Trivia time!

[ioppolo]

The pair in his first test was also a give away, I can't think of any other test batsman who got a pair on debut, certainly no one with that sort of record.

I think Atapattu did too

 

[STFU Donnie]

I made a team, in the Obscure XIs thread, of players who made a pair on debut. Here it is:

Graham Gooch
Saeed Anwar
Marvin Atapattu
Ken Rutherford
Dean Elgar
Chamara Silva
Tommy Ward (w)
Chris Tremlett
Lasith Malinga
Alf Valentine
Allan Donald

Pair on test debut XI.

Some quality players here, plus Ken Rutherford.

 

[Pippen94]

He scored 66 in a full day at the WACA in 1982/83. England finished the day at 242/4, which isn't too bad. He opened the innings and scored 89 of 337 balls.
This was his lowest all day score.

Other notable slow innings:
82 off 277 vs Pak., Lord's 1982
78 off 289 vs Aus., Old Trafford 1981
42 off 202 vs WI, Lord's 1980
22 off 143 vs Ind., Bangalore 1981/82
35 off 240 vs Ind., Chennai 1981/82

That last one is the innings you referred to, which because of hideously slow overrates lasted 332 minutes. In fact that test lasted the full five days and saw only 358 overs bowled.

At stumps on Day 3, England were 0/144 with Gooch on 117* and your man Tavare on 26*.

Tavare's cousin is comedian Jim Tavare. Continuing with trivia theme

 

[deanc]

Tavare's cousin is comedian Jim Tavare. Continuing with trivia theme

Wonder if he ever used his cousin's cricketing career as part of his routine:

"What do you folks reckon would be quicker - traveling to the Moon and back or watching my cousin Chris make 100 at Lords..?" - boom boom...
OR
"Was watching the cricket, went outside for a coffee, came home showered and put the kettle on, watched 2 movies, then read War & Peace, left home and went traveling overseas for a few months, returned home and turned the cricket back on and my cousin Chris was still batting on 78 not out..."

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I think about 40 players have made a pair on Test Debut (mostly bowlers), the most famous being WG Grace's brother George. Other Batsmen include Marvin Attaputtu, Saeed Anwar and Dean Elgar. Think the first aussie to do it was Mike Whitney. Not sure of anyone else.

Sangakarra also got a triple and a century in one game.

Marvan Atapattu​

The textbook Sri Lankan opener had possibly the worst start to a Test career imaginable, recording scores of 0, 0, 0, 1, 0 and 0 in his first 6 innings, and didn’t pass 30 until his tenth Test match when he finally broke the shackles with his maiden century.

bigfooty.com.sl would have been interesting reading around that time

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Who are the 8 players who have played 20 Tests or more who have scored more centuries than half centuries.

Spoiler: Click to get the answer

[Bradman 29/13, Headley 10/5, Voges 5/4, Ponsford 7/6, Walcott 15/14, Clarke 28/27, Hayden 30/29, Younis Khan 34/33]

 

[PhatBoy]

Who are the 8 players who have played 20 Tests or more who have scored more centuries than half centuries.

Spoiler: Click to get the answer

[Bradman 29/13, Headley 10/5, Voges 5/4, Ponsford 7/6, Walcott 15/14, Clarke 28/27, Hayden 30/29, Younis Khan 34/33]

Off the top of my head:

Bradman
Voges
Headley

Edit: in the quote it removes the spoiler.

Ponsford is the only other one I would have known for sure anyway I think

 

[Pippen94]

Off the top of my head:

Bradman
Voges
Headley

Edit: in the quote it removes the spoiler.

Ponsford is the only other one I would have known for sure anyway I think

Yasir?!

 

[PhatBoy]

Yasir?!

I was actually gonna speculate on some of the rubbish batsmen I’ve seen get centuries like Yasir and Jerome Taylor but they didn’t appear among the answers in the original post

 

[Pippen94]

I was actually gonna speculate on some of the rubbish batsmen I’ve seen get centuries like Yasir and Jerome Taylor but they didn’t appear among the answers in the original post

He meets criteria

 

[Gough]

Who are the three players who played a Test with both Rod Marsh and Shane Warne?

 

[PhatBoy]

Who are the three players who played a Test with both Rod Marsh and Shane Warne?

Border
Whitney

Leave the other one with me

 

[PhatBoy]

Rackemann?

 

[PhatBoy]

He also played against Kepler who would have played with Marsh

 

[Gough]

Rackemann?

Couldn't be more different.

 

[PhatBoy]

Couldn't be more different.

Hmm. I’m trying not to look so I’m racking my brains to see who else might have had a belated recall to the side.

The only keepers I remember him playing with are Healy Gilchrist and one test with emery and a keeper wouldn’t have played alongside marsh anyway. I don’t think May debuted until about 86-87. Jones and boony I think debuted a year after marsh retired. So did Swervin. So did Mo.

 

[PhatBoy]

Hang on, Matthews!

 

[PhatBoy]

Half-assisted answer. I had to look it up to confirm it as I thought he debuted in 84.

‘Why would there be lots of cats wearing them?’

 

[Plugger35]

Half-assisted answer. I had to look it up to confirm it as I thought he debuted in 84.

‘Why would there be lots of cats wearing them?’

Greg Matthews debuted during the 1983/84 test series against Pakistan which was Rod Marsh's last test series and he was a mentor to Warne early on in his test career, they were the two spinners on the tour to Sri Lanka in 1992.

 

[Gough]

Greg Matthews debuted during the 1983/84 test series against Pakistan which was Rod Marsh's last test series and he was a mentor to Warne early on in his test career, they were the two spinners on the tour to Sri Lanka in 1992.

Same Test Yallop get a big score.

 

[PhatBoy]

Greg Matthews debuted during the 1983/84 test series against Pakistan which was Rod Marsh's last test series and he was a mentor to Warne early on in his test career, they were the two spinners on the tour to Sri Lanka in 1992.

Yeah I knew he played alongside Warney early I have a feeling he even hit a century in warne’s debut test or certainly in that series at least. His problem was his batting was better than his bowling

 

[Gough]

Yeah I knew he played alongside Warney early I have a feeling he even hit a century in warne’s debut test or certainly in that series at least. His problem was his batting was better than his bowling

He didn't play Warne's first Test although he would been useful when the the bit of spaghetti that passed for Bruce Reid's spine gave out again after about half a dozen overs.

 

[PhatBoy]

He didn't play Warne's first Test although he would been useful when the the bit of spaghetti that passed for Bruce Reid's spine gave out again after about half a dozen overs.

Angel hair

 

[PhatBoy]

Bruce Reid. What a talent he was. When he wasn’t batting, at least

 

[Rabish Binney]

Off the top of my head:

Bradman
Voges
Headley

Edit: in the quote it removes the spoiler.

Ponsford is the only other one I would have known for sure anyway I think

Just an interesting stat between Bradman and Tendulkar (in a 'what if' scenario).

Bradman played 52 tests to Tendulkar's 200. If Bradman played the same number of tests (200) and if one does the exercise to extrapolate the centuries & half centuries per tests played, Bradman would have ended up with 112 centuries and 50 half centuries.