Memorable Events On The Cricket Field : 2014 Quiz

Answer: Corey Anderson

New Zealand faced the West Indies in the 3rd ODI of the series at Queenstown. The match was reduced to 21-overs-a-side game due to rain. Those who braved the inclement weather and stayed for the match were in for a treat as New Zealand posted 283 runs in just 21 overs with Corey Anderson scoring the fastest ODI century ever in 36 balls.

His partner in crime was Jesse Ryder who hit the sixth fastest century in ODIs. West Indies could just manage 124 runs in reply, not even managing to score as much as Anderson did who ended up scoring 131 in just 51 balls.

This was a fantastic beginning to the new year for the world of cricket.

Answer: Martin Crowe

India had lost the first test match of the series but looked all set to win the second one against New Zealand at Wellington. New Zealand had been reduced to 99/5 in the second innings and needed another 147 runs just to avoid an innings defeat but Brendon McCullum and B.J.Watling stood firm sharing a partnership of 352 runs and in the process breaking the record for the previous highest stand for the sixth wicket made by the Jayawardene brothers, Mahela and Prasanna, of Sri Lanka.

After the fall of Watling's wicket, McCullum shared a partnership of 179 runs with debutant Jimmy Neesham during which he brought up his triple century, the first ever by a New Zealander. In the process, New Zealand not only managed to save a test match they should have lost in three days but also managed to give India a run for their money setting them a target of 435 runs. Eventually the match ended in a draw.

Answer: Stephan Myburgh

Ireland, The Netherlands and Zimbabwe were in a stiff competition to fill up the two spots available in the ICC World T-20 in Bangladesh. The equation was such that the Netherlands seemed out of the race as they needed to chase down any target set by the Irishmen in less than 14.2 overs to improve their net run rate above that of Ireland. Ireland had scored 189 runs and it seemed highly unlikely that the Netherlands would win the match let alone chase the target in 14.2 overs. But what they accomplished was highly remarkable. They chased down the target in 13.5 overs and in the process knocked Ireland out of the competition.

The chief architect of the unbelievably good chase was Stephan Myburgh who scored 63 in just 29 balls. He was well supported by Peter Borren, Tom Cooper and Wesley Barresi. This was also the first time that the Netherlands had beaten Ireland in a T-20 game.

Answer: Kane Williamson

Sri Lanka were all out for 119 runs giving New Zealand a good chance to beat them and advance to the semi-finals. But a magical spell from Rangana Herath stopped them from achieving this. He took five wickets and was also responsible for two more run outs as New Zealand were bowled out for just 60 runs with Kane Williamson managing to score 42 of these.
The other batsmen mentioned in the options had two things in common - they were dismissed off Herath, and they got out without scoring.

Answer: Anil Kumble

'Ridiculous' does not even come close to describing the match. India and Bangladesh faced each other at the Sher-e-bangla stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka in a rain-interrupted 41-overs-a-side game. India were bowled out for just 105 runs, their lowest ever score against Bangladesh.

Bangladesh seemed to be cruising towards just their third win ever against their neighbours at 44 for 2 when Binny was handed the ball. In just 6 overs Bangladesh fell from 44 for 2 to 58 all out thanks to Binny's outrageous spell of 6 for 4 in just 4.4 overs. He had given away just four runs and picked up 6 wickets.

The previous best spell by an Indian was Anil Kumble's 6 for 12 in the Hero Cup final against the West Indies in 1993 at Kolkata.

Answer: True

The two pairs mentioned were Joe Root and James Anderson of England ,and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami of India. In the first innings, Kumar and Shami of India had put up 111 runs for the last wicket and India ended with a respectable score of 457 runs. They also reduced England to 298/9 and looked set to take a massive first innings lead. But Root and Anderson stood firm and put up a massive 198 runs partnership to help England take the lead.

This was also the highest tenth wicket partnership ever in test cricket beating the record of 163 runs set by Phillip Hughes and Ashton Agar of Australia interestingly at the same venue exactly a year previously. The match ended in a draw.

Answer: Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Irfan

Australia had beaten Pakistan in the first two ODIs of the series in the UAE and were looking for a white-wash in the third and final ODI. They had posted just 231 runs on a batting-friendly pitch and looked all set to lose the match. But they reduced Pakistan to 20 for 3 early in the second innings who managed to limp to 230 for 8 in 49 overs.

With just two runs needed in the last over and Australia having used up all overs from their front line bowlers, the onus fell on part-time off spinner Glenn Maxwell to bowl the over. He bowled out Sohail Tanvir with the second ball of the over and then dismissed Mohammad Irfan off the last ball to script a dramatic one run win for the Aussies. He did not concede a single run in the over.

Answer: Sir Vivian Richards (West Indies)

Sir Vivian Richards had scored a test match century in just 56 balls in a test match against England in 1985. Almost twenty years later in 2006, Adam Gilchrist of Australia looked on course to beat this record against England (again) in an Ashes test match at Perth but missed by a single ball. It took eight more years for someone to equal this record.
On 2nd November 2014, Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan scored another 56-ball century against Australia in a test match at Abu Dhabi.

Answer: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

264 was and might still be considered as a very good team total in a One Day International cricket match. But these many runs were scored by one individual on 13th November 2014 against Sri Lanka when Rohit Sharma of India became the first player to have scored two ODI double centuries. He also shattered the previous record for the highest individual score in a One Day International game (219 runs by Virender Sehwag (India) vs West Indies at Indore on 8th Decembe 2011).

India scored a massive 404 runs of which 264 were scored by Sharma. He missed the record for the highest individual score in a first-class game by just 4 runs. Ali Brown had scored 268 runs playing for Surrey against Glamorgan in 2002.

Answer: Virat Kohli

Mahendra Singh Dhoni retired from test cricket quite unexpectedly. He had played only 90 test matches and ended his career as the most successful Indian test captain. He captained India in 60 test matches with India winning 27 of these and India losing only 18.

Virat Kohli took over the captaincy for the fourth test match of the India-Australia series at Sydney. He was previously the captain in the first test match at Adelaide when Dhoni was injured and did not play.