Jimmy Adams was born on this day, 1968.

He had a peculiar career.

Adams had one of the greatest starts to a Test career. He averaged 86.40 after 14 Tests.

For perspective, Labuschagne averaged 63.43 after 14 Tests.

But he managed only 29.58 in his next 40 Tests.
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This brought his career average down to 41.26 (less than half after the 14-Test mark).

Again, for perspective, Mark Waugh averaged 41.81.

But he bowled ("every time I take an international wicket, I'm surprised"), kept wickets, and led West Indies.
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He was a hard-nosed, gutsy cricketer whose pads Indian fans will never forget.

In Antigua in 2000, he led and guided West Indies to a 1-wicket win in one of the greatest Tests of all time.

My favourite Adams story is from West Indies' tour of South Africa in 1998-99.
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South Africa routed West Indies 5-0. Worse, a lot of West Indians picked up injuries.

Walsh twisted an ankle.

Ambrose needed to have a toenail removed.

Hooper had a groin problem.

Dillon and Murray went down with food poisoning.

And Ramnarine developed a shoulder niggle.
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But nothing compares to Adams's.

He was flying out to South Africa, and was trying to cut a bread roll open with a plastic spoon.

He ended up slicing a tendon (two tendons, according to another source) of the little finger of his left hand.
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He was ruled out of the entire Test series.

This has to be one of the most bizarre injuries to have happened to a Test captain.

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More from @ovshake42

9 Jan
On this day, 1928, Wellington and Otago started an otherwise ordinary match at Basin Reserve (Wellington 363 and 413 beat Otago 269 and 344 by 163 runs).

But the match witnessed a world record, for it was the 81st birthday of William Bock, one of the umpires.

Eighty-first.
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He had stood in a match a day after his 80th birthday (already a world record), but here he improved on that.

His birthday was celebrated after the day's play.

Bock was 61 when he first stood umpire in a First-Class match, between Wellington and Hawke’s Bay.
+
He officiated in eight matches, all at Basin Reserve.

The highlight came in 1913-14, when Wellington played the touring Australians.

The visitors included Trumper, Armstrong, Noble, Mailey, Collins, and Ransford.

But there was more to Bock than impiring.
+
Read 9 tweets
6 Jan
I had posted this on Facebook last year. I think it had gone viral, because it came back to me as a WhatsApp forward.

Posting this here now, for it is his birthday.
+
Wadekar was an excellent captain but he never won a World Cup.

Dhoni won a World Cup but he does not have hat-tricks.

Kuldeep has hat-tricks but he is not an outstanding fielder.

Jadeja is an incredible fielder but he doesn't have even two thousand Test runs.
+
Tendulkar has a lot of Test runs but not even fifty Test wickets.

Bumrah has over fifty Test wickets but does not stay fit.

Pujara does not get injured a lot but has played only 5 ODIs.

Agarkar has played a lot of ODIs but never led India.
+
Read 8 tweets
5 Jan
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was born on this day, 1941.

His father Iftikhar passed away on this day as well, in 1952 – when Mansur was celebrating his 11th birthday.

Father and son both led India and scored hundreds in their first Tests against Australia, but there is a catch.
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Iftikhar was playing for England.

That hundred – a laborious, painstaking 380-ball 102 – came during the Bodyline series.

During a particularly slow phase, Vic Richardson could not take it anymore:
- Pat, what’s wrong? Aren’t you seeing them too well?
+
- I’m waiting for the pace of the wicket to change a bit.
- Good God! It’s changed three times while you’ve been in!

Richardson was an Australian who never liked Bradman.

Pataudi was an the England cricketer who refused to field where Jardine wanted him to and got dropped.
+
Read 7 tweets
4 Jan
As per a Wisden report, "Gavaskar subsequently denied that police had warned him there was a threat to law and order should he delay the declaration any longer, though it was broadcast as a fact by an Indian commentator on BBC radio."

The incident took place on this day, 1985.
+
And that was not the only incident of note from that Test match.

India came into the Test match with the series levelled 1-1.

Sivaramakrishnan had scythed through England at Bombay, but England fought back to win at Delhi.
+
At Delhi, with India under pressure, Kapil had hit a six, and was caught in the deep off Pocock when he attempted an encore.

He was dropped from this Test match, at Eden Gardens, causing protests in Calcutta.

This was the only Test he ever missed in his career.
+
Read 15 tweets
2 Jan
Had *that* incident not taken place, Raman Lamba would have turned 59 today.

Lamba was a childhood hero.

slightly unusual one, but eye-witnesses will probably see reason in this.

I had grown up on stories about Pataudi and Jaisimha and Engineer and Baig.
+
I was told about their debonair presence on the ground.

We had two men of our generation who could match them in panache.

Of them, Azhar led India for almost a decade; and Lamba faded into nothingness.

Both men were flamboyant without trying, in their own different ways.
+
I wanted to imitate them.

But Lamba was inimitable.

Had I met Lamba outside a cricket ground I would probably have mistaken him for a film star.

From the hairdo to the swagger, every bit of him was special, but none more than his batting.

I remember his international debut.
+
Read 13 tweets
31 Dec 20
A few years ago, ICC retrofitted rankings for all Test cricketers.

These rankings indicate performances *till that point* and not entire careers.

But even then, it is never easy to remain in the top six for over sixty years.

Peter May hit 941 on August 27, 1956.
+
He was in top five until Steven Smith broke through.

In fact, if you look at his career, it seldom dipped below 900 between 1956 and 1958. Then it plunged.

May was among England's greatest post-War batsmen.
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But like Barrington, he is not celebrated as much as, say, Compton or Pietersen.

Here is @senantix's thread on May.

Read 4 tweets

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