# Ask the bloke who's forgotten more about cricket than you'll ever know **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545 "2005-03-02T03:23:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/41 "2005-03-03T04:17:01Z")
What is the longest name you’ve seen on a jersy/shirt/uniform? I can imagine some of the Hindu names stretch from wrist to wrist. 🙂 BTW, I’ve understood ZERO of anything of the above. It’s like reading a tax form only slightly more complicated. I’ll hang up and listen. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/42 "2005-03-03T04:48:21Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > What is the longest name you’ve seen on a jersy/shirt/uniform? > > I can imagine some of the Hindu names stretch from wrist to wrist. Good question, but sometimes they cheat and shorten the name, which of course has been romanized anyway. My favourite name, although it was probably never seen on a shirt because the fellow played before the days of named shirts was Sivaramakrishnan, a name that combined three Hindu deities. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/43 "2005-03-03T04:57:11Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Cricket has the reputation for being a sport with a thriving literature. Some excellent books have been written about the game, which has also attracted some top-class journalists (Neville Cardus, Robinson-Glasgow, John Arlott), as well as one or two poets (a West Indian poet of some renown, Smith - the first name eludes me - was a cricket nut who wrote a lot about the game). Is there any equivalent in American sports? There is a huge amount of literature about baseball. Novels, poetry, essays, all manner of writing. ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/44 "2005-03-03T05:30:03Z")
Thanks for the answer **roger** , it certainly explains some of the LBW decisions I’ve been confused about in the past. The (b) part of your answer I found out about this summer when (I think) Chanderpaul was continually padding away some of Giles’ efforts to the chagrin of the commentators, but the rest of it was mostly news to me. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/45 "2005-03-03T05:35:02Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Back to front and misspelled. Michael “Whispering Death” Holding was the bowler, Peter Willey the batsman. I just want to say that that’s a hell of a great nickname. ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/46 "2005-03-03T06:03:23Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I just want to say that that’s a hell of a great nickname. [Hijack] Well, we had Whispering Death and his mates, Roger Harper and one Wes Hall, riding in the back seat of my dad’s Kingswood one day sometime in the mid-80s. Dad and I were driving past the WACA - prolly my dad just picked me up from school which was right next door to the ground - and I waved and said “G’day, Wes” to Wes Hall who was walking along outside the ground. We weren’t going very fast and he must have thought we were offering him a lift as he started running after us. We then stopped and he came over, then Holding and Harper came over and we gave them a lift to their hotel. [/Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/47 "2005-03-03T08:47:02Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > If a ball pitches outside the leg stump, the batsman can never be out LBW. This is a throwback to the Bodyline tour of 1932-33… Nyetski. At the time of that tour, the LBW law mandated that the ball had to pitch in line with the stumps - in 1935 this was extended to pitching outside the off stump - and the point of impact had to be in line. Except in the very earliest days, when the umpire merely had to rule on whether the batsman had _intentionally_ :dubious: blocked the ball out with his legs etc., it has never been possible to win an LBW decision with a ball pitching outside leg. (That tour resulting in a change in the Laws concerning leg-side field placings, however.) Concerning the experience of facing a phenomenally quick bowler, let’s not discount the fact that anyone able to make a large score in public-school cricket has probably faced better bowling than the man in the street. George MacDonald Fraser, in “Flashman’s Lady”, has his eponymous hero face up to Alfred Mynn, a legendary cricketer from the mid-1800s, and describes the experience in similar terms than the one I used. I’ve also heard a story about a pro-celebrity match in which David Frost was the wicketkeeper and Fred Trueman (Yorkshire and England quickie from the 1950s to nearly 1970) was bowling. Advised that it was only a charity match and Fred was unlikely to let rip, Frost took up position about five yards behind the stumps. He heard the ball but didn’t see it, it shot through for four byes and he turned, white-faced and trembling, to see the slips fielders, who were in on the secret, about halfway to the boundary. Michael Holding’s nickname owes much to the fact that he had maybe the softest-footed run-up a fast bowler ever had. Umpires were occasionally surprised to hear a quiet patter of feet behind them a moment before Holding delivered the ball. To the OP: You have clearly played and watched much better cricket than I have. I strenuously deny, however, that you have forgotten more about the game than _I_ ever knew 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/48 "2005-03-03T08:48:19Z")
“similar terms than”? What was I thinking? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/49 "2005-03-03T08:52:34Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Nyetski. At the time of that tour, the LBW law mandated that the ball had to pitch in line with the stumps - in 1935 this was extended to pitching outside the off stump - and the point of impact had to be in line. Except in the very earliest days, when the umpire merely had to rule on whether the batsman had _intentionally_ :dubious: blocked the ball out with his legs etc., it has never been possible to win an LBW decision with a ball pitching outside leg. You strip me bare till I have no credibility left! > [@](#): > > To the OP: You have clearly played and watched much better cricket than I have. I strenuously deny, however, that you have forgotten more about the game than _I_ ever knew 😛 I had marked you down as a likely troublemaker! ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/50 "2005-03-03T09:00:32Z")
The dreadful old bore Frederick Sewards Trueman made his first-class debut in 1949. I don’t know what’s going off over there… ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/51 "2005-03-03T10:35:24Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > The dreadful old bore Frederick Sewards Trueman made his first-class debut in 1949. > > I don’t know what’s going off over there… And of course a contemporary of his played first-class cricket in six consecutive decades 😉 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/52 "2005-03-03T12:27:08Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > And of course a contemporary of his played first-class cricket in six consecutive decades 😉 Boycott? ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/53 "2005-03-03T12:29:39Z")
**roger** Given that you reside in foreign parts, how do you keep up to date? I couldn’t imagine surviving without Test Match Special _hmmm chocolate cake hmmmm_ ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/54 "2005-03-03T12:42:54Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Boycott? Another Fred - Titmus. Lost his toes in a boating accident in the Caribbean in 1968(?). Like football, I probably watch more cricket here than I would in England. Will be subscribing to the Ashes series, when play starts at the very decent time of 6.00pm local time. I do miss TMS, and Sport on Five as well. But we get the World Service of a Saturday evening, so between that and the TV and the Telegraph online, I don’t do so badly. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/55 "2005-03-03T12:48:33Z")
Guys, I was actually thinking of David Brian Close, no less - a man with the unusual distinction of having played in fewer Test matches than the length of his Test career in years. He too started out in the late 1940s and was working as a coach in the early 1990s, and played in at least one match for the team he was coaching. Next up - Several players have been knighted for services to cricket. Several knights have played Test cricket… but who is the only man to have been knighted for services to cricket, and then have carried on playing Test cricket? Snap question: What was Garry Sobers’s one-day-international batting average? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/56 "2005-03-03T12:54:25Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Snap question: What was Garry Sobers’s one-day-international batting average? N/A because he never played one-day matches…? ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/57 "2005-03-03T12:58:08Z")
> [@grimpixie](#): > > N/A because he never played one-day matches…? Nope - I was almost right, but he played in one match and scored a duck, so his average is 0 Prudential Trophy, 1973, 1st One-day International England v West Indies Headingley, Leeds 5 September 1973 GS Sobers c Taylor b Old 0 6 0 0 ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/58 "2005-03-03T12:59:45Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Guys, I was actually thinking of David Brian Close, no less - a man with the unusual distinction of having played in fewer Test matches than the length of his Test career in years. He too started out in the late 1940s and was working as a coach in the early 1990s, and played in at least one match for the team he was coaching. You might be right, but according to Cricinfo, he played his last f-c game in 1986 for D.B.Close’s XI v New Zealanders at Scarborough. Titmus played county cricket in five decades, from 1949 to 1982. Close only played county cricket in four decades. > [@](#): > > Next up - Several players have been knighted for services to cricket. Several knights have played Test cricket… but who is the only man to have been knighted for services to cricket, and then have carried on playing Test cricket? I would guess Sir Learie Constantine. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/59 "2005-03-03T13:01:39Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Guys, I was actually thinking of David Brian Close, no less - a man with the unusual distinction of having played in fewer Test matches than the length of his Test career in years. He too started out in the late 1940s and was working as a coach in the early 1990s, and played in at least one match for the team he was coaching. > > Next up - Several players have been knighted for services to cricket. Several knights have played Test cricket… but who is the only man to have been knighted for services to cricket, and then have carried on playing Test cricket? > > 😃 Brian Close was proper hard. Remember when they brought him back to face the fearsome Windies? He just stood there and got hit. The knight - Sir Richard Hadlee? ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545/60 "2005-03-03T13:05:23Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > The knight - Sir Richard Hadlee? Go to the top of the class, Owl. Right, I’m out of here before I make a complete fool of myself! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-bloke-whos-forgotten-more-about-cricket-than-youll-ever-know/292545.md?page=4)