How many bowlers have taken hat-tricks on Test debut?
Steven Lynch17-Oct-2017Which player was dismissed for 99, 98 and 97 in consecutive Test innings? asked Don Craigs from Australia
This batsman who suffered this frustrating fate was Clem Hill, a stylish left-hander from South Australia, who was out for 99 in the second innings of the second Ashes Test in Melbourne in 1901-02, and added 98 and 97 in the next match, at home in Adelaide.The 98 in the first innings at Adelaide Oval was particularly unfortunate, as Hill remembered: “I hit a ball to the north-eastern boundary, where [Johnny] Tyldesley stepped on to the asphalt cycling track, threw out his left hand, and caught the ball. He did not know that he had brought about my dismissal. The arrangement used to be that if a fieldsman took a catch with his foot on the asphalt the batsman was not out. As, however, the umpire could not always tell if a fieldsman’s foot was on the paved track, it was decided by the captains that a catch anywhere on it was out. I knew this, but nobody had told Tyldesley about it.”Hill, who played his last Test in 1911-12 and finished with 3412 runs from 49 matches, was the leading run scorer in Test cricket from August 1902 (when he overtook England’s Archie MacLaren) to December 1924, when he was passed by Jack Hobbs.Who fell ill during a Test match, apparently after eating too much spinach? asked Brian Ricketson from Australia
This unlikely tale stars Abdul Razzaq, the former Pakistan allrounder, who appeared in 46 Tests and 265 one-day internationals. The story goes that he was told to eat more spinach after suffering from dizziness during a tour of New Zealand early in 2004.Razzaq took the advice to heart, as Pakistan’s operations manager later told the Melbourne Age newspaper: “Somebody told him to have spinach all the time. So he loves spinach, and wherever he goes he says spinach should be part of the diet, in Pakistan particularly. The other team-mates tease him and call him Popeye the Sailor Man.”The advice worked for a while – until, during the tour of Australia late in 2004, Razzaq fell ill again, during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. This time it was put down to an overdose of spinach, and the unfortunate Razzaq was forced to miss the next Test.Shane Warne played 145 Tests for Australia without ever captaining them. Is that a record? And who holds the corresponding record in one-day internationals? asked Marco Vallarino from Italy
Although many people feel he should have captained Australia in Tests, Shane Warne never did, although he did skipper them in a few ODIs. His 145 Tests without ever officially captaining is indeed a record; VVS Laxman is next with 134. The record for one-day internationals is held by Muttiah Muralitharan, who played in 350 without ever taking charge. Yuvraj Singh comes next, with 304.Sabbir Rahman was the first Bangladesh batsman to be out stumped twice in a Test•Getty ImagesWho thought he’d taken a hat-trick on his Test debut, only for his captain to say he hadn’t taken the third catch cleanly? asked Sandy Whitlock from England
The nearly man was Geoff Cope, the 30-year-old Yorkshire and England offspinner, who made his Test debut against Pakistan in Lahore in 1977-78. Not long after taking his first wicket (Wasim Raja), Cope removed Abdul Qadir and Sarfraz Nawaz with successive balls, then seemingly had Iqbal Qasim caught at slip by England’s captain, Mike Brearley. Cope, his team-mates and the batsman seemingly had no doubts about the dismissal – but Brearley wasn’t sure he had caught the ball cleanly, and decided to recall Qasim, in the interests of good relations between the teams in the series.Cope, who dealt with doubts about his bowling action, and then had trouble with his eyesight in later years, talked about the incident in an entertaining recent book, written by Stephen Chalke: “I bowled the ideal ball. I flighted it a bit more, gave it a bit of a loop. I’m not saying it turned, but it held. Just sufficient. Iqi pushed at it as you do; your first ball you’re always a bit tentative. There was a little bit of bounce, it moved, and he nicked it. Brears dived to his left and caught it. We all went up. The excitement. It was brilliant. The umpire gave it out. He’d never seen a hat-trick before. ‘Well bowled,’ he said. And Iqi nodded at me and set off. Everybody was running about. And I was right up there. A hat-trick on Test debut. Then suddenly Brearley said ‘I’m not sure I caught it…'”Cope played the other two Tests of that 1977-78 series, finishing with eight wickets, but never played for England again. Only three bowlers have ever taken a hat-trick on Test debut: the England seamer Maurice Allom (in 1929-30), New Zealand offspinner Peter Petherick (1976-77), and Australian fast bowler Damien Fleming (1994-95).Sabbir Rahman was stumped in both innings in Bangladesh’s recent Test against Australia. Was this unique? asked Rafique Mohmand from Bangladesh
Sabbir Rahman’s double stumping in the second Test against Australia in Chittagong last month was the first time a Bangladesh batsman had suffered this fate – but it was the 20th instance in all Test cricket, the first being the England captain “Monkey” Hornby in the Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1884. England’s Bobby Peel (in 1894-95) and the Zimbabwean seamer Chris Mpofu (in 2005) completed pairs by being stumped for a duck in both innings.Leave your questions in the comments