by Brett Lee
Saturday 25 January 1986 St Mary’s v Riverwall
The longest over took place on a hot morning at St Mary’s home ground. It commenced at 10.46 a.m. and finished 37 minutes later at
11.23. Strangely enough, the first three deliveries were bowled without incident. The fourth ball was hit into the church gardens for six. It took 11 minutes for the ball to be found. The fifth ball struck the batter a nasty blow. When a runner was finally called out, another nine minutes had elapsed. Two no balls followed. Just as the next ball was about to be bowled, a swarm of bees appeared. The players and umpires fell to the ground as the swarm passed overhead. Eight minutes later the players were ready again. The next delivery was edged into the slips. The catch was taken but unfortunately the fielder split the webbing between thumb and first finger. The final delivery was played calmly back to the bowler. It was the seventh ball, but the umpires had apparently lost count!
(Thanks to Reverend Kosta for his extraordinary memory and his meticulous scoring, which included times.)
Saturday 31 January 1987 Kobrow College v St Mary’s
This game will be remembered as the shortest completed match in the competition—especially memorable because it involved four innings. Batting first, St Mary’s were bundled out for 24 in 43 minutes. Kobrow College declared their first innings at 0/0, without facing a ball. Ten minutes later Kobrow were bowling again. St Mary’s second innings was little better than its first. They were bowled out for 31, this time lasting only 34 minutes. After the compulsory 10 minutes between innings, Kobrow came out and knocked up the required runs (56) in just 22 minutes. The whole game had lasted just under two hours. Both teams had a bye the following Saturday!
Saturday 5 March 1988 TCC v St John’s
Ty Jacobs, captain of TCC, was to bowl the last over of the game. The opposition needed just six runs from the over to win the match. His first ball was hit for four, and in bowling it Ty fell to the pitch heavily, dislocating his elbow. To the surprise of everyone, and with his arm heavily strapped and covered in ice, Ty chose to complete his over rather than get a replacement. He bowled the remaining deliveries under-arm, with his left hand. The next three deliveries grubbed along the pitch. After heckles and complaints from the batting team, he tossed the next two balls higher. The first was missed by the batter and the second (and final) delivery landed on the top of the stumps, smashing one of the bails. (There were unsubstantiated reports from a variety of sources that Ty was seen that afternoon playing basketball with the TBC Under–14 basketball team.)
Saturday 19 January 1991 St John’s v St Mary’s
Playing on one of the windiest days ever recorded, and with the temperature hovering around 43o Celsius, Rachel McKinnon took guard for St Mary’s. A fierce northerly wind was blowing into her face. As she prepared to play her first ball, the wind gusted, toppling her backwards and onto her stumps. No one appealed and Rachel was able to continue her innings after all three stumps had been put back into the ground.
Saturday 2 February 1991 St John’s v George St
A strange event occurred when Peter Robinson, playing for St John’s, was given not out by umpire James Findlay. At the exact moment when the stumps were broken and the appeal was made, a pigeon dropped onto the umpire’s head. He fell to the ground in shock. The pigeon had apparently struck overhead power lines. Findlay was unable to rule on the appeal and had to give the batter the benefit of the doubt, ruling not out. After a moment’s hesitation, Peter Robinson gave himself out, acknowledging that he clearly hadn’t made his ground. He was applauded by the entire George St team for his sportsmanship.
Saturday 29 January 1994 St Mary’s v Kobrow College
The scorecard from this game was a delight—a statistician’s dream! Although there was nothing remarkable about the game itself, a look at the St Mary’s batting scores makes for interesting reading.
Saturday 29 January 1994 TCC v Motherwell
Craig Farmer (Motherwell) scored 28 runs off one over. He hit the first two balls each for four, then the third for six. The fourth, a no ball, was hit for two. Craig then struck two sixes off the next two deliveries, the second of these another no ball. He was clean bowled by the last delivery! The scorers hadn’t realised he had reached his 30 runs. (He was on two at the start of the over.) If they had, they would have alerted the umpires and Craig would have been forced to retire before the last ball was bowled.
Saturday 3 February 1996 TCC v Benchley Park
The score was 7 for 123 when little Danny Clifford, only eight years old, strode out to bat for Benchley Park, who were three players short in their attempt to chase 132 runs against TCC. He had been playing on a nearby swing. Katie Hong managed to score the last 10 runs herself to get Benchley Park past their opponents’ score. Danny had to face only four deliveries during the 20 minutes he was out there. He missed the ball each time. (TCC later protested that Benchley Park had played an unregistered player. TCC were awarded the game and received all of Benchley Park’s points as well.)
Saturday 2 March 1996 Riverwall v Kobrow College
Damian Monk had an extraordinary day in the field for Kobrow College. He took four catches, including a catch that many described as the finest out-field catch they had ever witnessed. Sprinting around the boundary line at deep third man, Damian launched himself into the air and with one hand managed to parry the ball. He fell to the ground, catching the rebound. He was rolling towards the rope though. Immediately he tossed the ball into the air, rolled onto the rope, then recovered his balance and re-caught the ball back in the playing field. Damian also effected two run-outs and took the final two wickets to fall. He had contributed to eight Riverwall wickets.
Saturday 4 December 1999 TCC v St Mary’s
Keegan Thomson (TCC) managed to break two bats during his short but entertaining innings. When he was 11, he struck a ball out past mid-on. The bat fell just short of the fielder. A few overs later, when Keegan was 17, he repeated the shot, breaking a second bat. His father, who works in a sports shop, said that he wouldn’t be purchasing any more of the bats his son had been using. Keegan never got to use his third bat, being run out from the next delivery.
Saturday 22 January 2000 Scorpions v Motherwell
Moments before the start of the game, the Scorpions club unveiled a superb state-of-the-art portable electronic scoreboard, with remote control—so that it could sit in a location halfway around the ground and be visible to all. It was carefully set up on a trestle table to record the progress of the game against Motherwell, the visiting team. Sadly though, the Scorpions’ opening batsman struck the very first ball of the game for six. The ball smashed into the face of the scoreboard, sending sparks, glass and plastic flying. The force of the shot knocked the scoreboard off the table. The scoreboard never got to record any scores and still sits somewhere in the Scorpions’ clubrooms.
Saturday 12 February 2000 Riverwall v Motherwell
A strange catch occurred at the Riverwall ground. It involved three different fielders touching the ball before the catch was finally claimed. The batter clipped the ball to short mid-wicket, where it struck the fielder on the shoulder. It ballooned into the air. The wicket keeper came around from behind the stumps and made a desperate lunge at the ball. He managed to parry the ball straight into the hands of the bowler, who had come across from the bowling crease. Rod Cross was out, caught and bowled Simon Chou, for 11.
Saturday 3 March 2001 Scorpions v TCC
Benny Roberts (Scorpions) managed to take five catches during the TCC innings. The curious thing about this achievement was that each catch was taken in a different position and none of the catches was taken as a wicket keeper. He took a catch at first slip, one at gully, one at mid-off, one at short mid-on and the final catch was caught and bowled. Benny was the captain and organised the fielding positions!
Saturday 15 December 2001 Benchley Park v Scorpions
At the start of the final over, and with only one wicket to take, the S
corpions’ captain made a ring of fielders around Katie Farrow, the last batter in. Benchley Park needed an unlikely 15 runs to achieve victory. Katie swiped the first ball into the deep for two runs, then the next into the same area for four. The fielders spread out and the pair scampered two singles over the next two deliveries. Katie missed the fifth delivery, a no ball, but managed two more runs from the next. Three runs would secure a tie, and four would win the game for Benchley Park. Katie struck the ball over mid-on’s head. They ran the first quickly. The ball was hurled in, and had it hit the stumps the batter would surely have been run out taking a second. But the ball missed everything and raced out into the covers. The batters turned and completed a third run, tying the game.
Saturday 14 December 2002 Scorpions v Motherwell
Kane Tzaris, batting for Motherwell, struck a full toss firmly back down the wicket. It hit his partner at the non-striker’s end on the leg and dropped into his pad. The bowler rushed over and plucked the ball from the runner’s pad as he tried to shake it out. The ball, not having touched the ground, was held up by the bowler as he screamed loudly in appeal. Amidst the confusion, with the umpires looking to each other for a ruling, Kane wandered out of his crease. The bowler hurled the ball to the wicket keeper, who ‘broke’ the stumps. There was another loud series of appeals from the fielders. Kane was finally given out: caught.
(A closer inspection of the scores after the game indicated that the Scorpions had been given an extra leg bye. Motherwell had recorded a spectacular win.)
Saturday 25 January 2003 Benchley Park v St Mary’s
Jane Middlemiss (Benchley Park) recorded the highest score by a female player in the one-day competition: 59. Jane retired on 32, then came back to add another 27 runs (including six fours) before she was caught at deep mid-wicket on the third-last delivery of the innings.
How to Play Dice Cricket
You will need: dice, paper and pencils, and a friend!
Each player creates their own team of 11 cricketers, maybe including yourself! You can choose a team from a particular country or an era.
Each cricketer is given a number of chances before they are given out. The batters in the team have more chances—for example, a great batsman like Steve Waugh might get five chances but a specialist bowler like Glenn McGrath might only get one. Both players must agree on how many chances each cricketer gets, and the total number of chances for each team must be the same. Write the number of chances each cricketer has next to his/her name, and set your batting order.
Roll the dice to work out the order of play. Whoever rolls the highest number gets to choose whether their team will bat or bowl first.
Open the innings and roll the dice for the first batter. The number on the dice roll is the number of runs scored, and rolling a one or three also means the batters ‘change ends’ so that the other batter is on strike.
If a five is rolled, it is a chance or a wicket. There are no runs scored. If the first roll for a batter is a five, then he/she is out for nothing, regardless of the number of chances available.
The number 11 player only gets one chance and a maximum three rolls of the dice.
After a batter is out, roll the dice to see how he/she was dismissed:
You may like to allocate a number (1–6) to your bowlers to see who takes the wickets. Roll the dice again to work out who dismissed the batter.
At the end of the innings roll the dice twice each to work out the number of wides and no-balls, and once for byes and leg byes.
How to Play Double-wicket Cricket
This game is ideally played with six pairs, and teams should be as even as possible (try to match a batter with a bowler). Each pair may be given a number or they may like to name themselves after a country or famous partnership, for example, ‘The Waugh twins’.
Double-wicket cricket follows the normal rules of cricket, yet there are some differences:
Each batting pair faces six overs. These overs should be bowled by six different players.
If a batter gets out, he or she doesn’t retire, however the batting pair does switch ends.
Each bowler bowls two overs.
Fielders should rotate positions so that everyone has an opportunity to field in different parts of the ground.
POINTS
Wicket (bowler): 10 points
Wicket (batter): -15 points
Run-out (fielder): 5 points
Catch (fielder): 5 points
Run (batter): 1 point per run
Mr Pasquali also uses bonus points to reward good bowling and fielding. Your coach might like to do the same!
Mr Pasquali modifies these rules each year, depending on the number of cricketers available to play, and your club or team may choose to do so as well. Also, you might use a different point system—in the Double-wicket World Championship batters only lose 10 points if they are dismissed. Another feature of these championships is that a permanent team of fielders is used for all the games. This means that pairs can play each other directly: for example, Pair A bowls to Pair B, then Pair B bowls to Pair A.
You might like to visit the website of the Double-wicket World Championship to see the official rules: www.doublewicketworldchampionship.com
For more information on double-wicket competitions and to nominate your all-time favourite partner for a double-wicket competition, visit www.michaelpanckridge.com.au and follow the Toby Jones links to the double-wicket cricket page.
RESULTS OF RIVERWALL’S DOUBLE-WICKET COMPETITION
First place: Ally and Toby Second place: Jimbo and Jay Third place: Rahul and Gavin
Toby Jones and the Timeless Cricket Match
MICHAEL PANCKRIDGE
WITH BRETT LEE
It isn’t Toby Jones’ passion for cricket that makes him unusual—it’s his ability to travel through time, back to the great matches of the past.
Just when Toby thinks his time-travel adventures are over, he has to make another dangerous journey. He must travel to The Oval—the famous English cricket ground—to save his friend Ally, who has been ill since she broke the laws of time travel on her last trip with him.
Toby will have to face the embittered Cricket Lord, Hugo Malchev, and the ruthless Phillip Smale, who has his own agenda as far as time travel is concerned, and doesn’t want anyone getting in the way.
And if that isn’t enough, Toby is training at the cricket camp at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, hoping to be selected for Australia against England in the junior Ashes. If he doesn’t get stuck in the past during his travels. Or worse…
Toby Jones and the Clash with Father Time
MICHAEL PANCKRIDGE
WITH BRETT LEE
Toby Jones is not your average cricket fan. As well as being an ace player, he has the amazing ability to travel through time, back to the great matches of the past.
Toby is playing for Australia in a junior Ashes match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It’s the most important game of his life so far. But things take a dramatic turn when one of a band of sinister soul-snatchers—known as Grubbers—makes a ghostly appearance in the outfield and takes over the body of one of the England players. To make matters worse, Toby discovers that his friend Georgie has gone missing.
Toby must return to the Timeless Cricket Match and confront the powerful and evil Father Time. Only by doing so can he save all the former and future Test cricketers doomed to be trapped in the past forever…and the game of cricket itself.
A thrilling conclusion to the bestselling Toby Jones series.
Acknowledgments to Book 1
Thanks to Robert McVicker Burmeister for his involvement with the cover. To Neil Maxwell and Dominic Thornley at Insite/ITM for their cooperation. To John Wisden & Co. Ltd for their kind assistance. To Jason Doherty, Peter Young and all at Cricket Australia for their support and suggestions. To David Studham at the MCC Library for his outstanding research and interest in the project. To Dean Jones and Ray Bright for their time, good memory and willingn
ess to be ‘interviewed’ in the book. To the patient, efficient and talented team of editors from HarperCollins. To colleague Mark Torpey for his wonderful enthusiasm and generosity. To Bill and John Panckridge for their encouragement, support, ideas and editing skills. And lastly, to my patient and understanding family: Jo, Eliza and Bronte.
Acknowledgments to Book 2
Thanks to Robert McVicker Burmeister for his involvement with the cover. To Neil Maxwell and Dominic Thornley at Insite/ITM for their cooperation. To John Wisden & Co. Ltd for their kind assistance. To Jason Doherty, Peter Young and all at Cricket Australia for their support and suggestions. To David Studham at the MCC Library for his outstanding research and interest in the project. To Andrew Symonds for his interest and willingness to be involved. Affable, friendly and modest—just as I anticipated him to be. Colleague Mark Torpey for righting the odd cricket wrong. To the talented Melbourne editors Lisa Berryman and Liana Spoke, and Vanessa Radnidge in Sydney. Always friendly—always accurate! To John and Bill Panckridge for their constant interest and enthusiasm. To Bronte, Lizy and Jo—and my new studio!
