Liam Plunkett Jubliant After Taking His Five Wickets Haul Against Sri Lanka

Liam Plunkett enjoyed making an early impression on his first home ground. Who took the 5 for 64, his first five-wicket haul in Tests, and fully justify his recall with a chest-thrusting and, at times, hostile display.

Sri Lanka in England Test Series - 2nd Investec Test

Test no. 2126 | 2014 season

Played at Headingley, Leeds

20,21,22,23,24 June 2014 (5-day match)

took the 5 for 64, his first five-wicket haul in Tests, and fully justify his recall with a chest-thrusting and, at times, hostile display. @ Getty Image

Stuart Broad Became the first England Bowler to Take Two Hat-tricks in Test Cricket

Stuart Broad became the first England bowler to take two hat-tricks in Test cricket, and added his name in the list of unique accomplishment that have done twice in test Cricket. Stuart Broad is only the 4th bowler of all time, as England tore through Sri Lanka's lower order on the opening day of the Headingly Test # 2126. It was a significant achievement all the same, taking him alongside Australia's leg spinner Jimmy Matthews (who did it twice in the same match), his fellow Australian Hugh Trumble and Wasim Akram of Pakistan as the only players to accomplish the feat twice. Broad's previous success came against India at Trent Bridge in 2011. Stuart Broad hat-trick includes Kumar Sangakkara mainstay of Sri Lanka's innings, for 79, well caught by Ian Bell at gully,  and then added Dinesh Chandimal at first slip and Shaminda Eranga, a catch to the keeper, with the first two deliveries of his following over.

Stuart Broad Became the first England Bowler to Take Two Hat-tricks in Test Cricket @ Getty Image

All Hat-Tricks in Test Cricket

Most Runs in Boundaries in a Test innings?

England John Edrich might strike some as a bit of a surprise if they remember John Edrich as a rather dour defender in the later part of his career. But in his early days he was a powerful hard-hitting and uncompromising striker of the ball, and for England against New Zealand at Headingley in 1965 no fewer than 238 of Edrich's eventual 310 not out - 52 fours and five sixes which came in boundaries. Australian relentless opening batsman Matthew Hayden ran him close with 218 in boundaries with 38 fours and 11 sixes during in his 380 for Australia v Zimbabwe in Perth in 2003-04. The next comes burly Inzamam-ul-Haq, with 206 with 38 fours and nine sixes for Pakistan against New Zealand in Lahore in 2001-02, and Virender Sehwag, with 202 including 40 fours, seven sixes for India v Sri Lanka in Mumbai in 2009-10. As far as record in one-day internationals is 150 runs in boundaries, by Australian Shane Watson in his 185 not out for Australia against Bangladesh in Mirpur in April 2011, which contained 15 fours - and a record 15 sixes too.

John Edrich drives Bryan Yuile on his way to 310 Not out, England v New Zealand, 3rd Test, Headingley, July 9, 1965

England Youngest Player in Test Match, One-day International & T20I

England's youngest Test player remains Brian Close, who was 18 years 149 days old when he made his debut against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1949. Four other Englishmen won their first caps aged 19: Jack Crawford (1905-06), Denis Compton (1937), Ben Hollioake (1997) and Ian Peebles (1927-28). Although Brian Close played just 22 Tests, his international career lasted until 1976 - when, aged 45 years 140 days, and again at Old Trafford.  He also ended up as the 11th-oldest England Test cricketer. So in ODI Ben Hollioake, at 19 years 195 days in 1997, was also England's youngest player in a one-day international, at 2^nd place Stuart Broad was only 20 years 67 days in 2006 is the youngest of 11 20-year-olds to have played.  England's youngest player in a T20I is Stuart Broad, again in 2006: Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were also under 21 when they made their debuts in 2011.

Brian Close ways out of the way of a Michael Holding bouncer, England v West Indies, Old Trafford, July 10, 1976

50,000 Runs in all Forms of Cricket

England prolific batsman Graham Gooch, with 67,057 runs in all formats with 44,846 in first-class cricket, and 22,211 in List A games. On the 2^nd place not far behind is Graeme Hick, with 64,372. At 3rd place is at Sir Jack Hobbs, the old Surrey and England opener, whose 61,670 runs all came in first-class cricket and constitute the overall record for that.  The record includes all first-class, List A’ one-day matches and T20 games).

Graham Gooch batting in the Benson & Hedges Cup final, Essex v Northamptonshire, Lord's, July 21, 1980

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
GA Gooch	1973-2000	1194	1591	123	67057	333	45.67	172	356
GA Hick	1983-2008	1214	1537	183	64372	405*	47.54	178	307
JB Hobbs	1905-1934	834	1325	107	61760	316*	50.7	199	273
FE Woolley	1906-1938	978	1530	84	58959	305*	40.77	145	295
G Boycott	1962-1986	922	1316	206	58521	261*	52.72	159	312
EH Hendren	1907-1937	833	1300	166	57611	301*	50.8	170	272
DL Amiss	1960-1987	1062	1530	160	55942	262*	40.83	117	289
CP Mead	1905-1936	814	1340	185	55061	280*	47.67	153	258
WG Grace	1865-1908	870	1478	104	54211	344	39.45	124	251
CG Greenidge	1970-1992	963	1325	108	53703	273*	44.12	125	277
IVA Richards	1971-1993	1007	1262	124	53207	322	46.75	140	271
MW Gatting	1975-1998	1102	1369	202	51025	258	43.72	106	268
H Sutcliffe	1919-1945	754	1098	124	50670	313	52.02	151	230
MR Ramprakash	1987-2012	931	1221	167	50651	301*	48.05	131	245
WR Hammond	1920-1951	634	1005	104	50551	336*	56.1	167	185
SR Tendulkar	1988-2013	954	1120	116	50024	248*	49.82	142	244
TW Graveney	1948-1972	777	1266	166	48940	258	44.49	122	239
AJ Lamb	1972-1995	951	1235	171	48160	294	45.26	108	264
KWR Fletcher	1962-1988	1158	1561	232	47613	228*	35.82	65	285
Zaheer Abbas	1965-1987	782	1077	125	46083	274	48.4	127	230
GM Turner	1964-1983	768	1100	123	45130	311*	46.19	117	214
MC Cowdrey	1950-1976	779	1208	145	44697	307	42.04	110	243
JH Edrich	1956-1978	724	1133	122	44582	310*	44.09	104	227
KJ Barnett	1979-2005	1004	1284	130	44157	239*	38.26	78	245
AI Kallicharran	1966-1990	888	1197	122	43986	243*	40.91	102	231
TW Hayward	1893-1914	712	1138	96	43551	315*	41.79	104	218
A Jones	1957-1983	933	1452	93	43206	204*	31.79	58	236
MJK Smith	1951-1975	777	1221	156	42938	204	40.31	69	256
Javed Miandad	1973-1998	841	1039	174	42636	311	49.29	93	240
CH Lloyd	1963-1986	865	1073	168	42147	242*	46.57	91	241
DL Haynes	1976-1997	795	1055	116	41681	255*	44.38	89	248
R Dravid	1990-2013	856	1014	129	41651	270	47.06	89	242
ME Waugh	1985-2004	802	1008	117	41518	229*	46.59	108	218
RT Ponting	1992-2013	793	982	118	41422	257	47.94	116	210
A Sandham	1911-1937	643	1000	79	41284	325	44.82	107	165
RA Smith	1980-2003	869	1140	147	41082	209*	41.37	88	212
AJ Stewart	1981-2003	951	1208	134	40936	271*	38.11	67	242
DW Randall	1971-2000	955	1269	142	40756	237	36.16	58	236
W Larkins	1972-2002	967	1309	79	40736	252	33.11	85	182
L Hutton	1934-1955	513	814	91	40140	364	55.51	129	177
SG Law	1988-2009	810	1021	97	40089	263	43.38	100	199

The youngest double-centurion in the County Championship

Surrey batsman Dominic Sibley made 242 runs against Yorkshire at the Oval on 26 Sep 2013 is the youngest player to score a double-century in county cricket, a record previously held by David Sales, for Northamptonshire v Worcestershire at Kidderminster in 1996, when he was about seven months older than Sibley, who turned 18 on September 5. But the only younger man to score a double-century in English first-class cricket was WG Grace, who was nine days younger than Sibley when he made 224 for England v Surrey at The Oval in 1866.  Dr. William Gilbert is also known as W G Grace, MRCS, LRCP was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is considered by many historians to have been the greatest cricketer of all time. However; there have been 11 younger double-centurions in all first-class Cricket seven on them scored in Pakistan where there are sometimes doubts about the accuracy of birth records. Top of the list is Pakistan Hasan Raza who was 15 years 215 days old when he scored 204 not out for Karachi Whites against Bahawalpur in Karachi in 1997-98.

Dr. William Gilbert is also known as W G Grace

Dominic Sibley completes his double hundred, Surrey v Yorkshire, County Championship, Division One, The Oval, 3rd day September 26, 2013

Hasan Raza batting on debut when it was claimed he was 14 ... that was later disputed by his own board, Pakistan v Zimbabwe, Sheikhupura, October 20, 1996

 

At Lord's Ian Bell scored his third hundred in successive Ashes Tests

England middle order batsman Ian Bell's scored 2nd successive score of 109  which followed his 115 in the final Test in Sydney in 2010-11 made him only the fourth English batsman to score hundreds in three successive Tests against Australia, following by Sir Jack Hobbs in 1911-12 and again done in 1924-25, Walter Hammond  did it in 1928-29 and Chris Broad in 1986-87. Bob Woolmer scored hundreds in three successive Ashes Tests in 1975 and 1977, but in the middle played against Australia in the Centenary Test in Melbourne, a one-off match in which the Ashes were not at stake. Sir Don Bradman scored centuries in eight successive Ashes Tests in which he batted between 1936-37 and 1946-47 that excludes the 1938 Oval Test, when Don Bradman was unable to bat while carrying injury.

Most Runs and Wickets in Test cricket after their 40th birthday?

Sir Jack Hobbs made 2440 Test runs after turning 40, while two more Englishmen, Patsy Hendren made test runs 1901 and Tom Graveney 1243, are the only others to make more than 1000, although Geoff Boycott was just one short with 999. Jack Hobbs made eight centuries after his 40th birthday, more than twice as many as anyone else, whereas Jeoff Boycott, Tom Graveney, Patsy Hendren and the Australian Warwick Armstrong all made three. Turning to the bowlers, Clarrie Grimmett took 96 wickets in 16 Tests after his 40th birthday, while another Australian slow left arm spinner Bert Ironmonger, took 74 at the startling average of 17.97 after making his debut in 1928-29 at the age of 46. Next comes England's Sydney Barnes with 49 all in one series in South Africa in 1913-14.

 Jack Hobbs made a staggering 2440 Test runs after turning 40

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.

1000 First Class Matches

The only player to figure in more than 1000 first-class matches is the old Yorkshire and England all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes, who played in no fewer than 1110 first-class matches in a career that stretched from 1898 to 1930, when he was nearly 53. Next on the list is the graceful Kent batsman Frank Woolley, who took part in 978 first-class games. Then comes WG Grace with 870. Given the smaller amount of first-class cricket played these days, it's unthinkable that anyone will ever get near such a number again.

Chris Read Six Dismissals in Successive Matches during the 2006-2007 Ashes

Chris Read made six dismissals in an innings in successive matches during the 2006-07 Ashes series. Chris Read's wicket keeping in the last two matches of that series, in Melbourne and Sydney, was one of the few bright spots for England in the embarrassing Ashes whitewash of 2006-07 - not that it did Read much good, as those were the last of his 15 Test appearances. Funnily enough he also took six catches in an innings on his debut, against New Zealand at Edgbaston in 1999. The only man to achieve the feat more often than Read played nearly ten times as many matches: Mark Bucher did it four times in 147 Tests.

Duck Less Innings in Test Cricket

England stylish left hander David Gower had the most successive innings in Tests without a duck. He’s the only man to have a run of more than 100 successive innings without a duck in Tests, who went to the crease 119 times between August 1982 and December 1990 without bagging a duck. Next comes Richie Richardson of West Indies, with 96 between November 1984 and July 1991.

 

 

James Anderson 300 Test Wicket before 30th Birthday

Jimmy Anderson took his 300th Test wicket at Lord's, aged only 30. Jimmy Anderson became the 26th bowler to reach 300 Test wickets when he had Peter Fulton caught at slip by his great mate Graeme Swann in the first innings at Lord's last month. Anderson is actually in a respectable mid-table position age-wise. He is the 13th-youngest (or 14th-oldest) of the 26, being five days younger than Glenn McGrath was when he reached the mark in 2000-01. The youngest man to reach 300 Test wickets is Indian Kapil Dev, who got there the day after his 28th birthday in January 1987. Shane Warne, Harbhajan Singh, Muttiah Muralitharan and Ian Botham were also 28 when they reached 300. The most interesting is oldest man to make it to 300 was West Indian off spinner Lance Gibbs, who was 41 in 1975-76.

 

Longest Test Career

Sachin Tendulkar has now been playing Test cricket for more than 23 years. He’s one of only 16 men whose Test careers have lasted longer than 20 years - the last one to complete two decades before him was John Traicos, of South Africa and Zimbabwe, in 1993. At the moment Sachin Tendulkar lies fifth on the all-time list - but he's going to have to hang on until he's 47 if he wants to claim the longest Test career of all, which is currently held by the Yorkshire and England all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes. He made his Test debut in 1899 (in WG Grace's final Test), and won the last of his 58 caps in the West Indies in April 1930, when he was, at 52, the oldest man ever to appear in a Test. In all Rhodes's Test career lasted 30 years and 315 days.

 

Most Test Matches at Lord's

Engalnd Graham Gooch has made the most appearances in Tests at Lord's, with 21 appearances in Tests at Lord's, just ahead of Alec Stewart (20) and Andrew Strauss (18). The most appearances by an overseas player at Lord's is nine, by Austral...ia's Syd Gregory, who toured England eight times between 1890 and 1912. He was captain on that last tour, for the Triangular Tournament which also included a Test against South Africa at Lord's. Gooch also leads the way for Test run scorers at Lord's, with 2015, well ahead of Strauss with 1562.

 

Stuart Broad Career Best Figure of 44-7 at Lord's

England Medium Fast Bowler Stuart Broad In a destructive spell of pace bowling, blew away New Zealand with career-best figures of 7 for 44 as England surged to a 170-run victory at Lord's. A Test that had started at a cautious pace hurtled ...to a conclusion less than hour after lunch on the fourth day with New Zealand dismantled for only 68. Stuart Broad the first five of his wickets in 5.4 overs before lunch to crush New Zealand's hopes that would have been reasonably high just an hour earlier after Tim Southee, with just the second ten-wicket haul by a New Zealander at Lord's, had instigated another collapse. History was still weighted against Kiwis at the beginning of their pursuit of 239. Only two sides had chased more to win at Lord's: West Indies against England in 1984 and England against New Zealand in 2004. For the first time since 1936, England had just two men bowl unchanged through a completed all-out innings, although Broad and James Anderson did not quite share all ten wickets. The last fell to a chaotic run out after one of the substitute fielders, Adam Dobb, had not quite been able to gather a top-edged hook from Neil Wagner, who then ended up in the middle of the pitch. It was New Zealand's sixth-lowest total against England.

New Zealand in England Test Series - 1st Test
Test no. 2088 | 2013 season
Played at Lord's, London
16,17,18,19 May 2013 (5-day match)

England 232 (Bairstow 41, Southee 4-58) and 213 (Root 71, Trott 56, Southee 6-50) beat New Zealand 207 (Taylor 66, Williamson 60, Anderson 5-47) and 68 (Broad 7-44) by 170 runs

 

 

James Anderson Enters in 300 Test Wikcets Club

England seam bowler James Anderson had Peter Fulton caught low at second slip by Graeme Swann, and he became the 4th England bowler - after Ian Botham, Bob Willis, and Fred Trueman - and the 26th in all, to take 300 Test wickets. That journey took him almost exactly 10 years, given that he made his Test debut on May 22, 2003, and over those 10 years. James Anderson entirely conceivable that he will surpass Botham's tally of 383 and become England's highest wicket-taker in Tests. Fred Trueman reached the 300-wicket mark the fastest in just 65 Tests while Bob Willis and James Anderson have taken the longest. In terms of averages, Ian Botham had an excellent strike rate in terms of wickets per Test till he got to 300 he reached the mark in only 72 matches but then took only 78 wickets in his last 30 Tests to finish on 383 from 102.

 

 

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.

 

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

Len Hutton's 364 against Australia remains the longest Test innings in terms