Trivia which makes me happy ...

[chamatkar]

Note: Geek Alert Being a geeky guy and all, I like the fact that meaningless trivia makes my day ... so I thought I'd share the feeling ... Today's trivia: 1. Sir Don Bradman hit only 6 sixes in his illustrious career. 2. In 1901 for it to be considered a six, the ball did not just have to clear the boundary, it had to clear the ground. Feel free to add other "gyan" as you like.. Mods, please move if you think it's not relevant to crictalk.

[varun]

Interesting. Since I was messing around with stats today, Here's a breakup of the top 15 six hitters Pre-1948

+----------------+-------+
| name           | sixes |
+----------------+-------+
| WR Hammond     |    27 | 
| JH Sinclair    |    16 | 
| FE Woolley     |    15 | 
| MW Tate        |    14 | 
| APF Chapman    |    12 | 
| HB Cameron     |    11 | 
| WJ O'Reilly    |    11 | 
| GJ Bonnor      |    10 | 
| LN Constantine |    10 | 
| EH Hendren     |     9 | 
| J Darling      |     9 | 
| JB Hobbs       |     8 | 
| CL Vincent     |     8 | 
| RH Catterall   |     8 | 
| W Voce         |     8 | 
+----------------+-------+

Post-1948

+---------------+-------+
| name          | sixes |
+---------------+-------+
| AC Gilchrist  |   100 | 
| BC Lara       |    88 | 
| CL Cairns     |    87 | 
| IVA Richards  |    84 | 
| ML Hayden     |    80 | 
| A Flintoff    |    77 | 
| CH Lloyd      |    70 | 
| CG Greenidge  |    67 | 
| IT Botham     |    67 | 
| CL Hooper     |    63 | 
| JH Kallis     |    62 | 
| N Kapil Dev   |    61 | 
| ST Jayasuriya |    59 | 
| RT Ponting    |    58 | 
| Wasim Akram   |    57 | 
+---------------+-------+

I reckon the above should make a killer T20 Side :D

[Mr. Wicket]

Constantine would have gone down as an all time great had he played ODIs. Thrilling hitter, excellent fast bowler and one of the world's greatest fielders - up there with Rhodes and Neil Harvey. Interesting to see the number of bowlers in that first side. Voce and Tate were huge fast bowlers who swung the bat from time to time with moderate success, but both are only really remembered for their bowling exploits. O'Reilly's name in there is a shock. The man was noted for being a fairly gritty lower order batsman, and not one of great repute. Averaged 13 in his first class career, and only passed 50 once. 11 sixes from him is a surprise. But he was truly one of the greatest spinners ever, if not THE best - I may still take him over Warne in an all time Aussie XI. (BTW, one of the greatest old hitters remembered was Gilbert 'The Croucher' Jessop. Brought a lot of people into grounds for his penchant for hitting balls into stands and clearing them. Not a particularly consistent batsman or the most prolific in terms of run scoring, but one of the great entertainers of the early 20th century.)

[Dhondy]

For those who haven't guessed yet, ICF, via Varun, has an entire database of all Tests, ODIs and 20-20 matches ever played, through which he can answer practically any query you have. It's a bit humbling to have found out that he achieved this in 3 days.

[kumble_rocks]

Jesus ! Did Varun steal it from Bheembhai ? :D

[Dhondy]

Jesus ! Did Varun steal it from Bheembhai ? :D

Nope. He found his own way. When he can be bothered to get off his ass and use that brain of his, he can usually work wonders. People need not be reminded that the Superselector is a creation of his.

[kumble_rocks]

Yeah . Got to agree that this guy is brilliant plus he is one of the nicest guys in ICF .

[Mr. Wicket]

It's a bit humbling to have found out that he achieved this in 3 days.

That too when on vacation/break...

[fineleg]

Varun is the Superman of ICF! :thumbs_up:

[Dhondy]

That's not all. For those who are not aware, Varun has designed a Chatbox, which is available at the click of a button- see the top of this page or click on this link. http://www.indiancricketfans.com/mgc_chatbox.php?do=view_chatbox Go on try it out. It's a wonderful, but underused feature.

[beetle]

:adore::adore::adore:varun maharaj!

[Lurker]

Constantine would have gone down as an all time great had he played ODIs. Thrilling hitter, excellent fast bowler and one of the world's greatest fielders - up there with Rhodes and Neil Harvey.

I must say it is extremely rare that I get to hear anyone talk about Learie Constantine on a message board. So was a pleasant surprise to see Salil mention him. Yes Learie Constantine is one of the all-time greats who has somehow been lost to every successive generation. Most of us would be quick to reach for Cricinfo, check the man's stats and come out wondering - What the f@ck is so great about him? Well Learie "Electric heels" Constantine is the pillar on which West Indies cricket was built(along with George headley). Great batsman(hitter), brilliant bowler and possibly the best fielder of his time. I am also reminded of a little article, and I quote from memory, where a modern era all-rounder was praised thus - To understand the greatness of him you have to go back in time, much before Gary Sobers & Keith Miller, much before Benaud and Davidson, the kind of excitment this man brings belongs to the amateur era, sheer eletrcity and excitment. To understand him better you have to go right to days of Learie Constantine. Him of course being Kapil Dev Nikhanj.

[Mr. Wicket]

It's a pleasant surprise any time we hear someone talk about the great man, period! Lurker, have you read CLR James' accounts of playing with Constantine in Beyond a Boundary?

[Lurker]

Lurker, have you read CLR James' accounts of playing with Constantine in Beyond a Boundary?

Yes I have Salil. Matter of fact I read the book recently once again(a friend of mine gifted it to me and I didnt have the heart to say that I already had it). Beyond a Boundary is a very entertaining read. Sometimes I fail to differentiate between fact and fiction in that one, the line is so blur. But it is nonethless a pleasant read even down to all those drunken, often no-gooders, playing cricket passionately as the little boy watched it from his window. Come to think of it maybe thats what missing in West Indies cricket today - passion.

[Mr. Wicket]

Bah, two copies of Beyond a Boundary are better than one. :D A tremendous book IMO, definitely among the best pieces of cricket literature I've read.

[Tapioca]

I didn't understand half of it and struggled to relate to a lot of the stuff said :nervous:

[Lurker]

I didn't understand half of it and struggled to relate to a lot of the stuff said :nervous:

Hahaha..True true. That was a bit with me as well in first read. Then read it patiently and understood it better. The writing style is quite different to what we are used to but give it time and it shall grow on you. A similar experience, of not understand it first but sticking with it and understanding it better the next time, is this one. Ramchandra Guha's Corner of a Foreign field.

[chamatkar]

Meaningless information for the day :

• Three players have batted at all positions (1-11) in their test careers - Syd Gregory (1909), Wilfred Rhodes (1910) and Vinoo Mankad (1955).

• The last time that all eleven players in an England Test team were actually born in England was back in July 1989 in the Third Ashes Test at Edgbaston and that too because Allan Lamb and Robin Smith were unavailable through injury.

[Lurker]

Kapil Dev played for two English counties, Worcestershire and Northamptonshire. Here is his stats for Worcestershire(season 84-85) 24 games 1456 runs@42.8 72 wickets@22.5

[Dhondy]

Meaningless information for the day :

Three players have batted at all positions (1-11) in their test careers - Syd Gregory (1909), Wilfred Rhodes (1910) and Vinoo Mankad (1955).

The last time that all eleven players in an England Test team where actually born in England was back in July 1989 in the Third Ashes Test at Edgbaston and that too because Allan Lamb and Robin Smith were unavailable through injury.

I found that second bit fascinating. Triumph of immigration. I wonder if any other nation in the world can boast of this?