On this day, 1930, Jack Hobbs refused to play a match in Calcutta.
What happened was like this.
Vizzy had recruited both Hobbs and Sutcliffe for his personal team for the 1930-31 season.
Both had adjusted to India and had got runs by the time the teams moved to Calcutta.
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After two days of cricket, the score at Eden Gardens read
Bengal Governor's XI 173 and 46, Vizzy's XI 78 and 25/0.
Vizzy had held back Hobbs and Sutcliffe during the chase.
The next day was a Sunday, the rest day of the match.
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But the hectic scheduling meant that Vizzy's men had to play a one-day one-innings match, against Calcutta Sporting Union – at the Sporting Union Ground.
Sporting Union were not an ordinary side.
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Over years, the Bose brothers (Kartik, Ganesh, Bapi, Babu), the Roys (Pankaj, Ambar, Pranab), Mantu Banerjee, Dattu Phadkar, Madhav Apte, Ramnath Kenny, Subrata Guha, Dilip Doshi, Devang Gandhi all played for them.
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But the ground was not quite what Hobbs and Sutcliffe were used to.
The match was played "in novel surroundings, with crows and farmyard fowls pecking contentedly in the outfield, and thousands of half-dressed urchins and Bengali babus encroaching on the boundary line."
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It was this match that Hobbs refused to play – though the ground conditions had nothing to do with that.
Hobbs was a religious man, taught to respect the Sabbath.
He did not want to hurt the feelings of the Christians in India.
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But Sutcliffe had no such reservations. He quickly got to 110 not out. The innings was closed at 209/2. Time ran out with Sporting Union on 99/2.
Vizzy's XI won the match at Eden Gardens comfortably the next day. Batting at 3 and 4, Hobbs and Sutcliffe scored 36 and 62*.
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Everyone is aware of the records and her many struggles against all odds, so I shall stick to the first time the unstoppable force of Indian cricket met the immovable object.
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Rae Bareilly, 2000.
East Zone had folded for 102 in the Chandra Tripathi Under-19 Tournament.
Opening batting for South Zone were Karu Jain and the wonderkid of Indian cricket, Mithali Raj, also captain of the side.
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Rumeli Dhar bowled the first over.
Then Bobby Dutta summoned Goswami.
"I was thinking, wow, she is an India player. That gave me a boost when I was bowling."
(source: The Fire Burns Blue)
Goswami got the yorker right.
All three stumps were knocked out by the impact.
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MV Sridhar was a genius strategist, perhaps at par with Percy Fender. I wish he got more coverage.
Let me explain what I am talking about.
This took place on this day, 1997.
Before getting into what he did, let me explain what the Ranji Trophy rules used to be at that point.
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There were five zones. Three teams qualified for the Super League.
Of the six South Zone teams, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Hyderabad were the likeliest to qualify.
However, an odd win from Andhra, Kerala, or Goa changed that from time to time.
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Now for the points system.
8: outright win
5: first-innings lead in draw
3: conceding first-innings lead in draw;
2: abandoned (or no result on first innings)
0: outright defeat.
An all-rounder in every possible way. He was
- an excellent batsman
- bowled underarm lobs
- bowled roundarm fast
- kept wickets
- led England to two wins in two Tests
He also taught Ranji the leg-glance.
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The last bit was Ranji's own confession, as mentioned by CB Fry in a 1939 piece titled The Founder of Modern Batsmanship.
Read was in England's squad for the 1882-83 series, and finds a mention on the Ashes urn (check second line, third word).
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Read's most famous innings came in The Oval Test of 1884.
He came to bat at 181/8 after Australia piled on 551.
Having opened batting, Scotton had characteristically crawled to 53 at the other end.