Trivia & Quizzia 2013 (an occasional series, by whoever wishes)

B

"Using your knowledge and judgment", as they used to say at the start of printed quizzes ....

(Otherwise, guesstimates are completely fine, based on appearance and assumption.)


1) Year?

2) What team is this? (clue: anachronistic right up to 1962)

3) How many of those pictured were born in England?

4) How many England captains can you see in the picture?

5) How many were "Oxbridge" graduates?


(Clarification, in case anyone starts (~ again):

3-5 do not proceed from any jingoism, elitism, sexism, splendid isolationism, ageism, antiquism, captainism or whatever other bloody -ism - but they are all, I think, "a matter of interest", esp when compared with the solution to Q2)

Gentlemen of 1934

Earp
Dog
Tim
Alone
Doug
Moby
Malcolm
Pre-Op
Sunny
John
Meredith

Well, that definitely covers B2 and B1, though I am not sure about all the dodgy retrospective nicks. (Who's who, and even whether they cover the right match of the four that year. But then, that wasn't even part of the question/s.)


Anyone like to have a go at B3, B4, B5?

Where's Wally?


Where IS Wally? I hope he comes back for the next Ashes, even if he blows another gasket or two then ... one of the most knowledgeable and history-conscious ever on this Forum.

July 25 ,26 , 27 1934 team

4) Gubby, Wyatt, Brown and Walters

Both good.

Come on, have a wild stab at B3 and B5. You know you want to.

And A is easy, if you know a few historical names ... and poets.

A. Lionel Tennyson

B3 Working in reverse, Melville was South African, Allen was born in Australia and Brown in Peru. Walters and Turnbull were born in Wales, so I will answer that six were born in England. This is a 'guesstimate'.

B5 7 (Melville, Turnbull, Human, Valentine, Holmes, Allen, Brown)

Welcome back, WRH! I am only sad that it takes a quiz to bring you out of the pavilion

A. Aye. The less famous aristocrat of that name. (Unless you are a prosaic cricket archivist.) The emergency captain of England who almost fought off the Aussies with one arm in 1921. And a prominent voice (and errr, corporation) thereafter. The cartoon is from 1925.

B5. Correct. The Gents generally featured a large proportion of graduates from the two historical biggies of academe. In this case 5x Cantab and 2x Oxon.

B3. Not quite right - so at this stage I'll fill in.

The answer is only 4. Errol Holmes was born in India, Sandy (not to be confused with Stanley) Baxter was a Scot.

This may illustrate what a cosmopolitan bunch the Amateurs at the top of England cricket were in those days. (I'm sure 7/11 must be a bti exceptional, though.)

Or else it may indicate how much red there was on the map, as late as the mid-1930s.

Alternatively, how desperate the Gentlemen were - even in 1934 - to fill their ranks with anyone who earned his living outside cricket:

Thanks to such "pillars" as Lord Hawke, no captain of the national team, and even of the counties, was permitted actually to earn a living from cricket until after the Second World War (Hutton being trhe first professional to captain England in 1953 - with notable success). This self-denying ordinance of English cricket - or apartheid, if you like - entrenched the class system, deprived England of many great professional captains that might have been, and by the same token ensured that most of the captains that WERE eligible had to struggle to find time for practice, play and consistent form - or to gain much experience in strategy on the field.


All of this also explains B4) - FOUR England captains there - the pool of choice was very narrow. The stolid, dour, uncommunicative and clueless skipper (though dedicated and doughty batsman) Bob Wyatt in particular should NEVER have been allowed near the England captaincy. As the feisty, fearlessly indiscreet leggie Tommy Mitchell told him in 1934, when his patience finally broke: "You couldn't captain a team of bloody lead soldiers!!!" (I'm not sure he actually said "bloody".)

Here's one then - maybe its too easy for serial 'search and destroyers' but I found it hard:

As of today which batsmen have the highest Test Batting Averages of all time?

1) ?
2) ?
3) ?
4) ?
5) ?
6) ?
7) ?
?
9) ?
10) ?

No googling / cricinfoing - that's cheating!

dgb
ganteaume

rodney redmond

Gary 111 wrote:

As of today which batsmen have the highest Test Batting Averages of all time?

1) ?
2) 112.00 - Andy Ganteaume
3) 99.94 - Don Bradman
4) ?
5) ?
6) ?
7) ?
8. ?
9) 81.50 - Rodney Redmond
10) ?

No googling / cricinfoing - that's cheating!

Aye, Ganteaume and Redmond were shoo-ins. Had to google that Bradman fella but seems he had a handy record too.

Mominul Haque & Abul Hasan - Banger superstars

Gary 111 wrote:

As of today which batsmen have the highest Test Batting Averages of all time?

1) ?
2) 112.00 - Andy Ganteaume
3) 99.94 - Don Bradman
4) ?
5) ?
6) ?
7) 83.42 - Mominul Haque
8. 82.50 - Abul Hasan
9) 81.50 - Rodney Redmond
10) ?

No googling / cricinfoing - that's cheating!

True, Bangladesh surely must be contenders for the best team in the world now. They have 2 of the all time greats in their line up now...

Well Abul Hasan is not actually good enough to make the current Banger team - mainly because his bowling was rubbish & that was the reason he was in the team

And Dhawan is probably in there after making a century on debut.

Yes, Dhawan is only the best batsman ever:

1) 187.00 - Shiktar Dhawan
2) 112.00 - Andy Ganteaume
3) 99.94 - Don Bradman
4) ?
5) ?
6) ?
7) 83.42 - Mominul Haque
8. 82.50 - Abul Hasan
9) 81.50 - Rodney Redmond
10) ?

There was a West Indian wicketkeeper back in the seventies who averaged in the 80s in his only series - Desmond Lewis.

That is all I can remember.

you left the ffs off the end of his name, Wally

But he was just about the only Lewis who wasn't a terrible failure.

His failure was he only played 3 Tests

Maybe his keeping was ordinary & that was why they dropped him. Otherwise he has Mick & Rawl covered.

Yes, Dhawan is only the best batsman ever:

1) 187.00 - Shiktar Dhawan
2) 112.00 - Andy Ganteaume
3) 99.94 - Don Bradman
4) ?
5) ?
6) 86.33 - Desmond Lewis
7) 83.42 - Mominul Haque
8. 82.50 - Abul Hasan
9) 81.50 - Rodney Redmond
10) ?

Wally gets another one.

A couple of the remainders are really hard, unless you're a big fan of one-cap wonders, but the other was a class bat and is a decent shout for any All-Time Great XI.

Bazza

Aye

Is Chris Tavare' on this list?

Or Marcus of Cain North?