Cricket Facts, Cricket Records, and the True Meaning of "Nelson"

Cricket facts have been generated for over 1000 years, and detailed records have been kept since the first test match in 1877. By nature, the game has created vast amounts of statistics and records, as well as a rich collection of cricket terms and stories. So, when youre facing a tricky question about, say, Nelson, or a Doosra, or whether both batsmen were ever run out at the same time, then you need to know where to look.

Wisden Cricket Almanack (Wisden for short) is the most famous cricket reference book on the planet. It was first produced in 1864 by the English cricketer John Wisden, and has been published annually ever since then. At around 1500 pages long, it is simply the Bible of cricket facts.

The modern editions are complementary to Wisden's associated website Cricinfo. This is possibly the most comprehensive cricket site in the world, and contains a vast archive of cricket records and statistics. The Cricinfo Statsguru is a great tool for finding any cricket facts about countries, players, grounds and officials. Whether you need to settle a debate between cricket fans, or simply to check on form, then this is the place to look.

The sport has also generated an extensive list of cricket terms, some of which are baffling to newcomers to the game. A Google search on Nelson reveals much about the English sea Lord and a town in Lancashire of the same name. However, to English batsmen, Nelson means a score of 111 and is the unluckiest number in the game. The superstitious custom is to remove one or both feet from the ground until the score has moved on.

Why 111? The term was invented in the belief that Lord Nelson was unlucky enough to have had only one eye, one arm and one leg. Nelson wasnt quite this unfortunate as he actually had two legs, but the cricket term has survived all attempts by historians to correct it. And the superstition watch out for the cricket umpire David Shepherd who keeps one leg off the ground by hopping from one foot to the other!

And what of the Doosra. This bowling delivery is a variation of the off spinner, developed by the Pakistan test player Saqlain Mushtaq. Conventional off spin is imparted by the fingers of a right handed bowler with the palm facing the batsman, and spins from a right handed batsmans off side to leg side. The Doosra employs the same finger spin, but is delivered with the back of the hand facing the batsman and spins from leg to off. Doosra is from the Urdu or Hindi for other or second.

The answer to the tricky question on run outs is that only one batsman can be run out at one time. The umpires must apply Law 29 to decide which batsman has to go. However, in a match between England and the West Indies, a throw from Michael Holding of the West Indies hit one set of wickets before going on to break the other set. Both batsmen were out of their ground, but the umpires were too confused to dismiss either of them.

Statistics and terms are fine, but there are also sources of more unusual cricket facts and stories on the web, as well as a whole cricket book industry. If you want some real in-depth records, you could try the various publications by Bill Frindall, who has been the scorer and statistician for the BBC Test Match Special team for 40 years, and his knowledge is unrivalled.

If you fancy testing your knowledge of cricket facts, there are a number of cricket quiz web sites that are good family fun and free to use. And for a real challenge, can you find out the details behind the headlines Rabbit burns down pavilion, Hot-air balloons stop play, or Cricketers arrested for dancing naked? The answers are via one of the resources in this article!

Anthony Jenkins is a cricket player and coach, and has been involved with the game for over 4 decades. He manages a junior cricket team, and plays in the Shropshire cricket league. He also manages http://www.cricket-for-parents.com where you can read more of his work.

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