Cricket Trivia

[hineyrulz]

Lol

 

[Barkley]

I feel that I've read this before.

 

[undertaker]

Ah, here's a very tricky one I was thinking about a couple of days ago. If there was a cricket version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on tv, this one would have to be the $1 million question without a doubt.

I don't know if he is still the only bowler as of 2017 (some verification will be needed on this), but who is the first bowler to be hit for six off the first ever ball they bowled in international cricket (tests/ODIs/T20)?

 

[undertaker]

First clues:

- played for Australia
- occurred in a One-Day International

 

[TheParraboy]

toughie

couple of questions undertaker if I may?

1. male or female?
2. was it in an overseas game?

 

[undertaker]

toughie

couple of questions undertaker if I may?

1. male or female?
2. was it in an overseas game?

1) Male
2) Yes

Tell me if you need any more clues, lol! This is another one of those bizarre questions, like the Cameron Cuffy one.

 

[Bazal]

Hit for six in Tests off your first ball indicates to me maybe a part-time/change bowler?

 

[undertaker]

Hit for six in Tests off your first ball indicates to me maybe a part-time/change bowler?

In test matches, that would be true.

Except this is an ODI that it occurred in (well, at least from what I remember)

 

[Bazal]

Oh. NVM I misread the question.

 

[hineyrulz]

Mick Lewis FTW lol.

 

[undertaker]

Mick Lewis FTW lol.

No, but nice try, hahaha!

Time for 2 more clues. The 2nd clue might give it away. Regarding the tournament this event occurred in:

- There's only one video on YouTube that I can find from the tournament
- The tournament was remembered for a more memorable on-field achievement and also an infamous off-field incident.

 

[King hit]

Mick Lewis FTW lol.

At least he bowed out with a century

 

[undertaker]

At least he bowed out with a century

Lewis had two brief moments of glory in the ODI side before he became infamously remembered for his bowling performance in that 438 match and was unceremoniously dumped from the side afterwards.

1) 3/56 on debut and his bowling at the death kept it very tight, just pipping NZ by 2 runs to win the Chappell-Hadlee trophy
2) hitting the winning runs to beat South Africa by 1 wicket in Durban, tying the ODI series at 2-all before the decider (now known as the 438 match)

and we all know what happened after that...the agony and the ecstasy.

 

[hineyrulz]

At least he bowed out with a century

He went out in a blaze of glory.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

I'll throw a guess, Gavin Robertson??

He mentioned on radio not that long ago about how nervous he was in his first ODI and got belted in his first over. Not sure if its the one you're thinking of.

 

[TheParraboy]

Undertaker was it actually a bowler? or a batsman/part timer?

 

[undertaker]

I'll throw a guess, Gavin Robertson??

He mentioned on radio not that long ago about how nervous he was in his first ODI and got belted in his first over. Not sure if its the one you're thinking of.

Are you sure it is a guess? Because if it is.......

WHAT A BRILLIANT GUESS IT WAS!

You're correct. Gavin Robertson was hit for six by Arjuna Ranatunga off his first ball in his debut match during the 1994 Singer World Series at Colombo.

Regarding my earlier clues about the tournament, the 1994 Singer World Series was most remembered on-field for Sachin Tendulkar's first ODI century, and most infamously remembered off-field for the John the Bookmaker controversy involving Mark Waugh/Shane Warne. This is the only footage from the tournament that I could find on YouTube. I don't believe this tournament was televised in Australia:

 

[undertaker]

1997 Texaco Trophy.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/series/61006.html

I don't know how many of you remember this, but it was a 3-match ODI series played between England and Australia that was held before the Ashes, with Australia being whitewashed 3-0 by England.

Mark Taylor, Michael Slater, Justin Langer, Ian Healy and Matthew Elliott all played their last ODIs in that series before the controversial split Australian test/ODI squads that were introduced for the 1997/98 summer, with Taylor (captain)/Healy (wicketkeeper) being replaced by Steve Waugh (captain)/Gilchrist (wicketkeeper) in the ODI squad. It was also one of the last ODI series Australia participated in wearing white clothing and using a red ball.

However, the 1997 Texaco Trophy is uniquely remembered for something that has never occurred in a bilateral (i.e. between two countries) ODI series since. The mathematical probability of this occurrence in a 3 match ODI series (let alone 5 or 7) is very small, which makes it unique!

What is it?

Clue: it is something to do with one of the players in the England side.

 

[Bazal]

Seeing as it's not the answer and I have NFI but want to sound smart and stuff, another interesting thing about that series is that England won every game by 6 wickets.

 

[undertaker]

Seeing as it's not the answer and I have NFI but want to sound smart and stuff, another interesting thing about that series is that England won every game by 6 wickets.

Well, from a team perspective, a team winning every game in the series by the same margin is unique. However, in bilateral ODI series (2-8 matches), this also occurred in

- 1983, India beat Pakistan 2-0 by 4 wickest in both games.
- 1998, Pakistan beat Zimbabwe 2-0 by 4 wickets in both games
- 2003, England beat Bangladesh 3-0 by 7 wickets in all games
- 2007, Kenya beat Canada 2-0 by 4 wickets in both games.

However, I'll give you credit. Good observation and another clue, you are on the right track!