Most over’s bowled in a single Test Series

Australian magician leg spinner Shane Warne, bowled 439.5 over’s (2639 balls) during the 1993 Ashes series in England. Mind it that was a six-Test series, the 2nd place overall is the man who bowled the most in a 5 match Test series is West Indian slow left-armer Alf Valentine, with 430 over’s at home against India in 1952-53. amazingly, Alf Valentine is also third on this list  and this time for a 4 Test rubber in England in 1950, in his debut series, Alf Valentine sent down 422.3 over’s. In 4th place for balls bowled in a series is Maurice Tate, who sent down 316 ( 8 balls over’s) in the 1924-25 Ashes series in Australia.

Wicketkeeper has made the most dismissals in a single one-day tournament.

Australian dashing wicket keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist leads the way by taking 26 catches and a stumping in 12 matches in the triangular series in 1998-99 involving England and Sri Lanka. Adam Gilchrist also holds the World Cup record, with 21 catches in South Africa in 2002-03. Whereas the record for a bilateral series is 19  set by Brendon McCullum (18 catches and a stumping) in New Zealand's  7matches home series against India,  in 2002-03. 

Aaron Finch Tumble T20I Records with Blazing 156

Aaron Finch, the 26-year-old Victorian batsman, ransacked England's bowling with an eye-popping world record 156. Finch brutal display of batting; hitting sixes all corners of ground, had just appeared six previous T20 caps, well past Brendon McCullum's 123 as the highest score in an international Twenty20. Australia's eventual 248 for 6 was the second-highest total in a T20 international - and the highest in a match involving two Test nations - only Sri Lanka's 260 against Kenya was out of reach and for a while it appeared they may cross that landmark too. Finch's 14 sixes is another records of most sixes by any batsman in T20I that he broke during the onslaught. He began with a six first ball, picked up effortlessly off Steven Finn, and it was a theme that would continue throughout. Each of Finch's landmarks came up with a six; his half-century, from 26 balls; his hundred, off 47, beating McCullum's record, and his 150. He’s in 2^nd spot at fastest T20I hundred, just behind South African Richard Levi 45-balls hundred against New Zealand in Hamilton. He was the first Australian to make a Twenty20 international hundred and it took him just 13 more deliveries to power past 150. By then, it had long since stopped being an even contest.

High Scores in T20I
Player	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	SR	Teams	Ground	Match Date
AJ Finch	156	63	11	14	247.61	Aus v Eng	Southampton	29-Aug-13
BB McCullum	123	58	11	7	212.06	NZ v BD	Pallekele	21-Sep-12
RE Levi	117*	51	5	13	229.41	SA v NZ	Hamilton	19-Feb-12
CH Gayle	117	57	7	10	205.26	WI v SA	Johannesburg	11-Sep-07
BB McCullum	116*	56	12	8	207.14	NZ v Aus	Christchurch	28-Feb-10
TM Dilshan	104*	57	12	5	182.45	SL v Aus	Pallekele	6-Aug-11
MJ Guptill	101*	69	9	6	146.37	NZ v SA	East London	23-Dec-12
SK Raina	101	60	9	5	168.33	Ind v SA	Gros Islet	2-May-10
DPMD Jayawardene	100	64	10	4	156.25	SL v Zim	Providence	3-May-10
RD Berrington	100	58	10	5	172.41	Sco v BD	The Hague	24-Jul-12

Photo Cricinfo AFP

Australia Failed to Win a Test in an Ashes series

The last time Australia failed to win a Test in an Ashes series is quite unusual as you have probably realized, it doesn't happen very often. There have been only three Ashes series since the Second World War in which Australia failed to win at least one match: in 1953, when England won 1-0 with a victory in the final Test that returned the urn to England's grasp for the first time after a record gap of 19 years; in 1970-71, when Ray Illingworth's side won a six-match series 2-0; and in 1977, when an Australian side probably distracted by the announcement of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket early in the tour lost 3-0. The only other five-match rubbers in which Australia failed to get on the scoreboard were 1926 (England won 1-0) and 1905 (England won 2-0). Australia also did not win a match in the three-Test series of 1884, 1886, 1893 and 1912.

Highest Average in Third Innings of Test Matches

The highest average of any batsman in the third innings of Test matches given a minimum of 15 innings is the lofty 130.41 of the one and only Don Bradman. Next come is Herbert Sutcliffe of England, with 74.75, then the first man with more than 20 innings - another Englishman, Peter May, with 68.05. And then next come two current players the South Africans Hashim Amla (67.00) and Jacques Kallis (66.54). Don Bradman had only 15 innings, and hit 7 hundreds, while the only people to score more centuries than him in the third innings batted far more often is Kumar Sangakkara leads the way with 11 hundreds from 56 third-innings attempts, while Matthew Hayden 42 innings, Alastair Cook 45, Jack Kallis 66 and Sachin Tendulkar 72 all have ten hundreds. 

19-Year Old Ashton Agar Test Debut against England at Trent Bridge

Australia have spun a major selection surprise by including the 19-year-old Ashton Agar, a Western Australian left-arm spinner, in their XI for the first Test against England at Trent Bridge. The first big news of the day is the Ashton Charles Agar, (Born October 14, 1993 Melbourne Australia), the left-arm spinner, will make his Test debut. That is a big call from Darren Lehmann to springs a big surprise first up with Ashton Agar debuting. He’s is only 19 and 269 days old and had very little 10 first-class matches experience (31 Wickets 29.38 apiece, 336 Runs, Average 33.60, Three Fifties, 71 highest score) . It’s a Massive Ashes call for Ashton Agar. Ashes always create such an environment and such anticipation in the cricketing world that nothing else looks so special. Ashton Agar is a capable batsman and also a fine fielder. His inclusion leaves the tourists with a team that can be said to bat all the way down to No. 11. 

Photos Courtsey to Cricinfo.

Who learned that he'd been awarded the MBE while on the field in an Ashes Test? The man in question here was the popular Australian all-rounder Ken Mackay, who’s MBE was announced on Australia Day 1963, while he was playing his last Test - the drawn fourth match of the 1962-63 Ashes series in Adelaide. Kenneth Donald Mackay, MBE, who died on June 13, 1982, aged 56, was one of the best and most popular cricketers ever produced by Queensland. As a left-handed middle-order batsman, he possessed a highly distinctive style, this endearing him to crowds which otherwise might have found his rate of scoring unendurably slow. Ken “Slasher” Mackay, whose nickname was ironic as he was famed for his defensive batting, played 37 Tests overall. However his award became public knowledge during that Test, I imagine Mackay himself actually knew about it sometime previously, as the recipients are usually asked beforehand whether they wish to accept. Kenneth Donald Mackay born on October 24, 1925, Windsor, Queensland and died June 13, 1982, Point Lookout, Stradbroke Island, Queensland (aged 56 years 232 days). His major teams are Australia, and Queensland, while his nick name was “Slasher”, batting style Left-hand bat, and bowling style Right-arm medium. His stats are as below.

Tests: 37

Inns: 52

Runs: 1507

Average: 33.48

100’s: No

50’s: 13

Catches: 6

Highest Score: 89 

Wickets: 50

Best Bowling: 6/42

Special Thanks for Photos: Getty Image

Most Wickets in Overseas Country

The record in any overseas country is held by Shane Warne, who took 129 wickets in 22 Tests in England. He's the only bowler to take more than 100 wickets in a country other than his own; his country man Dennis Lillee (96) and Malcolm Marshall (94) also came close to that in England.

Four Bowler Took 20 Wickets in a five match Test series.

Four Australian bowlers took 20 wickets in the 2006-07 Ashes, in which England were brutally whitewashed 5-0 by an Australian side stung by losing the urn in 2005 Ashes - was the on...ly time four bowlers from the same side have taken 20 or more wickets in the same five-Test series. The four Australian bowlers included Glenn McGrath (21), Shane Warne (23) and Stuart Clark (26) Brett Lee (20), Andrew Symonds (two) was the only other Australian bowler to take a wicket. Amazingly it did happen in one six-Test series, although. In England in 1995, Kenny Benjamin (23), Curtly Ambrose (21), Ian Bishop (27) and Courtney Walsh (26) all took more than 20 wickets, however Curtly Ambrose and Kenny Benjamin both missed one of the six matches). The other West Indies bowler Carl Hooper (3) and Ottis Gibson (2) also took wickets in that series.

 

Archie Jackson youngest cricketer to died

Archie Jackson is the youngest Test player who died for more than 70 years Archie Jackson did occupy first place on this melancholy list. He was only 23 years and 164 days old when he died of tuberculosis on February 16, 1933, on the day Australia surrendered the Ashes during the Bodyline series. Therefore, in March 2007 tragedy struck Bangladesh cricket when Manzarul-Islam-Rana was killed in a road accident, aged just 22 years 316 days. A left-arm spinner, Manzarul-Islam-Rana had played in six Tests and 25 one-day internationals.

 

Sir Don Bradman Incredible Test Average, Still a challenging task for modern batsman

The greatest batsman of all time, 'The Don' represented Australia for 20 years, playing in 52 Tests achieving an incredible - and since untouchable - batting average of 99.94.

Michael Clark Century on Debut

Michael Clarke of Australia celebrates his century on debut during day two of the First Test between India and Australia played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on October 7, 2004 in Bangalore, India.

 

Jack Flington and Bill Brown

Jack Flington and Bill Brown Sometime between 1932 and 1938 when both players were representing Australia. Brown's matches for Australia show that he only played in two Tests in Australia before Fingleton retired in 1938. So we know that this must have occurred in 1936-37 at either Melbourne or Adelaide.

 

Consecutive Triple Centuries in County Championship

Former Australian opener Justin Langer is the only person to score consecutive triple-centuries in the County Championship. In 2006, Justin Langer had two matches for Somerset, as a replacement overseas player, and in the second of them hit... 342 against Surrey in Guildford (the highest score ever made there). Not surprisingly, perhaps, Somerset signed Langer up full time for the 2007 season - he'd just retired from Test cricket then - and in his first match as their captain (nine months after his previous innings for them) he scored 315 against Middlesex in Taunton as Somerset made their way to 850 for 7, their high-ever total (the 688 for 8 in Langer's previous match in Guildford slipped down to third). For the record, only eight other men have scored two or more Championship triple-centuries: Wally Hammond, Graeme Hick and Michael Hussey each scored three, while Bill Ashdown (Kent), Jack Brown (Yorkshire), John Crawley (Hampshire), Murray Goodwin (Sussex) and Percy Holmes (Yorkshire) all made two.

 

Andrew Strauss dismissed four times by Nathan Hauritz

Andrew Strauss was dismissed four times running in one-day internationals by Nathan Hauritz in 2009. This is a record in ODIs? Andrew Strauss is one of nine batsmen to have been dismissed in four successive one-day international innings by... the same bowler. Devon Smith of West Indies is on that list twice - he fell four times in a row to Elton Chigumbura of Zimbabwe in December 2007, and again to Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez early in 2011. The latest addition to the list is Yuvraj Singh, who fell four times running to England's James Tredwell earlier this year. But two men have been out to the same bowler five times in a row in ODIs: Gary Kirsten fell to Dominic Cork five times in January 1996, while Collins Obuya of Kenya had similar trouble against his fellow legspinner Graeme Cremer of Zimbabwe early in 2009.

 

The Australian cricket team in England, 1878

From left, standing: Fred Spofforth, J. Conway (manager), F.E. Allan; Seated, center: G.H. Bailey, Tom Horan, T.W. Garrett, D. Gregory, A. Bannerman, H. Boyle; Front: C. Bannerman, W. Murdoch, J. Blackham.

 

Australian cricket team in England 1882

From left, standing: Tom Garrett, George Bonnor, Harry Boyle, Hugh Massie, George Palmer, C.W. Beale (manager), John Blackham. Sitting: George Giffen, Fred Spofforth, Tom Horan, Percy McDonnell, Billy Murdoch, Alec Bannerman.

 

Stan McCabe rubs his chest after being struck by a ball in body line series between England v Australia in 1930's

Sid Barnes, traps Lala Armanath lbw in the first official Test between Australia and India at the MCG.in Feb 1948

Ernie Toshack was one of the game's most captivating characters

Ernie Toshack was one of the game's most captivating characters. Tall, with striking, rugged features, he was known to his team-mates as The Black Prince (Sid Barnes enviously dubbed him The Film Star), having earlier, in his boxing days, b...een called `Johnson' for his swarthiness (the American black heavyweight Jack Johnson ruled the boxing world just before Toshack was born). He has hold the record of best 5 wickets haul in Test cricket, when he took 5 wickets for only 2 runs against India at Brisbane 28 November 1947. Toshack, who made his Test debut for Australia against New Zealand at Wellington, in 1946, played 12 Tests for Australia between 1945-46 and 1948, taking 47 wickets at an average of 21.04. A valued member of the Don Bradman's 1948 Invincibles, Toshack also enjoyed a successful career with NSW, making 48 first-class appearances between 1945-46 and 1949-50 when a troublesome knee forced his retirement.

Full name Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack

Born December 8, 1914, Cobar, New South Wales

Died May 11, 2003, Bobbin Head, Sydney, New South Wales (aged 88 years 154 days)