Q: Did anyone's first-class playing career encompass both World Wars?
A: Yes, but only by lucky chance - Bill Ashdown of Kent played First-Class cricket in England from 1914 to 1937, then came out of retirement to play a one-off festival match at Harrogate in 1947.
Q: Which bowler has the most Test match wickets for ducks to his credit?
A: Australia's Glenn McGrath, with 101 scoreless victims.
Q: Who was stumped most times in Tests?
A: Allan Border of Australia was stumped 9 times in his 221 dismissals.
Q: Who was Sri Lanka's first ODI after receiving Test status against? And how many ODIs had they played beforehand?
A: Well, after receiving the promotion their first game was
against England on the 13th of February 1982, against whom they also played their first
Test the same week. The first ODI after the Test was actually played was
against Pakistan, on the 12th of March 1982. Before 1982, they had played just 6 ODIs (5 if you discount 1 which was completely washed-out), 3 each in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups.
Q: And what about Zimbabwe?
A: Zimbabwe's first was
against India, a one-off game to mirror the
one-off Test earlier that week to introduce Zimbabwe to the field. They had played 20 games before this, with a somewhat odd pattern: after winning their first, they lost the next 18, then won the 20th. Like the Lankans, all these games came in World Cups: 1983, 1987/88 and 1991/92.
Comment by Haseeb | 09 Sep 2008