MIDDLESEX TILL WE DIE

WINTER WARMER QUIZ WITH PRIZE(S)

 

It’s that time of year, so we thought we’d cheer everyone up with a cricket quiz to keep your brain cells warm during the winter.  Barmy Kev has come up trumps with a heap of fiendish questions.  Last year’s quiz was totally Middlesex oriented, so we thought we’d widen the inquiry this year to encompass world cricket, with just a small nod to parochialism; an England section.

 

Janet Davis has very kindly donated a superb prize this year: the much sought after Ashes DVD. 

 

There will also be an award for the most amusing answer to a question, so even if you can’t get many of the answers right, you might still be up for an award.  Honorable mention is guaranteed for several of the best spoof answers, but if one wag really is deemed to be exceptional, Ged might even conjure up another of his memorable small prizes.

 

Please e-mail your answers to gedladd@hotmail.co.uk

 

NOTE: THE CLOSING DATE FOR COMPETITION ENTRIES HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 4 JANUARY 2006.

 

The answers, the prize winners and the publishable, humorous responses will be published on this site as soon after the closing date as the seasonal festivities and seasonal absences allow.  Watch this space for further announcements.

 

Good luck to you all.

 

SECTION A – A FEW FOR STARTERS

 

A1/ Which two countries played the first ever international cricket match?  

 

ANSWER:

 

A2/ Who was the first player to score 20 ODI centuries?

 

ANSWER:

 

A3/ Which champion fast-bowler has the dubious honour of having scored more "ducks" than any other player in the history of test cricket?

 

ANSWER:

 

A4/ Who was the first batsmen to score 30 Test match centuries?

 

ANSWER:

 

A5/ Who was the first player to score a 100 and take 5 wickets in an innings in an ODI.?

 

ANSWER:

 

A6/  Who was the first test player to score 150 in both innings in 1979?

 

ANSWER:

 

 

SECTION B – ENGLAND’S GREEN AND PLEASANT QUESTIONS

 

B1/ Name the only cricketer whose surname was the same as the county he played for. [2 POINTS]

 

ANSWER:

 

B2/ In 1939 England played a timeless test against South Africa in Durban. Why was it abandoned as a draw after 10 days? 

 

ANSWER:

 

B3/ Name the player who took the catch that secured the Ashes for England in 1987? [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

B4/ Who was the first English bowler to take a hat-trick in an ODI?

 

ANSWER:

 

B5/  Who on his test debut for England score a pair but ended up with 8900 runs?

 

ANSWER:

 

B6/ Who played 2 tests for England in 1993 and two more ten years later?

 

ANSWER:

 

 

SECTION C – MEATY, BEATY, BIG AND BOUNCY QUESTIONS

 

C1/ Name the captain, batsman and bowler involved in bowling an underarm ball when New Zealand needed a six off the final ball of an Australia v New Zealand ODI. [3 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

C2/ What was so extraordinary about the century made by Rick McCosker for Australia against England in the centenary test?  And what was extraordinary about the result of centenary test?  [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

C3/ Australian T J Matthews has a unique record in test cricket. What is it?  Where did it occur?  Who were the opponents?  Name the player who will have had the most nightmares about it. [4 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

C4/ Which English first-class county had a player in the England Test team least recently? Name the player. [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

C5/ Name the only four cricketers to have have scored 1000 runs, taken 100 wickets and held 100 catches in Tests? [4 points] 

 

ANSWER:

 

C6/ Name the only test cricketer who has never batted, never bowled and never taken a catch in a test match.  Which county did he play for?  Believe it or not, this player achieved another significant test record before he died – what was that record? [3 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

 

SECTION D – MISCELLANY

 

D1/ Apart from Australia, name the other country Mark and Steve Waugh have represented. [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

D2/ Which country won the 2002 Cricket World Cup for the blind? [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

D3/ If every batsman in an innings got out first ball, what would be the number of the batsman shown not out?

 

ANSWER:

 

D4/ Who are the defending champions of cricket for the Commonwealth games? [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

D5/ Which ex international cricketer has the middle name Dylan, acquired as a tribute to his favourite singer?

 

ANSWER:

 

D6/ What was unusual about Denis Lillie’s bat used briefly in Perth in 1979/80?

 

ANSWER:

 

 

SECTION E – AND FINALLY……

 

E1/ He is the only wicket keeper to have kept wickets in a five-match Test series without conceding a single bye. Name him. [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

E2/ Who was the only home grown player to play in the Melbourne Australia v England Boxing day test 2002? 

 

ANSWER:

 

E3/ Who in a test series 1998/99 lasted a record 101 minutes without scoring a run? And who eventually dismissed him? [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

E4/ Which Northamptonshire cricketer in 1990 batted for 12 successive innings without scoring a run?

 

ANSWER:

 

E5/  Who was the first cricketer who started a test match as wicket keeper and ended up taking a wicket as a bowler in the match?

 

ANSWER:

 

E6/ And there had to be one Middlesex-oriented question: How many test innings did it take before Mike Gatting scored his first test century? [2 points]

 

ANSWER:

 

 

MAXIMUM SCORE: 50 POINTS.

 

TIE BREAKER QUESTION: Who, at the end of the 2005 season, described the County Championship as a “cesspit of mediocrity”?  Also, state in no more than 50 words why he might have said that.

 

THAT’S ALL FOLKS – ONCE AGAIN, GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR ENTRIES.