da 888casino： The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questionsabout (almost) any aspect of cricket
da apostaganha： Steven Lynch10-Oct-2005The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questionsabout (almost) any aspect of cricket. Today it’s a World XI special:
Australia’s Bob Massie trapped lbw by the World XI’s Tony Greig at Adelaide in 1971-72 … but it doesn’t count as a Test wicket © The Cricketer
I was taken to see the Rest of the World team in England in 1970, when Iwas only eight, and remember someone taking a hat-trick – who was it?asked Danny Caulfield from Harrogate
The hat-trick man was EddieBarlow, the combative South African allrounder. In the fourth match, atHeadingley, he took 7 for 64, including a hat-trick – which he extendedto four wickets on five balls – and took five more wickets in the secondinnings as the World XI took an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the series (theyeventually won it 4-1). It was an unusual hat-trick in that it was finishedoff by a close catch at short leg by Mike Denness, England’s 12th man whowas fielding as a substitute for the World XI. Barlow, who’s now 65, played30 Tests for South Africa, scoring 2516 runs and taking 40 wickets. He latercaptained Derbyshire and then coached Bangladesh, but has sadly been in poorhealth recently following a stroke.Do these Super Series games count towards players’ official records?asked David Thompson from Northampton
Yes, the ICC has decided that these matches count as official ODIs andTests, and the players’ records here on Cricinfo will reflect that. It doesmake it a bit confusing, though, and it’s fair to say that a lot ofstatisticians – and other interested parties – don’t agree with the ICC’sruling on this. The earlier Rest of the World matches (the 1970 series inEngland, and the 1971-72 matches in Australia) did not count in theofficial records.I heard that John Benaud, Richie’s brother, was out for 99 against theWorld XI in 1971-72, and that cost him a tour of England – is that true?asked Chris Norman from Melbourne
John Benaud hooks on his way to 142 against Pakistan after being told he had been dropped © The Cricketer
Well, it’s true that JohnBenaud made 99 for Australia in the fifth match of the 1971-72 seriesagainst a World XI, at Adelaide, and it’s also true that he didn’t make the tour of England that followed shortly afterwards. I suppose you’d have to ask aselector whether that near-miss really cost him a tour spot, but Keith Stackpole, theAustralian opener, certainly thought so. In his autobiography Not JustFor Openers, Stacky wrote: “The strangest omission [from the 1972England tour] was Benaud, who made 99, smashing the bowling from one end ofthe field to the other. When he was out everyone was disappointed for him.Would one extra run mean the difference between his going to England andstaying at home? I think it did.” The following season Benaud had theopposite experience: after the side for the third Test against Pakistan wasnamed in the middle of the second game at Melbourne, Benaud – who’d been dropped for the next match -smashed 142. This time the selectors had little choice but to select Benaudfor the tour of West Indies that followed – and the practice of naming aside for the next game before the previous one had finished was quietlydropped.I recently had a quiz question I couldn’t answer: “Why did the first Testof the 1970 Rest of the World series start on a Wednesday?” Can youenlighten me? asked Richard Bradfield from Brighton
The first Test of the England-Rest of the World seriesin 1970 started on a Wednesday (June 17) because there was a GeneralElection in the UK on the Thursday, which became a rest day in the match(they had another day off on the Sunday). The match itself, at Lord’s, was dominated by the World XI’s captain, the incomparable Garry Sobers, who took 6 for 21 in 20 overs as England were shot out for 127, and then scored 183.Not content with that, he bowled 31 overs in the second innings, taking 2for 43 as England slid to a heavy defeat. That was also the match in whichAlan Jones, the prolificGlamorgan opener, made his only international appearance: he made 5 and 0,and was dropped for the next game.Where can I find the scorecard of the Rest of the World match in whichSunil Gavaskar scored a hundred in his last first-class match? askedAnil Bhatti from Mumbai
Sunil Gavaskar on his way to 188 © Getty Images
That was a special match played at Lord’s to celebrate the Bicentenary of MCC in 1987. In the World XI’s first innings Sunil Gavaskar made 188, and wasone of four centurions in the match: oddly, all their surnames began with G(the others were Gooch, Gatting and Greenidge). After his innings, Gavaskar- who had never scored a hundred at Lord’s before – announced his retirementfrom first-class cricket, although he did play in the World Cup that followedin India and Pakistan.Did any Pakistan players appear in the England-Rest of the World seriesin 1970? asked Shabiuddin Ahmed from Karachi
There were two – IntikhabAlam, the legspinner who had just taken over as Pakistan’s captain, andMushtaq Mohammad, thewristy batsman (and wristy legspinner) who also captained Pakistan later on.Intikhab appeared in all five of the games of that 1970 series, whileMushtaq played in the last two. Majid Khan and Asif Iqbal were also playingin English county cricket at the time, and must have been close to selectionfor what was a very strong World XI side.For more information on the history of Rest of the World sides, click herefor Martin Williamson’s recent “Rewind To …” article.