Sam Robson Madien Test Hundred

Sam Robson signifies no messing, a straightforward, orthodox sort of player. It’ll sound even more upstanding to those who viewed Sam Robson makes his maiden Test hundred at Headingley against Sri Lanka. Sam Robson is a batsman of few fripperies, earnestly committed to the long haul. He made super 127 runs before Nuwan Pradeep, armed with the 2nf new ball, brought one back to strike his off stump, causing England to stumble to a lead of 62 with four wickets remaining by the close.

Bird's eye view the local wildlife admire Sam Robson's drive, England v Sri Lanka, 2nd Investec Test, Headingley, 2nd day, June 21, 2014 @ Getty Images

Sam Robson reached his hundred shortly after tea, England v Sri Lanka, 2nd Investec Test, Headingley, 2nd day, June 21, 2014 @ Getty Images

Jarmaine Blackwood Fifty on debut.

Jermaine Blackwood's all-round skills won him a place in the West Indies Under-19 squad for the 2010 World Cup in New Zealand. A half-century on debut from 22-year-old Jermaine Blackwood was the key performance on the third morning, during which West Indies stretched their first-innings lead to 239 in the Trinidad Test.

Jermaine Blackwood cuts off the back foot, West Indies v New Zealand, 2nd Test, Trinidad, 3rd day, June 18, 2014 @ Getty Image

The Youngest and oldest players to be picked as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year

The annual Wisden accolade, which started in way back 1889, is the oldest individual award in cricket, and perhaps in any sport. Pakistan Mushtaq Mohammad is the youngest player to be picked as one of the Five Cricketers of the Year when he was only 19 when chosen in 1963 for his feats on Pakistan's tour of England the previous year.

The Youngest and oldest players to be picked as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year @ Getty Image

Most Balls Bowled without a Run Being Scored off Him

At Kingsmead in 1956-57, off spinner Hugh Tayfield bowled 137 consecutive deliveries without a run being scored off him. The South African offspinner ended the first innings of the 3rd Test against England in Durban in 1956-57 with 119 successive dot balls and he finished with figures of 24-17-21-1 and later on he added 18 more in the 2nd innings before finally conceding another run, making a total of 137 dot balls in succession that remains the first-class record. Hugh Tayfield took 8 for 69 in that 2nd innings. Most of Tayfield's dots were delivered to Trevor Bailey who "confronted him, almost regardless of length, with the dead-bat forward stab". Tayfield's record was seriously threatened but not broken in Madras (Currently Chennai) in 1963-64, when the Indian slow left-armer Bapu Nadkarni sent down 131 successive dot balls during the course of his extraordinary analysis of 32-27-5-0 in the first Test against England.

Hugh Tayfield of South Africa bowls against Surrey at The Oval, London, 18th July 1955

Test captain to score a triple-century

The first captain to score 300 runs in a Test was Australian Bob Simpson who produced a brilliant inning of 311 at Old Trafford in 1964. After that there have been seven further triples by Test captains:

• ·        Graham Gooch's 333 for England v India at Lord's in 1990.
• ·        Mark Taylor's 334 not out for Australia v Pakistan in Peshawar in 1998-99.
• ·        Brian Lara's 400 not out for West Indies v England in St John's in 2003-04.
• ·        Mahela Jayawardene's 374 for Sri Lanka v South Africa in Colombo in 2006.
• ·        Younis Khan's 313 for Pakistan v Sri Lanka in Karachi in 2008-09.
• ·        Michael Clarke's 329 not out for Australia v India in Sydney in 2011-12.
• ·        Brendon McCullum's 302 for New Zealand v India in Wellington 2013-14.

Bob Simpson the first Test captain to make a triple-hundred, at Old Trafford in 1964 John Dawson  © PA Photos

Cricketers have played Tests for England and Australia against each other?

There's only one player who has played both for England against Australia and for Australia against England and it was an awfully long time ago, when the qualification rules were bit more elastic. Billy Midwinter was born in Gloucestershire in 1851, but he was taken to Australia at the age of 9. He played for Australia in the very first Test of all, at Melbourne in March 1877. He was very handy all-rounder but he returned to England later that year, and played for Gloucestershire. When an Australian team toured England in 1878 and he played a few games for them - until in a famous incident he was more or less kidnapped by WG Grace, Gloucestershire's captain, and ‘persuaded’ to turn out for the county. In 1881-82 Billy Midwinter was part of Alfred Shaw's privately raised team which toured Australia, and played in 4 games now considered Tests  before resuming his Australian connections and playing 6 more Tests for them, in 1882-83, 1884 (in England) and 1886-87. Overall Billy Midwinter appeared in 12 Tests, scoring 269 runs at 13.45 and taking 24 wickets at 25.20, with a best return of 5 for 78 in the very first Test of all, at the MCG in 1876-77.

1878 Australian Team and Billy Midwinter sitting in the middle

Billy Midwinter