George Gunn - Truly One Of A Kind

[fredfertang]

George Gunn - Truly One Of A Kind

In this feature Martin tells the story of George Gunn, one of the more interesting personalities to have played the game

 

[AndrewB]

Another good tale about George Gunn is the time he was challenged to a single-wicket contest by a local amateur for £100. He refused, but the amateur persisted, and eventually he agreed to play for a fiver just to get rid of him.
Two days later, Gunn was 620 not out, and the amateur asked if he was going to declare. Gunn offered instead to bat on using the heavy roller as the wicket.
When he reached 777, the amateur gave up in a fit of pique.

Incidentally, I think you've sold George short - he was 50 when he was recalled for the tour of the West Indies. (And, famously, Derek Sealy of the opposing XI was born after Gunn's previous Test).

 

[fredfertang]

Another good tale about George Gunn is the time he was challenged to a single-wicket contest by a local amateur for £100. He refused, but the amateur persisted, and eventually he agreed to play for a fiver just to get rid of him.
Two days later, Gunn was 620 not out, and the amateur asked if he was going to declare. Gunn offered instead to bat on using the heavy roller as the wicket.
When he reached 777, the amateur gave up in a fit of pique.

Incidentally, I think you've sold George short - he was 50 when he was recalled for the tour of the West Indies. (And, famously, Derek Sealy of the opposing XI was born after Gunn's previous Test).

You're right, of course, but it was definitely 48 the first time I did the calculation .............................

 

[AndrewB]

Maybe because it was his age at the start of his good run from 1927-9 that you mentioned?

One more thing I hadn't realised - if he hadn't been struck on the head by Gover (or had scored some runs off Amar Singh in that game in 1932), he'd probably have played in Verity's 10-10 match a week later (in which case, of course, Verity might well not have taken 10-10 and Geary would still have the record).

 

[fredfertang]

Maybe because it was his age at the start of his good run from 1927-9 that you mentioned?

One more thing I hadn't realised - if he hadn't been struck on the head by Gover (or had scored some runs off Amar Singh in that game in 1932), he'd probably have played in Verity's 10-10 match a week later (in which case, of course, Verity might well not have taken 10-10 and Geary would still have the record).

Very kind of you to give me a way out, but the truth is my arithmetic simply isn't as reliable as it should be

And that's a fascinating 'what if' - I think we had a thread on those, in fact possibly more than one, but I'm afraid I can't find it

 

[Midwinter]

Thanks once more for a fine story

 

[a massive zebra]

Very kind of you to give me a way out, but the truth is my arithmetic simply isn't as reliable as it should be

And that's a fascinating 'what if' - I think we had a thread on those, in fact possibly more than one, but I'm afraid I can't find it

If you have issues with mental arithmetic, why not use this tool which can automatically calculate the duration between two dates:

https://www.timeanddate.com/date/timeduration.html