COINCIDENCES IN CRICKET

1. CAPTAINS BORN ON THE SAME DAY: In the1905 Ashes series England’s Hon. F.S. Jackson and Australia’s Joe Darling were both born on the same day – November 21, 1870.
2. 2 WORLD RECORDS: Bob Woolmer watched Hanif Mohammad of Pakistan get run out for 499, a new world – record score as a 10 year old in the year 1959. 35 years later in 1994 as Warwickshire’s coach, he witnessed Brian Lara surpass Hanif Mohammad’s Record and score 501*.
3. SAME RESULT (100 YEARS): The first recorded test in the year 1877 played between England and Australia in Melbourne saw Australia win by 45 runs. Interestingly, to commemorate the special occasion 100 years later a match was played in Melbourne between England and Australia, which saw Australia winning the exciting match by exactly 45 runs.
4. BB DISMISSES BB: On April 4 1962, Bapu Nadkarni of India dismissed West Indian opener Easton McMorris, both of them sharing their birthdays. In November last, South Africa’s Alviro Petersen was dismissed by Peter Siddle, who shared their birthday on the same day.

   

   BAPU NADKARNI

    

5. CAPTAINS WITH SAME NAME: History was made in November 2011 at Bulawayo, when for the first time in over 2000 test matches, both the captains shaed the same surnames – Brendon Taylor of Zimbabwe and Ross Taylor of New Zealand.
6. SAME 3 IN HAT TRICK: Ralph Lindsay took a hat trick in the annual match between Oudtshoorn Defence and Port Elizabeth Defence in South Africa in 1957, dismissing Messrs Voges, Jones and Le Grange with successive balls. Six years later, in the same fixture, Lindsay did it again - removing the same three batsmen, in the same order.
7. DROPPED BY DAD: On his course to his highest – score of 167, Andrew Flintoff, against West Indies at Edgabaston in 2004, he smashed one into the crowd. Wisden Reported this as: “He lofted Lawson high into the top tier of the Ryder Stand. A powerfully built middle-aged man stood up to take the catch. From a crowd of 20,000, Flintoff had somehow picked out his father, Colin, who muffed it: the only false move from a Flintoff in the entire Test.”
8. CHRISTMAS BOYS: The England pair of Marcus Trescothick and Alastair Cook were both born on Christmas Day (as was Simon Jones, who played for England with Trescothick but not with Cook). At Lord's in 2006, Trescothick and Cook shared a second-wicket stand of 127 against Sri Lanka - the second-highest Test partnership by unrelated batsmen born on the same day, behind the 163 of Vic Stollmeyer and Kenneth "Bam Bam" Weekes (both born on January 24) for West Indies at The Oval in 1939.

   

   ANDREW FLINTOFF  AFTER BEING "DROPPED"

   ANDREW FLINTOFF 

   AFTER BEING "DROPPED"

9. “RELATIVE”-LY OUT: In Wellington in February 1986, Australia's beanpole left-arm fast bowler Bruce Reid had his cousin, New Zealand's John Reid, caught behind. In Adelaide in 2002-03, Craig White of England dismissed Australia's Darren Lehmann, his brother-in-law.
10. START AND FINISH – THE SAME: The Indian off - spinner Ghulam Ahmed had a remarkably neat Test career. He made his Test debut on New Year's Eve, 1948, against West Indies in Calcutta. Exactly ten years later, on New Year's Eve 1958, he started his final Test - against West Indies in Calcutta. Paul Harris, the South African slow left-armer who has just announced his retirement, did something similar: he made his Test debut, against India in Cape Town, on January 2, 2007 - and started his final Test, against India in Cape Town, on January 2, 2011.          

          -Vandhiyadevan