Cricket Quotient — 9

I’m still wondering how Australian opener Phil Hughes managed to get out in identical fashion in all the four innings (7, 10, 20 & 4) of the two-Test series — caught Martin Guptill bowled Chris Martin. Even heat-seeking missiles miss at times but Hughes always managed to find Guptill in the slip cordon, which often had five fielders. On a serious note, the Kiwis held their catches and won the Hobart Test. India will have to do the same.

It’s time for the weekly quiz. Here’s my five-for…

#1 — In 1958, Gary Sobers scored his first century, 365 not out against Pakistan. During his historic innings he put together a 446-run partnership with a colleague who was playing in his debut series and scored 260. Name the player.

#2 — Who was the first black cricketer to lead a Test side?

#3 — Though he was only moderately successful in Test cricket, he was one of the most colourful and debonair cricketers of his time. In domestic cricket, he twice took four wickets in four balls. In 1935, at the Trent Bridge Test he returned after leaving the field with bloodied blisters and dismissed Maurice Leyland and Boy Wyatt. Later, he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro twice in a fortnight. As a tank commander in the Western Desert he was wounded five times but survived. Incidentally, he was born in Calcutta. Name the player.

#4 — Who is the only player to score a century and take a hat-trick on two occasions in first-class cricket?

#5 — Who was the first visiting bowler to take nine wickets in Australia (no one has taken all-10 Down Under so far)?

Answers to the last week’s quiz…

#1 — Stanley Joseph McCabe.

#2 — Australia’s Thomas James Matthews took hat-trick in each innings against South Africa at the Old Trafford Test in 1912.  

#3 — Don Bradman was the first batsman to score two centuries (132, 127 not out) in a Test against India at the MCG in 1948.

#4 — Abdul Aziz Durrani and his son Salim Durrani.

#5 — Aqib Javed was fined for showing dissent after umpire Roy Palmer had warned him for intimidatory bowling at tailender Devon Malcolm in the Old Trafford Test in ’92.