One Day Cricket (Next Day, Who Knows?) Quiz

Answer: Kerry Packer, the Nine Network

In the mid 1970's Kerry Packer mounted an unsuccessful bid for the rights to broadcast international cricket within Australia, then the exclusive domain of the State-owned ABC network. Australian players were underpaid compared with other professional sportsmen, so Packer secretly signed lucrative deals with the top Australian players, and recruited many of the top international stars. He changed the five-day format to a single day or day-night event, introduced a white ball, and bright uniforms to replace the cream flannels worn in the traditional version of the sport. Players who signed with him were pilloried by the press and some lost their place on their national teams.

The World series ran for only two seasons (1977 - 79) before an agreement was reached between Packer and the Australian Cricket Board, granting Packer's Nine Network exclusive TV rights, and his maverick competition was abandoned. Many of his innovations were adopted, however.

Answer: Rain had washed out the first three days of a five-day test

During the 1971 Ashes Tour of Australia, the first two tests having resulted in a draw, the rain bucketed down in Melbourne (no surprises there!) for the first three days, causing the third test to be abandoned. As consolation to the disappointed crowd, a one-day, 40 overs per side match (not counted toward the Ashes competition) was hastily set up on the fourth scheduled day.

This resulted in dazzling displays of cricket, including 82 runs from England's John Edrich, and a swashbuckling 60 from Ian Chappell. The bowling was exciting too, and the 46,000 strong crowd roared its support with every ball. The final result? Australia won by five wickets, in strong contrast to their lacklustre performance during the rest of the tour, which resulted in England taking the Ashes home, after a 2-0 win with five tests played.

Answer: Afghanistan and West Indies

All the above teams have taken part in World Cup Qualifiers, although the United States did not take part in the 2018 round.
Ten teams were scheduled to compete in the 2019 World Cup hosted by England and Wales. In 2017 Afghanistan and Ireland were granted Test status, making a total of 12 Test-playing nations. This means that in the ten team World Cup format, at least two Test-playing nations missed the World Cup competition for the first time.

Answer: Only six players per team

All the other options are part of the specific rules for ODI's. While all ICC approved forms of the game require 11 players per team, changes in the rules include limited overs, usually 50 per side. (An over is six deliveries, all from the same bowler.) There is only one innings per team as opposed to two innings each in Test Cricket; however, in both forms an innings ends when 10 of the 11 players Is dismissed or the batting side declares (more common in the longer form, when the batting side is so far ahead it is confident of the match).

In ODI's the more usual end to an innings is reaching the end of 50 overs (or a batting collapse).

Answer: Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method

The DLS method was developed by two English statisticians, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, with Professor Steven Stern becoming the custodian of the method. It recalculates the target score should there be a reduction in the time available to complete a limited-overs match.

It works on the basis that, under normal circumstances, each starts with 300 balls and 10 wickets in hand. If time is lost, the target number of runs is adjusted. The system takes into account such things as net run rate, number of overs already played and number of wickets lost at the time of calculation.

Answer: A rain-affected pitch

Before the 1960s pitches were not covered, so overnight rain would affect the pitch, making it soggy and more difficult for the batsmen to predict the bounce of the ball. This provided an opportunity for the slow bowlers to turn the ball, confounding the batsman's defence.
Bowlers such as England's Derek Underwood built their careers on sticky wickets, and the weather was a much larger factor in the captain's decision on winning the toss - whether to bat or bowl first. The introduction of covers outraged many in the bowling community, and was welcomed by followers of the leading batsmen.

Answer: Sachin Tendulkar, India

Tendulkar was nicknamed the Little Master. Making his test debut at the age of sixteen, he represented India internationally for nearly 24 years. Although he retired from international cricket in 2013, at the time of this writing (mid 2018) he was the only batsman to have achieved 100 centuries in international cricket, and had scored 18,426 runs in One Day Internationals, more than 4,000 runs clear of his nearest rival.

Answer: England in 1973

The first Women's World Cup was hosted by England in 1973, two years before the first men's World Cup Tournament. Sponsorship and funding difficulties limited both the running and participation in subsequent women's World Cups for a number of years. Since 2005 they have been run at regular four-year intervals. Of the first eleven cups, Australia has won six, England four, and New Zealand has won one title.

Answer: The last ball was bowled underarm along the ground

With the final ball about to be played, the Kiwis needed to hit a six to tie the match at 235 runs. Captain Greg Chappell instructed his younger brother, Trevor, to bowl underarm along the ground to prevent this possibility, having informed both the umpires and the hapless McKechnie (NZ batsman) of their intentions (this was to pre-empt the delivery being called "no-ball" which would have resulted in a run being awarded to New Zealand, and an extra ball to be played).
McKechnie blocked the ball, and promptly threw down his bat in disgust. The hitherto partisan home crowd was mortified, and one of the commentators, older brother Ian Chappell, called out protest. There was little attention paid to the heroic effort by the stranded New Zealand batsman Bruce Edgar, who had opened, played through the entire innings, and was not out on 102.
Underarm bowling had not been prohibited from the game at that time, but was definitely seen as against the spirit of cricket. After this incident. Underarm was declared illegal for official ICC sanctioned one day cricket.

Answer: A.B. de Villiers

Playing in Johannesburg in 2015 against the normally mighty West Indies side, de Villiers played for just 59 minutes - in old fashioned test cricket, that can be barely time for a batsman to settle in. During his short time at the crease, he smashed 9 fours and 16 sixes. De Villiers reached his 50 in 16 balls and his century in 31 balls, making his knock the fastest 50 and century at the time.

Needless to say, despite some good batting by the West Indies, they were totally demoralised by the end of the match. South Africa finished with 439 for 2 wickets, countered by 291 runs for 7 wickets for the West Indies.