• How many of England's 20 debutants under Brendon McCullum can you name?

    From max.it@max@tea.time to uk.sport.cricket on Wed Jun 17 12:07:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cwylqp9k80ko

    I gave up on 0.

    max.it
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  • From David North@nospam@lane-farm.fsnet.co.uk to uk.sport.cricket on Thu Jun 18 07:53:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket

    On 17/06/2026 12:07, max.it wrote:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cwylqp9k80ko

    I gave up on 0.

    max.it

    I got 15. I see that their "correct" answers include _Jamie_ Cox - oops!
    --
    David North
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  • From David North@nospam@lane-farm.fsnet.co.uk to uk.sport.cricket on Thu Jun 18 08:17:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket

    On 18/06/2026 07:53, David North wrote:
    On 17/06/2026 12:07, max.it wrote:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cwylqp9k80ko

    I gave up on 0.

    max.it

    I got 15. I see that their "correct" answers include _Jamie_ Cox - oops!

    It was good to see Sonny Baker getting a couple of wickets, especially
    after his less-than-successful white-ball appearances for England. It's surprising that there have been more Test cricketers called Sonny (3,
    the others being Moloney of NZ and Ramadhin of WI) than Baker (2, the
    other being Lionel of WI), although AFAIK he is the first to have Sonny
    on his birth certificate.
    --
    David North
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  • From max.it@max@tea.time to uk.sport.cricket on Thu Jun 18 08:47:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket

    On Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:17:57 +0100, David North
    <nospam@lane-farm.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:

    On 18/06/2026 07:53, David North wrote:
    On 17/06/2026 12:07, max.it wrote:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cwylqp9k80ko

    I gave up on 0.

    max.it

    I got 15. I see that their "correct" answers include _Jamie_ Cox - oops!

    It was good to see Sonny Baker getting a couple of wickets, especially
    after his less-than-successful white-ball appearances for England. It's >surprising that there have been more Test cricketers called Sonny (3,
    the others being Moloney of NZ and Ramadhin of WI) than Baker (2, the
    other being Lionel of WI), although AFAIK he is the first to have Sonny
    on his birth certificate.


    In the style of the 'around Britain quiz', you might end up with
    Raphael Ravenscroft. Though I can't think of how to word the question.

    max.it
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  • From David North@nospam@lane-farm.fsnet.co.uk to uk.sport.cricket on Thu Jun 18 19:25:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket

    On 18/06/2026 08:47, max.it wrote:
    On Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:17:57 +0100, David North <nospam@lane-farm.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:

    On 18/06/2026 07:53, David North wrote:
    On 17/06/2026 12:07, max.it wrote:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cwylqp9k80ko

    I gave up on 0.

    max.it

    I got 15. I see that their "correct" answers include _Jamie_ Cox - oops!

    It was good to see Sonny Baker getting a couple of wickets, especially
    after his less-than-successful white-ball appearances for England. It's
    surprising that there have been more Test cricketers called Sonny (3,
    the others being Moloney of NZ and Ramadhin of WI) than Baker (2, the
    other being Lionel of WI), although AFAIK he is the first to have Sonny
    on his birth certificate.


    In the style of the 'around Britain quiz', you might end up with
    Raphael Ravenscroft. Though I can't think of how to word the question.

    While we're on the subject of names, I don't suppose England have ever previously fielded 6 players with different first names beginning with J
    (or any other specific letter for that matter).
    --
    David North
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  • From John Hall@john@jhall.co.uk to uk.sport.cricket on Thu Jun 18 19:52:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket

    In article <n9irhkF8mbdU1@mid.individual.net>, David North <nospam@lane- farm.fsnet.co.uk> writes
    <snip>
    While we're on the subject of names, I don't suppose England have ever >previously fielded 6 players with different first names beginning with J (or any
    other specific letter for that matter).

    And in spite of that, I think all six names are different.

    A different curiosity about this match has been that the first four NZ
    batters and the first three for England have all been left-handers. I
    suspect it may be unique for the first three on both sides in a Test to
    be lefties.
    --
    John Hall

    "The covers of this book are too far apart."
    Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
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  • From David North@nospam@lane-farm.fsnet.co.uk to uk.sport.cricket on Thu Jun 18 21:43:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket

    On 18/06/2026 19:52, John Hall wrote:
    In article <n9irhkF8mbdU1@mid.individual.net>, David North <nospam@lane- farm.fsnet.co.uk> writes
    <snip>
    While we're on the subject of names, I don't suppose England have ever
    previously fielded 6 players with different first names beginning with J (or any
    other specific letter for that matter).

    And in spite of that, I think all six names are different.

    A different curiosity about this match has been that the first four NZ batters and the first three for England have all been left-handers. I
    suspect it may be unique for the first three on both sides in a Test to
    be lefties.

    That's easier to check.

    In the 2006 Eng v SL series, England's top 3 in all 3 Tests was
    Trescothick, Strauss and Cook. In the 1st Test, SL's top 3 was Mubarak, Tharanga and Sangakkara, and they replaced Mubarak with Vandort for the
    2nd and 3rd Tests.

    Also:

    Mirpur 2008/09, Bangladesh (Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Zunaed Siddique)
    v SL (Vandort, Warnapura, Sangakkara)

    Mirpur 2012/13, Bangladesh (Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddique, Shahriar
    Nafees) v WI (Gayle, Kieran Powell, Darren Bravo)

    Mirpur 2017, Bangladesh (Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes) v
    Australia (Warner, Renshaw, Khawaja). In Bangladesh's 2nd innings,
    Taijul Islam, also LH, went in as nightwatchman at #3, so 7 batsmen
    batted in the top 3, all LH.


    At Durban in 2004/05, England's top 3 was Trescothick, Strauss and
    Butcher. SA's was Smith, Gibbs (RH) and Rudolph, but Boje went in as nightwatchman at #3 in the 2nd innings, so they had 3 LHs in the top 3
    in the match, but not in the same innings.

    At Chennai in 2004/05, Australia's top 3 was Langer, Hayden and Katich,
    and Gilchrist went in at #3 in the 2nd innings. India's top 3 was Yuvraj Singh, Sehwag (RH), Irfan Pathan, so 6 LHs in the top 3 in the match,
    but 4 on one side and 2 on the other.

    However, in all of the above matches, the "proper" #4 on both sides was
    RH, so the top 3 on one side and the top 4 on the other in their normal
    order in the current match is a first.
    --
    David North
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  • From John Hall@john@jhall.co.uk to uk.sport.cricket on Fri Jun 19 08:06:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket

    In article <n9j3isFb7spU1@mid.individual.net>, David North <nospam@lane- farm.fsnet.co.uk> writes
    On 18/06/2026 19:52, John Hall wrote:
    In article <n9irhkF8mbdU1@mid.individual.net>, David North <nospam@lane-
    farm.fsnet.co.uk> writes
    <snip>
    While we're on the subject of names, I don't suppose England have ever
    previously fielded 6 players with different first names beginning with J (or
    any
    other specific letter for that matter).

    And in spite of that, I think all six names are different.

    Which you'd already said. I should have read more carefully.

    A different curiosity about this match has been that the first four NZ
    batters and the first three for England have all been left-handers. I
    suspect it may be unique for the first three on both sides in a Test to
    be lefties.

    That's easier to check.

    In the 2006 Eng v SL series, England's top 3 in all 3 Tests was
    Trescothick, Strauss and Cook. In the 1st Test, SL's top 3 was Mubarak, >Tharanga and Sangakkara, and they replaced Mubarak with Vandort for the
    2nd and 3rd Tests.

    Also:

    Mirpur 2008/09, Bangladesh (Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Zunaed Siddique)
    v SL (Vandort, Warnapura, Sangakkara)

    Mirpur 2012/13, Bangladesh (Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddique, Shahriar
    Nafees) v WI (Gayle, Kieran Powell, Darren Bravo)

    Mirpur 2017, Bangladesh (Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes) v >Australia (Warner, Renshaw, Khawaja). In Bangladesh's 2nd innings,
    Taijul Islam, also LH, went in as nightwatchman at #3, so 7 batsmen
    batted in the top 3, all LH.


    At Durban in 2004/05, England's top 3 was Trescothick, Strauss and
    Butcher. SA's was Smith, Gibbs (RH) and Rudolph, but Boje went in as >nightwatchman at #3 in the 2nd innings, so they had 3 LHs in the top 3
    in the match, but not in the same innings.

    At Chennai in 2004/05, Australia's top 3 was Langer, Hayden and Katich,
    and Gilchrist went in at #3 in the 2nd innings. India's top 3 was Yuvraj >Singh, Sehwag (RH), Irfan Pathan, so 6 LHs in the top 3 in the match,
    but 4 on one side and 2 on the other.

    However, in all of the above matches, the "proper" #4 on both sides was
    RH, so the top 3 on one side and the top 4 on the other in their normal >order in the current match is a first.


    Thanks David. I'm surprised at how common it's become. All the instances
    have been in the 21st century, though, so I wonder if the proportion of left-handers has been increasing.
    --
    John Hall

    "The covers of this book are too far apart."
    Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
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