International Cricket, Down Under Style Quiz

Answer: It was made of aluminium

Cricket bats are usually made from willow, but Dennis decided to use one made of aluminium. It was lighter than usual, and did not work as well, and when the opposing captain, England's Mike Brearly complained that it was damaging the ball, the fireworks started. Lillee refused to back down, and the umpires were bound by the rules (or lack thereof). When Greg Chappell, Australian captain, told his bowler to use a 'real' bat, Lillee threw the 'ComBat' towards the boundary and grudgingly prepared to face the next delivery.

There was no rule specifying the composition of cricket bats at the time, but that oversight was rectified in rather quick time!

Answer: Bruce Edgar

Edgar had to watch it all unfold from the non-strikers end. He had just scored a century, but it was totally overshadowed by the drama. His 102 not out has been dubbed 'the most overlooked century of all time.'

The incident caused shockwaves on both sides of the Tasman Sea, and was even mentioned in the parliaments of both countries. Robert Muldoon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, called in 'the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket' and the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, was just as scathing.

Underarm bowling was banned shortly afterwards.

Answer: West Indies

There are only four possible results to a cricket match: a win, a draw, match abandoned, or a tie. Indeed, in the first 130 years of Test cricket, only two ties were played.

On the second last ball, Joe Solomon ran out the last Australian batsmen, Ian Meckiff, with a deadly accurate shot at the stumps. The players, spectators and press were all stunned and unsure how to react. Australia went on to win the series 2-1.

Australia were also involved in the second tied game. This time the game was played at a very hot Madras stadium, and the opponents were India. Dean Jones scored a mammoth double-century and ended up in hospital suffering dehydration and heat exhaustion. India had to score 348 to win, but failed by a solitary run.

Answer: Merv Hughes

Watching 500 people doing arm stretches in the stands was hilarious, and Merv hammed it up for them. The 'fruit-fly' tag came from his teammates. If one of them took a wicket, he would stick his tongue in their ear! He was a pest, just like a fruit-fly.

For a pest, though, he was quite a good cricketer, taking over 200 wickets in 53 Tests. He could bat a bit, too, though his style was not what you would find in a textbook.

'Stumpy' Boon was also a Test cricketer, but was more known as a batsman and close-in fieldsman. He was also quite a bit shorter than Big Merv, but his moustache was just as impressive. Robert DiPierdomenico (Dipper) played Australian Rules Football for Hawthorn, and John 'Newc' Newcombe was a champion tennis player. Both had rather large sets of whiskers.

Answer: Victor Richardson, their grandfather

Vic Richardson was an exceptional sportsman. As well as leading his country to a winning Test series against South Africa in 1935/6, he was a state or national representative in Australian Rules football, baseball, tennis, basketball, and swimming. Watson and Hughes are not related to the Chappells and Trevor did not captain Australia.

Answer: A googly between bat and pad

A googly is used by a spinner, and not a pace bowler. It is designed to hit the pitch, and veer into a right-handed batsman, and Eric Hollies did it perfectly. It would have been nice for the Don to get the 100 average, but it was not to be. Despite this 'failure', he is still streets ahead of any other batsman's average, and it is unlikely that his 99.94 average will ever be bettered.

Answer: South Africa

They played the South Africans in a three-Test series, winning 2-0 in 1902. Their first Test against the West Indies was in 1930, and their debut against India was in 1947. The Sri Lankans are one of the newer Test countries, and they did not play the Australians until 1988.

Answer: Geoff Lawson

Hadlee went through the Australian line-up like a dose of salts, as they capitulated for a paltry 179 runs. His 54 runs in the NZ innings of 7/553 (dec) rubbed salt into the wound. He followed up with a further six wickets in the second innings (Australia scored 333) and the Kiwis won by an innings and 41 runs. Nor surprisingly Hadlee (later Sir Richard Hadlee) won the Man of the Match.

Lawson fell to Vaughn Brown and Dave Gilbert remained not out.

Answer: The same result

Australia won both games by the same margin: 45 runs. It could not have been scripted any better!

In the 1877 match, Australian Charles Bannerman scored the first ever Test century, and the home team led by 51 runs at the end of the first innings. Both sides were bowled out for small totals in their second digs, but the Aussies held on for the win.

A hundred years later, and both teams were bowled out cheaply (138 for Australia V 95 for England), but the second innings were totally different. Wicketkeeper Rod Marsh scored a century in the Australian total of 9/419, and the English team replied were all out for 417, with Derek Randall picking up a big hundred.

In the final washup, the result of each game was a 45-run win to the Aussies.

Answer: Mike Gatting

It was in the First Test of the 1993 series, and Warne was an unknown quantity to the Englishmen. His first ball looked like it would miss the stumps by a wide margin, but it spun viciously when it hit the pitch. It went straight across the face of the bat and hit the top of off-stump. The look on Gatting's face was priceless- you could almost hear him saying "how did he do that?".

Warne went on to become one of the best bowlers ever, and retired with an unbelievable 708 Test scalps.