Trivial Facts


The only law in cricket that has remained constant is the length of pitch at 22 yards.
The first laws of cricket were introduced in 1774.
Cricket has been invented by shepherds in England who started playing the early forms of cricket sometime in the 17th century.
The shepherds would bat in-front of a tree stump, hence the term "stumps" came in use. Later the tree stump was replaced by two sticks and one bail in between.
Later cricket was played in front of a wicket-gate - which led to the term "wickets".
The early cricket bats were long curved pieces of wood resembling a thick hockey stick
India's Gautam Gambhir and West Indian legend Vivian Richards' share the world record of most fifties (11) in consecutive Tests.
As a pair, India's Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid has appeared in most number of Tests.
New Zealand's Chris Martin holds the dubious record for scoring max number of pairs in Tests - five.
Most man of the series awards in Tests: 11 by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.
India's Sachin Tendulkar s the holder of most Man of the Series awards in ODIs with 13 awards.
South Africa's Jacques Kallis is the holder of most Man of the Match awards in Tests with 20 awards.
IPL-III numbers: 57 matches, 171 hours of cricket on the field. Off the field: 54 parties, 270 hours of partying and close to 1,29,600 bottles of beer and 27,000 bottles of whisky consumed.
Zimbabwe's Tatenda Taibu hold the record of youngest cricketer ever to lead a Test side when he led Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka in 2004 aged 20 years 358 days.
Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas played the most matches before his maiden Man-of-the-Match award. Vaas won the award first time in his 164th ODI.
India's Sachin Tendulkar has bagged most man of the match awards in ODIs - 60 and in Tests Jacques Kallis (20).
A total of 37 hat-tricks have been registered in Test cricket as of 2009.
India's M L Jaisimha, England's Geoff Boycott, Allan Lamb and Andrew Flintoff, Australia's Kim Hughes, India's Ravi Shastri and West Indies' Adrian Griffith have all batted on each day of a five-day Test.
Australia have scored 300+ runs on more than 55 occasions in ODIs - the most by any side.
The highest fourth innings total without losing a wicket to win a Test is 172 by Australia against West Indies [Images] at Adelaide in 1930-31.
There is only one instance in Tests where all 11 batsmen made single digit scores - by South Africa against England in 1924, when they were dismissed for just 30 at Edgbaston. There have been 25 instances where ten batsmen failing to reach double figures.
Wicket keeper Budhi Kunderan opened both batting and bowling for India in the 1967 Birmingham Test (Farokh Engineer was the 'keeper in that Test).
France is the current Olympic silver medallists in cricket. England had defeated France at the Paris Games final in 1900, the last time cricket was played in Olympics.
Malaysian born Lall Singh played for India in 1932 against England at Lords.
Geoff Boycott was dropped from the team for slow scoring after he scored 246 against India in 1967 at Headingly.
Invention of leg glance shot is attributed to Ranjith Singhji.
Ranjith Singhji, after whom India's top domestic competition, Ranji Trophy, is named, lost his right eye in a hunting accident in 1914.
Sunil Gavaskar's only Test wicket was that of Pakista's Zaheer Abbas when Abbas was dismissed on 96.
Four players served as captains of India in the 1958-59 home series against the West Indies.
In 1985-86 series India's Kapil Dev was denied a glass of water by Allan Border after a shot of his killed a seagull.
Former Indian wicket keeper Dilawan Hussain became one of the founding members of the PCB.
Sohail Tanvir's 4-0-14-6 in IPL is the best bowling analysis in Twenty20 cricket.
Sri Lanka has featured in all Asia Cup final matches.
Former West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh is called Duracell for his ability to bowl very long spells of 10-12 overs without getting tired.
Australian opener, Michael Slater, is said to have tried to flush his kit in a toilet when he was going through bad batting form.
Ricky Ponting had a bat sponsership at the age of 12.
Former India opener Raman Lamba died during a cricket match. During a club match in Bangladesh, Lamba was hit on the temple fielding at short leg. He walked off the field, spat blood, suffered concussion and died later on the same day.
In ODIs, Pakistan's Saeed Anwar holds the record for hundreds in successive innings(4). In Tests, Sanath Jayasuriya and Brian Lara share the record with 3 hundreds in 3 innings.
In Tests, Don Bradman scored back-to-back hundreds on as many as nine consecutive Tests - easily the best effort by any batsman so far.
The First Test between Young Sri Lanka and Young England at Columbo in 1987 was held up when a large iguana crept across the wicket.
Rawl Lewis of the West Indies whose three match test career saw a bowling average of 318 at a strike rate of 585 has the worst bowling figures in Test history. However, Roger Wijesuriya of Sri Lanka has the worst strike rate of 586 - though he has a better average of 294.
South Africans were the first to introduce TV run outs.
Vikram Solanki is the first ever SuperSub player in ODIs.
Sunil Gavaskar was reported to have been inadvertently involved in a baby-swapping incident soon after his birth when baby Gavaskar was found sleeping peacefully in a crib alongside a fisherwoman.
Andy Lloyd of England has the distinction of being the only player to open in a Test and never be out. He opened against West Indies in 1984 and half-an-hour into his first innings, he ducked into a bouncer from Malcolm Marshall and was led off, suffering from double vision. He remained there for the rest of the match, and was never picked up again for a Test.
The Chappells and the Grace brothers - WG, EM and GF - are the only sets of three brothers to play for the same team in the same Test match.
Four Mohammad brothers represented Pakistan - Hanif, Mushtaq, Wazir and Sadiq. A fifth brother, Raees played first-class cricket.
George Headley, often described as the black Bradman, his son Ronald played Test cricket for West Indies, and Ron's son Dean played for England. This is the only family to have a father, son and grandson to play Test cricket.
The first two twins to play in the same Test match were Rosemary and Elizabeth Signal of New Zealand against England in 1984, in women's cricket.
New Zealand's Stephen Fleming played 4 ODIs against Sri Lanaka between January 2006 and April 2007 and was lbw to Chaminda Vaas for 0 in all of them. He was lbw to Faveez Maharoof for 1 during the 2007 WC semi-finals.
Sri Lanka's Chamara Silva is the first player in Test history to score a hundred after scoring a pair on debut.
Kapil Dev was once refused an extra chappati in an U-15 preparatory camp.
Australia's Glenn McGrath is the leading wicket taker in 2007 Word Cup(26 wickets) and also all World Cups put together.
While the honour of knighthood was awarded to cricketers well after their respective retirements, Maharajkumar(or Prince) of Vizianagram(a small country in the former British India), was knighted even before his Test debut. He was knighted 12 days before he made his Test debut in 1936 on cricketing grounds.
Pakistan have tried 55 different opening partnerships in 113 Tests between January 1995 and December 2006.
Nasser Hussain came to be known as "poppadam fingers" because of his tendency to break fingers often.
New Zealand's Stephen Fleming has one and only one ODI wicket to his credit. He took his single wicket against Netherlands in 1995-96 World Cup.
26 sixes were hit in the final one day match of the Chappell-Hadlee series between Australia and New Zealand in New Zealand in 2006. This is equal to the record established in the Johannesburg game between Australia and South Africa in 2006.
Between their 1999 semifinal victory against the New Zealand and the only victory against Zimbabwe in 2007 Pakistan have not beaten a single Test playing nation in the World Cup matches.
In 1958 playing against New Zealand at Headingley England's innings were opened by a rugby player and a football player. Arthur Milton represented England in one football match (vs. Austria in 1951) and Mike Smith won one rugby cap for England.
John Thayer, who played 7 first-class matches in the USA was the only first-class cricket on board the Titanic.
On the 1974 tour to England, Indian opener, Sudhir Naik was accused of stealing a pair of socks from Marks & Spencers.
The rather dubious record for the highest number of ducks in one-dayers is held by Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya with 29 ducks. Wasim Akram (28) and Romesh Kaluwitharana (24) come next.
The term "sledging" is believed to have been born in the early '70s and it was Ian Chappell's Australians who upped the ante in the verbal aggression.
A record 90,800 people attended on a single day to watch Australia play the West Indies in February 1961. The recent Ashes Test at MCG came close to that when 89,155 people turned up on the first day. This is an Ashes record for a single day's crowd.
Australia's Bruce Reid is the only player who has taken more than 100 wickets(113) and scored less than 100 runs(93) in Tests. India's Bhagwat Chandrasekhar is the only player to take more than 200 wickets and score less than 200 runs(167 runs & 242 wickets in 58 Tests).
During the recently concluded Champions Trophy, Vinayak Samant, Mumbai wicket-keeper, took the field for West Indies, for about 2 overs, in the match against Australia on October 18. New Zealand's Hamish Marshall appeared as a substitute, in a Test Match for England in 1998.
West Indians Runako Morton holds the record for the slowest duck in an ODI. he faced 30 dot balls before being dismissed off the 31st in the recently concluded tri-nation DLF cup final at Kuala Lumpur against Australia.
"c Mustard b Onions" is a regular scoreboard entry for Englad's Durham County Cricket Club, whose members include wicket keeper Phil Mustard and paceman Garaham Onions. "Onions and Mustard add the relish" was a recent headline in a local newspaper after the pair produced an important stand.
Australia's Steve Waugh holds the dubious distinction of most run outs in both forms of cricket. He was involved in 27 run-outs during his Test career of which only four times he got himself run-out. In ODIs he was involved in 78 run outs of which he was out himself 27 times and his partners 51!
India's Kapil Dev (131), Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar(116), England's Graeme Hick (114) and Peter May (106) are the only players who have played more than 100 innings and have never been run out.
West Indian Ramnaresh Sarwan is the first player to hit six 4s in a Test match over. He hit India's Munaf Patel for six consecutive boundaries(sixth delivery was a no-ball) during the recently concluded fourth Test.
Ryan Bradsley of Astley Sports College in Northern England became the youngest qualiied umpire to officiate in a cricket match in July 2006 at age 13.
The ICC laid down the guidelines for what a Test pitch should be after India's Mumbai Test against Australia in 1994 ended in two days of playing time.
Appealing for a run out during WI's innings in the 2nd ODI against India in 2006, the Indians discovered that Billy Doctrove, the square leg umpire, was absent from the ground, sorting out a sight-screen issue.
For the first time in its 134-year history, the Wisden Almanac is now available in two sizes, the regular size and a new 22cm tall version.
Justin Langer of Australia is the first batsman to retire hurt on the first ball of a Test match(vs. RSA).
New Zealand's Beige Brigade named Mick Lewis their "Player of the year" for his extraordinary effort(113 off 10 overs) against South Africa.
Jason Gillespie has a batting average of 247 against Bangladesh. Damien Martyn has an average of 5.5 against them
Sanath Jayasurya's 134 off 69 balls against Pakistan in Singapore with a strike rate of 194.20 is widely regarded as the most explosive one-day innings by a batsman.
According to Herschelle Gibbs, Australians did not sledge the Proteas during "that" historic match.
Daniel Vettori of New Zealend has Italian blood.
682 fours and sixes were hit during the Ashes 2005. In comparison, Sir Bradman hit only 6 sixes in his entire career, Keith Miller was not once hit for six.
New Zealanders Hamish and James Marshall are the closest identical twins to have played cricket.
The first cricketer to be knighted was Sir Pelham Warner of England. Sir Neville Cardus was the first cricket writer to be knighted.
The only instance of wicket keepers of both sides scoring century in an ODI was Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka did it at Jaipur in November 2005.
The oldest debutant in Test cricket is James Southerton of England who made his debut at the age of 49 years against Australia at Melbourne in 1876/77. In all, 13 players have made Test debuts aged 40 or above.
RE "Tip" Foster of England is the only man in history who has captained both a cricket and football teams. He captained England in three Tests against South Africa in 1907, five years after he skippered the England football team against Wales.
Seven Test hundreds each were recorded By England and Australia at Nottingham in 1938 and by West Indies and Australia at Kingston in 1954-55.
David Steele(England batsman of the 70s) had a deal with a local butcher, who gave him a lamb chop for every run he scored up to 50, and a steak for every run after that.
The top openers in ODIs are: the West Indians Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. They have opened the innings of 102 occasions while aggregating 5150 runs at 52.55 runs every innings. They have put on fifteen 100-plus partnerships
Three catches were dropped off successive balls of Geoff Arnold of England during the first Test against Australia at Old Trafford in 1972. Ray Illingworth, England's captain, grumbled about the spilled catches almost all day, until he dropped one himself and started talking about what a terrible "seeing ground" Old Trafford was for the fieldsmen.
There has not been an instance in history where the runs scored in a particular over had the sequence of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
There is no accurate record of who was the first bowler to take a wicket in the game of cricket because till today the cricket historians are not certain when and where did cricket actually begin. The first game of which some scores are available was the match between Kent v All England in June 18, 1744 and the first known score sheet available was of the match between Duke Dorset's XI and Wrotham on August 31, 1769.
No two bowlers have taken a hat-tricks in the same Test match. However Australian Jimmy Matthews against South Africa at Manchester in the 1912 Triangular Test series twice took a hat-trick in the same afternoon (on 28th May 1912) but in two separate innings.
No bowler has taken four wickets in four balls as yet in Tests and ODIs though there have been instances in both Tests and ODIs wherein bowlers have taken four wickets in the same over.
Sir Donald Bradman scored 309 runs on a single day - the first day of the Ashes Test match at Leeds, on July 11, 1930 - he made 105 before lunch; 115 runs between lunch and tea; and 89 runs after tea.
The Durban Test match between South Africa and England was to be played as a timeless Test match and some eleven days later it was still left drawn since England had to begin their two-day rail journey back to their ship at Cape Town. It still remains the longest ever first-class match of ten days of actual play. The match was abandoned as a draw after 43 hours 16 minutes of actual play during March 3 to March 14, 1939.
Former England all-rounder Ian Botham also played football appearing for Scunthorpe United as a striker in the 1980s.
The only batsman who has scored five Test hundreds in a row was West Indian Everton Weekes.
Consecutive maiden overs: Tests: 21 maidens in a row by India's left-arm spinner RG "Bapu" Nadkarni against England at Madras in January 1964. ODIs: it is believed to be held by West Indian medium pacer Phil Simmons, who bowled six maidens in a row against Pakistan at Sydney on 17-12-1992.
Dismissed Obstructing the field. Tests: England's Len Hutton against South Africa at the Oval in August 1951. A ball from South African off-spinner Athol Rowan ballooned up from Hutton's bat top edge and the batsman tried to fend it off his wicket with his bat, thus preventing wicket-keeeper Russell Endean from making a catch.
ODIs: 1. Pakistani Rameez Raja (then on 98) against England on 20-11-1987 at Karachi. After facing the last ball of the match Raja set off for the two runs he needed for his century and while completing his second run he deliberately stopped the ball with his bat, thus preventing wicket-keeper, who had rolled the ball in an attempt to break the wicket at the bowler's end, from running him out. 2. Mohinder Amarnath against Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad on 22-10-1989. After playing defensively to Sri Lankan pace bowler Kapila Wijegunawardene, he began to run but seeing the bowler charging down the track, kicked the ball away in order to prevent the bowler from running him out. He was given out by the umpire.
Two first-class players are known to have been born in Japan. Rev. Frank Gillingham, who was born in Tokyo in 1875, played 210 matches for Essex, scoring just over 10,000 runs. Gregor Kennis, who played a few matches for Surrey in the 1990s, was born in Yokohama.
The shortest Test, in terms of balls bowled, that had a result was the final Test of the 1931-32 series at Melbourne, when Australia (153) beat South Africa (36 and 45) by an innings and 72 runs. The shortest Test in which there was any play at all was the abandoned West Indies-England Test at Kingston in 1997-98, which was called after 61 balls, during which time England limped to 17 for 3.
The first ever three-nation Test cricket tournament was played from 27 May 1912 to 22 August 1912 in England. The host nation won the tournament by winning four of its six games (two were drawn), while Australia were runners-up with two wins, one loss and three drawn, while South Africa, who lost five of its matches and drew one, finished last.
The only time a non-striking batsman walked away to protest the decision of umpire was when India's Sunil Gavaskar(striker) asked his partner Chetan Chauhan to leave the field with him. Gavaskar had disagreed with the umpire the lbw decision against himself off the bowling of Dennis Lillee. However, Indian team manager Wing Cdr. SK Durrani, met the players at the gate and ordered Chauhan to continue his innings. Final Match, fourth day, Feb. 1981.
Among all-rounders, India's former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar holds the record of opening the batting and bowling in the same match on most occasions than any other player in both Tests and ODIs.
Australian Craig McDermott (138 matches) and South African Dave Richardson (122 matches) are the only players to have appeared in over 100 ODI matches and not receive a man-of-the-match award during their career.
In the Champions Trophy semi-final 2004, Pakistan made 131, and West Indies overhauled their total with 131 balls to spare. In the 1999 World Cup, Australia scored 181 to beat Bangladesh with 181 balls remaining, and at Dhaka in 2003-04, Bangladesh scored 134 and England coasted past them with 134 balls to spare.
Boxing Day - Apparently it is so named after the custom of putting money in church boxes during the Christmas period, to be distributed on December 26 to the poor and needy. In the 19th Century, it was a custom for the lords and ladies of England to present gifts in boxes to their servants on December 26 in appreciation of the work they had done over the Christmas celebrations.
The lowest total successfully defended in an ODI was Pakistan's 87 for 9 against India at Gujranwala in 1989-90 – India were bowled out for 80. That game had been reduced to 16 overs a side after bad weather delayed the start.
Most Test runs without scoring a century: Shane Warne (2326 runs), his highest score remains 99, Chetan Chauhan (2084) of India, Deryck Murray (1993) of West Indies, Chaminda Vaas (1963) of Sri Lanka, Malcolm Marshall (1810) of West Indies, John Emburey (1713) of England and the Australian Ken "Slasher" Mackay (1507).
Only three cricketers - Gary Sobers for Nottinghamshire, versus Glamorgan at Swansea in 1968, Ravi Shastri for Bombay, versus Baroda at Bombay in 1984-85 and Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa versus Scotland in 2007 - have hit six sixes in one over in the history of cricket.
Although later denied by himself, the reason circulated for Sir Donald Bradman's score of 0(2) in his last Test innings was that Bradman had tears in his eyes when he went in to bat in his last innings. Hence, he could not see the ball properly and was bowled second ball for a duck at the Oval in 1948.
Although cricket Laws do not allow the same bowler to bowl two consecutive overs in Test cricket this has happened twice. Australian captain Warwick Armstrong in 1921 and New Zealand leg-spinner Dick Moir in 1951 bowled two overs in a row.
The maximum runs scored in a single day's play in Test cricket history is 503-2 on the second day by England against South Africa at Lord's in 1924.
Arthur Collins (then 13 yrs old) has this distinction while scoring 628 not out - for Clarke's House against North Town in a junior house match in England in June 1899- which still remains the highest individual score made by any batsman in any class of cricket.
Inzamam ul Huq, R Abel and DG Bradman are the only three batsmen in Test cricket who have individually outscored their opponents total score(both innings combined).
Inzamam ul Huq 329 for Pak v. NZ(73 and 246 = 319) in 2002
R Abel 120 for Eng v SA (47+43= 90) at Cape Town 1888-89
DG Bradman 185 for Aus v Ind (58+98 = 156) at Brisbane, 1947-48.
Among current Test players, England's Darren Gough is supposed to be owning most number of credit cards - 17 - until all of them were stolen in early July 2004.
Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas and Herath Mudiyanselage Rangana Keerti Bandara Herath are the names of two Sri Lankan cricketers - the former a current player and the latter a former player.
Australian Billy Murdoch scored the first ever double century in Tests. He made 211 against England at the Oval in 1884.
There's never been a case of all 11 players reaching double figures in an ODI.
Percy "Tich" Freeman, who appeared for England (from 1924-25 to 1929; 12 Tests, 66 wickets) as a right arm leg-break bowler is believed to be the shortest ever international player. He was 5 feet 2 inches.
The Duckworth-Lewis software called CODA is available for about £ 30.00 from ASQM Consultancy Unit (D/L) Faculty of Computer Studies and Mathematics University of the West of England Frenchay Bristol BS16 1QY UK.
Sir Garry Sobers has a Test average of more than 57, but a one-day average of 0 because he only ever played one ODI (in 1973) and got out for 0.
Graham Gooch has played with 113 different players in his 118 Tests for England, the most by any player, followed by Frank Woolley, with 111 in 64 Tests.
Former Australian cricketer, Geoff Marsh, was known for practicing his batting totally naked in front of the mirror early on match mornings. Quite a few room mates awakened to this sight on tour, including David Boon, his opening partner and room mate for many years.
During the 1982-83 test series between England and Australia, a pig was let loose onto the Gabba in Brisbane with two of the English players names on it - Botham and Hemmings.
The most common score in Tests is, not surprisingly, 0 (7368 instances, including not-outs), followed by 1 (2963).
After he had his jaw broken by a Curtly Ambrose delivery, Geoff Lawson received a gift from Merv Hughes that was nicely gift wrapped - a Chewing Gum!
Hat trick completed in three overs: 1988-89, Merv Hughes had Curtly Ambrose caught behind with the last ball of one over, ended West Indies' first innings by removing Patrick Patterson with his first ball of the next over, and more than a day later completed his hat-trick by trapping Gordon Greenidge lbw with the first ball of West Indies' second innings, to complete a hat-trick in three different overs.
During the 1987 World Cup at Nagpur(Ind v NZ), Chetan Sharma took a hat-trick by clean bowling Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield. He managed to uproot one stump (and left the other two standing) on all three occasions, and it was a different stump each time. It was the middle, off and leg stumps in that order.
Chetan Sharma(India), Danny Morrison(NZ), Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram(both Pak) have taken all-bowled hat-tricks in ODIs.
Most successful bowling captains in Tests and ODIs are both Pakistanis. Tests - Imran Khan (187 wickets in 48 Tests), ODIs - Wasim Akram (158 wickets in 109 ODIs).
A wicket with his first ball in Test cricket, and no more after that: Dennis Smith of New Zealand , who played in the first Test against England in 1932-33, bowled Eddie Paynter for a duck with the first ball and has never taken a wicket after that (because he was never selected after that).
Geoff Hurst who scored a hat-trick for England in the final of the 1966 World Cup Football against West Germany has the distinction of appearing in one first-class match for Essex in 1962.
India holds the dubious world record of maximum ducks in two innings(7) and yet winning a Test match (vs. WI April 2002).
The shortest completed Test match in terms of least overs bowled was the one between Australia and South Africa at Melbourne in February 1932. The match lasted just 109.2 overs and was completed in just 5 hours 53 minutes.
Although it started as a tradition, it is now mandatory for players to wear white clothing for Test matches. Moreover, to protect the batsman from the hard ball he has to wear pads, gloves and shoes.
A session's length is always 120 minutes.
The maximum wickets to fall in a session in Test cricket was when 18 wickets fell before lunch on the second day at Manchester on 31 August 1988 between England and Australia.
Australian Adam Gilchrist holds the record for playing maximum ODIs(76) before he played his first Test match.
The first Test hundred by a woman cricketer was from England's Myrtle Maclagan against Australia at Sydney in 1934-35. She made 119 while opening the innings.
Only cricketer to score a century and take five wickets in the same ODI is Viv Richards(5/41 and 119 runs) against New Zealand at Dunedin on 18 March 1987.
John Traicos holds the record for the longest gap between Tests. He played his fourth Test for Zimbabwe 22.5 years after he played his third for South Africa in 1969-70.
To figure out the partnership if one batsman retires hurt: Batsmen A and B are playing and B retires hurt. C comes along and plays for a while and he retires hurt too. At this time B comes back. In this case the first and second parts of the partnerships between A and B will constitute a whole partnership.
When England beat South Africa by 2 wickets at Centurion on January 18, 2000, in a Test match, only 16 wickets fell. This was the infamous Test match in which both teams forfeited one of their innings.
Frank Woolley of England has played under most number of Test captains(14) in a 64-Test career that lasted from 1909 to 1934, when he was 47.
The biggest total that ended up in defeat is a scarcely credible 586, by Australia against England in the first Test at Sydney in 1894-95.
The first bowler to take a hat-trick in ODIs was Pakistani Jalaluddin(vs. Australia at Hyderabad on 20th September 1982.
3 players, Gus Logie(WI), Bob Willis(Eng), Mark Taylor(Aus) have received MoM awards for their fielding.
Law 6 states the bat overall shall not be more than 38 in/96.5 cm in length. The blade of the bat shall be made of wood and shall not exceed 41/4 in/10.8 cm at the widest part.
In Test cricket Shane Warne is believed to have conceded most sixes - nearly 100.
All 11 players have bowled in a Test match on three occasions.
     11 England bowlers v Australia (551) at the Oval in 1884
     11 Australian bowlers v Pakistan (382-2) at Faisalabad in 1980
     11 Indian bowlers v West Indies (629-9) at St John's, 2002.
Australia has entered the finals of 34 tournaments and have also won the maximum number of titles - 20.
England's Dennis Compton has been dismissed hit-wicket the most number of times(5 times).
The distinction of clean bowling Sir Don Bradman in his last match for naught goes to England's right arm leg-break bowler Eric Hollies at the Oval in 1948.
More wickets than runs in Tests Among bowlers who have over 100 Test wickets, Indian leg-spinner BS Chandrasekhar(58 Tests - 167 runs and 242 wickets) and Australian left arm pace bowler Bruce Reid(27 Tests - 93 runs and 113 wickets) have more wickets than runs.
Out hit wicket The first batsman in Test cricket to get out hit wicket is Australian George Bonnor against England at Manchester in July, 1884, the bowler being left arm spinner Ted Peate.
Batting at all positions(from 1 to 11) - Tests - Syd Gregory(Australia), Wilfred Rhodes,(England) and Vinoo Mankad(India). ODIs - Abdur Razzaq (Pakistan).
Kapil Dev is believed to be Test cricket's first "Man of the match" recipient when he was awarded the man of the match award after the Lord's Test match in 1986.
Australian Graeme Yallop first used the helmet against the West Indies at Brigdetown in March 1978.
Total number of runs scored in Test matches - Upto the end of the Harare Test match (between Pakistan and Zimbabwe on 12-11-2002 & Test no 1625) - a total of 1,551,660 runs have been scored in Test cricket history. The 1,000,000th run is believed to have been scored on 19 October 1986 by either Allan Border or Dean Jones for Australia against India at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Most # of 4s and 6s in ODI - Sanath Jayasuriya has the most 6s - 177, followed by Shahid Afridi 161. The most boundaries (4s) have been hit by Sachin Tendulkar - 1267 fours.
Highest # of overs faced in an innings of a Test match - During England's innings of 903-7 decl at the Oval in August 1938, Australian bowlers send down 335.2 (6-ball) overs.
Maximum # of 4s in a single over: Test match - Six 4s by Sandeep Patil of India off Bob Wills of England in the Manchester Test match. The sequence being 444nb444 (no run was scored off the no-ball).
ODI - Stephen Fleming of NZ had scored five in a row off Chetan Sharma of India at Delhi in March 1994 after Adam Parore had scored 3 off the first ball.
Maximum runs off a single over in a WC match - In the 2003 World Cup, Australian Darren Lehmann had taken 28 runs(444646) off the bowling of Namibian Rudi van Vuuren at Potchefstroom on 27-2-2003.
In an incident reported from Minor village cricket in England, a batsman hit the ball into a tree and reported to have ran 86 runs before the ball was found.
In yet another incident, in a first-class match at Christchurch in New Zealand in 1989-90, Wellington's Robert Vance, acting on the instructions of his captain, deliberately conceded 77 runs in an over of full tosses, to Canterbury's Lee Germon and Richard Petrie, which contained 17 no-balls and owing to the umpire's miscalculation, only five legitimate deliveries. However, this has not been considered a record, since it was achieved under contrived circumstances.
One of the worst places to leave a bat is a place where lots of cricketers leave them - in the boots of cars. Heat and humidity are the worst enemies of willow and this is multiplied many folds in a car boot in summer.
The first recorded cricket match took place at Coxheath in Kent, England in 1646. The first bats used in cricket (then referred to as 'criquet') were sticks and also shepherds crooks. By early in the 18th century bats looked like curved clubs. Incidentally 'criquet' was also recorded as being extensively played in Southern France.