Cricketing coincidences, 4 of 4: Give and take

In the previous three parts of cricket coincidences, we have seen repetitions in victory margins and team scores, and feats that keep coming back. In this edition we will have a look at how pairs of cricketers with related feats involving each other.

The spirit of give and take is one of the guiding principles of life. Here are three wonderful examples of this spirit being embraced whole-heartedly in cricket. In the 1st Test between South Africa and England at Port Elizabeth in February 1896, Joseph Willoughby, making his Test debut for South Africa, and George Lohmann, of England, dismissed one another for pairs in the same Test, a unique event in Test history.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

Again, in the 1st Test between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at Bulawayo in April 2001, Andy Blignaut was caught and bowled by Manjural Islam for a golden duck in the Zimbabwe first innings, and repaid the compliment in the Bangladesh first innings by dismissing Manjural Islam caught and bowled for 7. Both Blignaut and Manjural also achieved their respective first 5-wicket hauls in the innings mentioned above.

In a recently concluded Test, in November 2014 between Pakistan and New Zealand at Sharjah, Mohammad Hafeez and Mark Craig dismissed one another caught and bowled, making this only the second instance of this form of reciprocation in Test history.

[read-also]468833,468835,468848[/read-also]

In the 1st Test between Zimbabwe and New Zealand at Harare in August 2005, Zimbabwe, dismissed for 59 in their first innings, had to follow on; they were then dismissed for 99 in the second innings to lose the match by 294 runs. For the hosts, Christopher Mpofu was dismissed stumped Brendan McCullum bowled Daniel Vettori for ducks in each innings and, on each occasion, had faced 7 deliveries. The interesting thing was that the identical dismissals had taken place on the same afternoon.

Here is an intriguing ‘century’ connection. In the 1st Test between South Africa and New Zealand, played at Centurion in April 2006, three different players, Stephen Fleming, Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis, received their respective 100th Test caps, Kallis scoring exactly 100 runs (38 and 62) in the match.

In 1991-92, Victoria wicketkeeper Darren Berry was stumped by stand-in Western Australia wicketkeeper Damien Martyn off Tim Zoehrer, the designated wicketkeeper for the match. The following season, at St Kilda Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Berry was stumped again — by acting wicketkeeper Mike Veletta. The bowler was, of course, the designated wicketkeeper, Zoehrer…

Berry might have felt better after Australia’s Ashes tour of 1993. Zoehrer topped the chart with 12 wickets at 21, ahead of Shane Warne (75 wickets at 23 plus a Ball of the Century thrown in) and Tim May (53 at 27).

And finally, a random entry, but perhaps the biggest of them all: when Alec Stewart retired from Test cricket, he did so with a Test aggregate of 8463 runs, exactly matching his birthday, 8/4/63.

One can imagine The Almighty sitting up there stroking His venerable beard and chuckling to Himself at these and numerous similar incidents manifesting themselves upon various cricket fields all over the world and taking His Divine pleasure in tickling the sensibilities of thousands of cricket aficionados in all walks of life.

(Pradip Dhole is a retired medical doctor with a life-long interest in cricket history and statistics)