The Numbers of Cricket Trivia Quiz

Answer: 6

A six is scored if the ball is hit over the boundary without bouncing, or "on the full". If the ball bounces before crossing the boundary, a four is awarded. Otherwise, the batsmen can score runs (usually 1,2 or 3) by hitting the ball to the outfield, and completing a "run" - essentially, this means both batsmen running the length of the wicket.

Answer: 15

The first time he bowled the second legal ball of his over, he bowled a foot fault no ball, which Graeme Hick hit for 6. Add two for the no ball, and a free hit off the next ball. This one was a head high full toss, which eluded the batsman and the wicketkeeper, and a bye was run.

A further 3 runs. The free hit therefore continued to the third attempt at bowling the ball legally - which was hit for 4 by the other Worcestershire batsman, Vikram Solanki. So a total of 15 runs conceded from one legal ball.

It could have been worse - the second attempt narrowly missed the fielder's spare helmet - which would have resulted in a further 5 run penalty!

Answer: 501

Lara achieved this incredible milestone for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994. His innings took 474 minutes, and he only faced 427 balls. He scored 308 of his runs in boundaries - 10 x 6's and 62 x 4's.

Answer: Jim Laker

Laker was playing for England against Australia at Manchester in 1956. He took nine wickets in the first innings, then all 10 in the second innings. Only Anil Kumble has since repeated this feat.

WG Grace was better known as a batsman, and although Ian Botham broke many records with his bowling (and batting) for England, he never achieved the feat of taking all 10 wickets in an innings.

Although Sir Frances Drake's name is closely associated with "bowling", whilst waiting for the Spanish Armada on Plyouth Hoe, this was bowling of a completely different kind!

Answer: 1

If a batsman is unlucky (or unskilled!) enough to be dismissed first ball, he caries the ignominy of being dismissed for a "golden duck". Possibly the only thing worse for a batsman is to be dismissed for a "Diamond Duck" - that is losing his wicket without facing a ball at all (usually by being run out).

Answer: 120

One innings in a Twenty20 match consists of 20 overs. 20 x 6 ball overs is 120 balls - so 120 legal balls (that is, not including wides and no balls, where the delivery is deemed "illegal", and therefore has to be bowled again).

Answer: 36

He was the first person to achieve this feat - it has since been repeated by Ravi Shastri in a first class match in India, and by Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa, and Yuvraj Singh of India in One Day matches. The final ball of Nash's over was hit clean out of the ground by Sobers, and was found rolling down the road by young Nigel Lewis, who told me in a recent interview that at first he wanted to keep the ball, but his parents made him return to the ground the next day to hand the ball back!

Answer: 111

The "Nelson" is allegedly named after Lord Nelson, who according to myth had only one eye, one arm and one leg. Whilst there is no doubt that Nelson lost the use of the eye along with one of his upper limbs, there is no evidence to suggest that he lost a leg as well - so maybe the unlucky number should really be 11?

In Australia, the cricketers' unlucky number is 87 -- 13 short of a hundred.

Answer: 6

The reasoning being that a ball bowled underarm, grubbering along the pitch, would be impossible to hit for the 6 runs needed to tie the game. Although this was at the time within the laws of the game, it caused a huge furore and a subsequent change in the Laws banning underarm bowling in One Day International matches. It was said that such an action was against the spirit of the game.

Ironically, some 3 years previously in 1978, McKechnie had been involved in an equally controversial piece of unsportsmanlike play on the international sports field - but that time, it was in a different sport! In the rugby union international between Wales and New Zealand, Wales were leading 12-10 going into the final few minutes of the game. At a line out in the Welsh half, New Zeland's Andy Hayden took a dive out of a line out,conning the referee into awarding a penalty in his favour - Hayden has admitted later to the "crime" that millions witnessed on the day! Who should step up to kick the winning penalty but one Brian McKechnie - the self same individual who was maligned against by theAussies on a cricket field 3 years later. There's an expression about going round and coming round somewhere, isn't there?

Answer: 4

Bradman totalled 6,996 runs in test cricket in 70 completed innings - just 4 runs in his final innings would have given him an average of over 100 - but he was dismissed by Eric Hollies for 0 off just his second ball. This doesn't diminish the reputation of probably the greatest batsman that cricket has ever seen though - an average of 99.94 in Test cricket is a phenomenal achievement in its own right.