- Throughout history most of the cricket rules suffered modifications. The only rule that did not change over time is the length of the pitch.
- Test matches between England and Australia are known as The Ashes because of an obituary published in the Sporting Times in 1822: "In affectionate remembrance of English cricket. … The body will be cremated, and the Ashes taken to Australia."
- Alec Bedser the former England fast bowler is the only bowler to dismiss Bradman for a duck on more than one occasion.
- Mike Hendrick of England in a Test vs. India clean-bowled Madan Lal leaving his middle stump upright and uprooting his off and leg stumps.
- Bapu Nadkarni sent down 131 deliveries (21.5 overs) without conceding a single run vs. England at Madras in 1964.
- India is the only team to be dismissed twice in a single day of a test match.
- Clem Hill's scores in his first three Test innings was 99,98 and 97 runs.
- Australia have only once in their test history won a test with nine wickets down.
- Some of the important changes there were introduced in the 1992 Cricket World Cup were ‘White Cricket Ball’ and ‘Colored Clothings’. Prior to this World Cup, all matches were played with traditional white clothes and red balls.
- A match between Barbados and British Guyana in 1946 saw an over with 14 balls in which there were no wides or no balls ! The 8 ball over was in force and the extra six deliveries were due to umpiring miscounting !
- In a test match in Faisalabad in 1997-98 ,Mushtaq Ahmed was bowling to Pat Symcox. Symcox missed the ball,which went on to knock the middle stump.However,the heat had fused together the bails and they did not fall. Symcox went on to make 81,his second highest test score.!
- Shahid Afridi used a bat borrowed from Waqar Younis to score the fastest century in a One-Day International!
- Which style of play is known as 'MANKAD'? -- The running out of a non-striking batsman who leaves his crease before the bowler has released the ball is called 'MANKAD', It is named after Vinoo Mankad , an Indian bowler,who used this method controversially,in a test match.
- It was a county match in 1946.After two overs had been bowled,Len Hutton,who was fielding at slips asked the umpires to check the length of the pitch.The check discovered that the pitch was 24 yards lng instead of 22! Then the match was restarted on a correct pitch.
- Sachin Tendulkar is the first batsman to be dismissed (run out) by using the television replays by the third umpire, Jonty Rhodes was the fielder. Next day,in the same test match,Jonty Rhodes was given run out by the umpire.This time the fielder was none other than Sachin Tendulkar.!
- During a County match in 1986,a batsman hit the ball and ran three runs but dropped the bat in the process. The bowler picked up the bat. When the ball was returned from the boundary,the bowler stopped it with the bat ! For fielding the ball with any other substance than the person , the penalty is 5 runs. So the batsman got eight runs in that ball.!!
- Which cricketer faced the first ball in One-Day Cricket?? Geoff. Boycott was the one who faced the first ball in One-Day cricket. Graham Mc-Kenzie was the bowler.
- In a World Cup Match in 1975, Gavaskar batted throughout the 60 overs & scored only 36 runs . India lost to England by a huge margin of 203 runs.
- In 1877 Test, Australia beat England by 45 runs. 100 yrs later,in the Centenary Test ,the result was exactly the same.!!
- The longest cricket match took place in 1939 between England and South Africa, after 14 days it ended with a tie.
- A cricket game was once stopped because a pig ran across the field. It is even considered legal to suspend the game if an animal entered the field.
Dale Steyn
Pakistan was bowled out for 49 in the first Test against South Africa at Johannesburg which is their lowest ever Test match total, as Dale Steyn took 6 wickets giving away only 8 runs as Pakistani batsmen collapsed to the South African bowling attack.
Steyn, the world leading paceman, recorded his best Test figures at home against a Pakistan batting lineup who were unable to cope with the pace and bounce of a lively Wanderers' pitch.
Only two batsmen were able to get a double figure, which shows how helpless they were against the South African bowling.
South Africa are in the diving seat as they have now got a 411 runs lead over Pakistan at the end of 2nd day of the Test match. They scored 253 in the first innings and have scored 257/3 in the second innings at the end of day 2.
A result for this Test match looks likely and currently South Africa are the favourites, rest time will tell.
Virat Kohli
After the big seven-wicket win at Ranchi, India has not only got a 2-1 lead in the 5 match ODI series against England but they have also got the number one position in the ICC Rankings.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni wanted the “people of Jharkhand” to make Saturday’s ODI “very special.” They played their part admirably, but his teammates scripted the perfect game.
The seven-wicket win was India's second comprehensive victory in a row over England, allowing Dhoni to reflect with satisfaction on his team's efforts. Before the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium's international debut he had called the ground a "nine out of ten", though it may now be closer to full marks.
"[This stadium has some] of the best facilities. The response from the people has been amazing. Everything went off well, we won the game, it was a perfect script." said Dhoni.
That the winning runs (a boundary) came off Dhoni’s blade made it an even more memorable beginning as an international venue for this fanatical city.
England’s captain Alastair Cook, though, wasn’t impressed. “I’m sure Dhoni is very happy with things, but at this moment, I have no interest in the fairytale.” A bit sour, but two big defeats in succession have forced a strong reality check on Cook. Last month, he’d led England to a memorable win in the Test series. The defeat was England's 18th in their last 21 ODIs against India in India and Cook was well aware that for the second match in a row the batting performance had been inadequate. "One-fifty was nowhere near enough on that pitch," he said. "We were not going to defend that unless it was a freak day.
Virat and Yuvraj Singh had a commanding partnership, 66 for the third wicket. Virat Kohli overcame a trying spell from Finn in which he top-edged a couple of bouncers over the wicketkeeper. But once set, he let loose the pulls, flicks and cover-drives that powered him to a match-winning half-century. The innings was long due, and runs for him would mean one worry less for the team management.
