 4wis.
Best innings bowling (3wi or better):
The record remains with OC McCoy with his 6-wicket haul in 2022. R Shepherd’s 4-31 in this series is the best for WI on a neutral ground, surpassing DJ Bravo’s 4-38 in 2009.
Fielding (6 or more dismissals):
RG Sharma and SO Hetmyer have the most dismissals with 12 and 10 respectively. They are fielders. The most dismissals by a keeper are 9 by RR Pant.
Most innings dismissals (3 or more):
Several players have taken 3 dismissals in an innings, including keepers as well as fielders.
All-round performance (20 and 2wi in match):
The best performance was by DJ Bravo in 2009, with the next best being those by VR Iyer and HH Pandya.
Here is a list of all the stations which have existed on this route, although some have closed:
This is from a railway document of today, showing the stations which are officially open:
However, if you have travelled in the last few years you will know that Kallar, Adderley and Runneymede stations still exist and that the trains stop there, for watering and other purposes. Some of these stations have (unofficial ?) tea stalls.
Here are pictures of all the stations which can be seen today:
Note the mistake in the Hindi inscription in the last one.
Pictures are from various websites. Credits to the original photographers.
abn397 