20 Amazing Cricket facts that every fan would be surprised to know

06/08/2016

In cricket, records tumble and milestones get accomplished with every passing series. Yet, there are few achievements in the game which withstand the test of time. Some get the spotlight and some do not. Here are 20 rare feats which may not be as famous but ones any cricket fan would love to know.

Tatenda Taibu and Virat Kohli are the only 2 players to have done all 3 - Bat, bowl and keep wickets - in the same ODI match.

Shahid Afridi has never scored more than 20 without the ball crossing the boundary at least once. His highest score without a boundary is 15.

India's 54 in that Champions Trophy final against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 2000-01 was the lowest international total not to include a duck.

In the last 50 years, the longest period without a Test match anywhere in the world was in 1970, when the cancellation of South Africa's tour of England meant there were no official Test matches between mid-March and the end of November, a total of 262 days.

One of New Zealand’s greatest batsmen Bert Sutcliffe played 42 Tests between 1949 and 1965 without ever winning a match. Although the New Zealand side did win few matches in this time, he always managed to miss those games.

The highest batting average in a calendar year belongs to Kumar Sangakkara who averaged 138.29 in 2007. He played nine innings, of which he remained not-out in two, and he scored four centuries to get to a total of 968 runs.

England’s Ravi Bopara is the only batsman to have scored three Test match hundreds, without having a fifty – never been dismissed between 50 and 100.

MS Dhoni became the first wicket-keeper captain to score a double century in a test match when he made 224 runs for India against Australia in February.

The lowest individual score in men’s cricket that is yet to be recorded

In T20Is –

92 - No one has ended with a score of 95 either and these are the only two numbers under 100 not recorded yet.

In ODIs –

155 - There have been three scores of 154, and five scores of 156 but never a 155.

In Test matches –

229 – The next number after this is 238, which are the only scores under 250 which have not yet happened.

Anil Kumble was the oldest Indian to score a maiden hundred. He was 36-years old when he scored his first test century against England at The Oval in 2007.

The record for playing the most sets of brothers in the same match belongs to Zimbabwe. In 1997, Zimbabwe fielded three pairs of brothers in their side.

Andy and Grant Flower, Gavin and John Rennie, and Bryan and Paul Strang.

Interestingly, the twelfth man was Andy Whittall, who was a cousin of Guy Whittall.

Pakistan's first ever captain Abdul Hafeez Kardar had previously played for India. Gul Mohammad and Amir Elahi were the other two players who played for both countries.

Virat Kohli is the only batsman with an average of more than 50 after completion of 10,000 runs in international cricket.

MS Dhoni is the only batsman to score 1000 runs in T20Is without a single fifty to his name.

The Australia vs Pakistan World Cup group match in 2010 is the only match in T20I history where all the 20 wickets fell.

Adam Gilchrist is the only batsman to get out to the first ball of an ODI, three times. He fell twice to Shaun Pollock and once to Wasim Akram.

Brendon McCullum is the only captain to have scored a century in his last test match.

Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for playing the most successive one-day internationals for a team. He played 185 matches between 1990 and 1997-98.

The longest innings in Test history belongs to England when they scored 903 for 7 declared against Australia at The Oval in 1938. The innings lasted for 335.2 overs which is 2012 balls in total.

When R Ashwin took 31 wickets in the series against South Africa in 2015, he broke his own record of most wickets by an Indian in a four-test series when he had taken 29 wickets against Australia in 2012-13.

(Statistics and Records courtesy | STEVEN LYNCH - Editor of the updated edition of Wisden on the Ashes)

(Also read - MS Dhoni's press conference ahead of Zimbabwe tour)