Norman Gordon - The Oldest Test Cricketer

Norman Gordon, A right arm fast bowler  was born on 6th of August 1911 at Boksburg, Transval. He celebrates his 102nd this day. He is so far the only Test Cricketer to have a completed a century of years. He is also the only living cricketer who played Test Cricket before the Second World War. 

In the pic: Center - Norman Gordon celebrating his 100th Birthday with (from the left)

Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Fanie de Villiers, Peter Pollock, Neil Adcock and Mike Procter

Norman Gordon played only 5 test matches in his career. All came in the series of 1938/39 against England at home. Unfortunately Second World War interrupted his career. In the 5 test matches, he took 20 wickets. He was part of one of the famous Timeless Test at Durban which was played for 10 days and had to be drawn as English players needed to catch their ships to go back home. In the timeless test his figures were 92.2-17-256-1. He bowled 736 deliveries in the match, which are the 4th most by any bowler in a test match.

Norman Gordon played 29 First Class matches from 1933-1949, 22 of them for Transvaal, picking up 126 wickets. His best bowling figures in FC, 6/61, came while playing for Transvaal against Natal at Old Wanderers, Johannesburg in December 1939. In all he grabbed 8 5-wkt hauls in First Class career (2 of them in Tests). 

Including Norman Gordon, 16 First Class players have lived for over 100 years. Other than Norman Gordon, only other living is Cyril Perkin who played for Nottinghamshire (Born on June 4, 1911). 

Have a look at the other players behind Norman Gordon on the list. 

Oldest Living Test Cricketers.

Age	Player	D.O.B	Matches Played
102 years, 0 days	Norman Gordon (SA)	06 Aug 1911	5
94 years, 181 days	Lindsay Tuckett (SA)	06 Feb 1919	9
93 years, 160 days	Reg Simpson (Eng)	27 Feb 1920	27
92 years, 196 days	Andy Ganteaume (WI)	22 Jan 1921	1
91 years, 339 days	Madhav Mantri (Ind)	01 Sep 1921	4

Longest Lived Test Cricketers

Age	Player	Born	Died	Matches
102 years, 0 days	Norman Gordon (SA)	06 Aug 1911	No	5
99 years, 226 days	Eric Tindill (NZ)	18 Dec 1910	01 Aug 2010	5
96 years, 324 days	Francis MacKinnon (Eng)	09 Apr 1848	27 Feb 1947	1
96 years, 150 days	Jack Kerr (NZ)	28 Dec 1910	27 May 2007	7
95 years, 252 days	Wilfred Rhodes (Eng)	29 Oct 1877	08 Jul 1973	58

#All ages updated till 6th of August, 2013

Some Records of Sir Garry Sobers

Sir Garry Sobers is considered to be one of the greatest batsmen after Sir Don Bradman and the greatest All Rounder of all time. He was born on 28 July 1936  at Barbados. Having made his Test Debut at a very young age of less than 18 in 1954, he went on to pile up many world records to his name in all departments of the game - Batting, Bowling and Fielding. 

Following are all Records of Sir Garry Sobers

Batting Career of Sir Garry Sobers

Format	Mat	Inns	Runs	Avg	100s	50s	Best
Test	93	160	8032	57.78	26	30	365*
First Class	383	609	28314	54.87	86	121	365*

Sobers - One of the greatest cricketers of all time

Bowling Career of Sir Garry Sobers

Format	Mat	Wickets	BBI	BBM	Avg	S/R	Eco	5WI	10WM
Test	93	235	6/73	8/80	34.03	91.9	2.22	6	0
First Class	383	1043	9/49	-	27.74	67.8	2.45	36	1

All Records of Sir Garry Sobers

* Garry Sobers is the youngest player to score a Triple Century in tests. He scored 365* vs Pakistan at Kingston in 1958 at Age of 21 years and 213 days.

Least Innings to 15 ODI 100s

Virat Kohli scored his 15th ODI 100 in the first ODI against Zimbabwe on 24th July 2013. He became the 4th Indian after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag to score 15 or more ODI 100s. He is the 19th overall to complete 15 ODI centuries. In 106 innings he is by far the fastest to complete 15 ODI centuries. 

Least Innings to 15 ODI 100s

India's losses against Zimbabwe

India and Zimbabwe are set to play a 5 match ODI series in Zimbabwe from 24th July 2013 - 3rd August 2013. Last time when India toured Zimbabwe, they lost both their matches to Zimbabwe. This was not the only loss for India against Zimbabwe. Infact India have lost 10 ODIs so far to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe have surprised India at many occasions, in India and at neutral venues too.

India's losses against Zimbabwe 

Indian players walk off the field after a 6 wicket loss to Zimbabwe in 2010

Have a look at those 10 ODI losses of India against Zimbabwe

01. 07 February 1997 at Centurion

Ind - 216 (48.4), Zim - 171/7 (33.4) 

India lost by 3 wickets with 2 balls remaining (Target revised)

Some Records of Graham Gooch

Graham Gooch celebrating his 60th Birthday on 23rd July 2013 is one of the finest batsman England ever produced. He made his test debut in 1975 went on to become a legend in all formats of the game. He played International cricket till age of 41. 

Format	Mat	Inn	Runs	Avg	100s	50s	Best
Tests	118	215	8900	42.58	20	46	333
ODIs	125	122	4290	36.98	8	23	142
First Class	581	990	44846	49.01	128	217	333
List A	613	601	22211	40.16	44	139	198*

Some Records of Graham Gooch

SL vs SA, 1st ODI Statistical Highlights

Sri Lanka and South Africa were all set to play the first ODI of the 5 match series at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Both teams were playing their games after the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. South Africa won the toss and invited Lankans to bat. Sri Lanka managed to score 320/5 in 50 overs thanks to Sangakkara's excellent 169. South Africa could score only 140 runs in reply and lost the first ODI by 180 runs! 

Sri Lankan players walking with a large win against South Africa

Statistical Highlights of the Match

# This was the 52nd ODI between Sri Lanka and South Africa and 12th in Lanka. 

# R.Premadasa Stadium was hosting its 109th ODI match. 

# South Africa were playing their first ODI in Sri Lanka after 9 years. They played their last ODI here on 31 August 2004. 

# Except Duminy and Robin Peterson everyone else were playing their first match in Lanka. Steyn and Amla missed this match. 

# Dinesh Chandimal became the youngest ODI captain for Sri Lanka. 

Youngest ODI Captains for Sri Lanka

23y 244d - Chandimal 

24y 233d - Ranatunga

25y 063d - Mathews

MS Dhoni finishing an ODI for India with a Six

Mahendra Singh Dhoni after missing 3 games in the Tri Series in West Indies played the final against Sri Lanka. And his presence made all the difference to India as he won another ODI for India with his batting while chasing. As in 2011 World Cup Final against Sri Lanka, he hit a six to finish the game for India and hence India won the Tri Series in West Indies. 

MS Dhoni sets to hit a Six to win Tri Series for India

This was the 8th occasion when MS Dhoni has hit a six to win an ODI for India while

Virat Kohli - 5th Youngest ODI Captain for India

After MS Dhoni's injury in the match against West Indies in the Tri Series, Virat Kohli was appointed to captain India in the remaining matches of the Series. He is the 22nd player to captain India in ODIs. At age of 24 years and 239 days, Kohli is the 5th youngest to captain India in ODIs.

List of Youngest ODI Captains for India

Chris Gayle - In the list of Most Sixes in Cricket

The article – Chris Gayle’s Sixes in Cricket is about the number of sixes the Jamaican hard hitter of Cricket Ball has hit in all formats of the games. He completed 200 ODI sixes on 28 June 2013 in the opening game of Tri Series (India/Sri Lanka/West Indies) against Sri Lanka at his home ground Kingston. 

Chris Gayle became the 3rd player after Shahid Afridi (308) and Sanath Jayasuriya (270) to hit 200 Sixes in ODIs. As of 28th June 2013, he has 202 sixes in ODI Cricket.

Most Sixes in ODI Cricket
Sixes	Batsman
308	Shahid Afridi
270	Sanath Jayasuriya
202	Chris Gayle
195	Sachin Tendukar
190	Sourav Ganguly

Dale Steyn - Stats at age of 30 and 65 Tests

Dale Steyn celebrates his 30th Birthday on 27th June 2013. He is the premier fast bowler for South Africa for around a decade in both Tests and ODIs. He has been sensational in Test Cricket and been the best in the business for many years now. Since his debut he has thrashed any batting order in any conditions on any pitch.

Dale Steyn has taken 332 wickets in 65 Test Matches at a phenomenal average of 22.65 and Strike Rate of 41.10

Some stats involving Dale Steyn

Players who played for 2 Countries in ODIs and T20Is

List of Players who played for 2 Nations in ODIs

01. Kepler Wessels for Australia (1983-1985) and South Africa (1991-1994)

Kepler Wessels

For Australia:

Batting: Mat – 54, Runs – 1740, Avg – 36.25, 50s – 14, 100s -1, Best – 107

Bowling: Mat – 54, Wickets – 18, Avg  – 36.38, 5WI – 0, BBI – 2/16

ICC Champions Trophy 2013 in Numbers

The seventh and the final edition of ICC Champions Trophy was won by the youngest team in the tournament, India. This was India's second ICC Champions Trophy title after a shared title in 2002. England lost another ICC ODI Tournament final! This was their 5th loss in finals after ICC WC 1979, 1987,1992 and ICC CT 2004. South Africa as usual could only get to Semi Finals to preserve the "Chokers" tag and Sri Lankan just couldn't defeat India. Defending champions Australia couldn't even qualify for the Semi Finals.

Lets summarize the whole tournament in Numbers.

Leading Run Scorers

Runs	Inns	Batsman	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Best
363	5	Shikhar Dhawan	90.75	101.39	2	1	114
229	5	Jonathan Trott	57.25	91.60	0	2	82*
222	4	Kumar Sangakkara	74.00	80.14	1	1	134*
177	5	Rohit Sharma	35.40	75.96	0	2	65
176	5	Virat Kohli	58.66	95.65	0	1	58*

Most Runs after 100 Innings in ODIs

Virat Kohli played 100th innings of his ODI career in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 Final against England. He managed to score 43 runs and has an aggregate of 4230 Runs in 100 Innings of his 103 ODI matches. His tally of 4230 runs is the most by any Indian after playing the 100th ODI Inning.

By Indians

Timeline of ODI Hundreds by Indian Batsmen

On 18 June 1983 
After 58 centuries in 215 matches in ODI cricket since 1971, the first century by an Indian batsman was scored. India were playing their 45th ODI and before that the highest score by an Indian was 95 by Kris Srikkanth but no hundreds. In the match against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup, KAPIL DEV became the first Indian to score an ODI century. It was a special one and still one of the best ODI inning. 

Since then 203 ODI centuries have been scored by 33 Indians.

Timeline of Centuries by Indians 

First Century 
175* (138) - Kapil Dev vs Zim at Tunbridge Wells on 18 June 1983

10th Century
103* (088) - Sunil Gavaskar vs NZ at Nagpur on 31 October 1987

25th Century
134* (160) - Navjot Singh Sidhu vs Eng at Gwalior on 4 March 1993

50th Century
124 (138) - Sourav Ganguly vs Pak at Dhaka on 18 January 1998

75th Century
100* (138) - Ajay Jadeja vs Aus at The Oval on 4 June 1999

100th Century
111 (124) - Sourav Ganguly vs Ken at Paarl on 24 October 2001

125th Century
107 (104) - VVS Laxman vs Pak at Lahore on 24 March 2004

150th Century
107* (101) - Gautam Gambhir vs Ban at Dhaka on 12 June 2008

175th Century
101* (100) - Rohit Sharma vs SL at Bulawayo on 30 May 2010

200th Century
128* (119) - Virat Kohli vs SL at Colombo on 31 July 2012

Aus vs NZ Statistical Highlights: ICC Champions Trophy 2013

Australia were all set to play a Do or Die game to be the contenders for the Semi Finals of ICC Champions Trophy 2013 at Edgbaston on 12 July 2013. After their defeat against England in the first match they had to win against their another regular rivals, New Zealand. Australia won the toss and chose to bat. New Zealand bowlers continued their form and soon Australia were 10/2 in the 4th over. Half centuries from the Skipper George Bailey and Adam Voges steadied the inning. A cameo Glenn Maxwell took them to 243/8 in 50 overs. Mitchell McClenaghan finished with 4/65.

Rain Spoiled a must win match for Australia

New Zealand needed to chase 244 on this pitch of Edgbaston. Clint McKay dismissed both the openers cheaply and put Australia right on the track. But the clouds had some other ideas. Rain interrupted the play at 51/2 in 51 overs. And what next! Match never began again and was called off. Both teams were awarded a point each. Australia with 1 point needs to win the remaining game against Sri Lanka to have hopes to enter Semis.

Statistical Highlights of this Match

# Australia and New Zealand were meeting for the 4th time in ICC Champions Trophy. Australia 

had beaten New Zealand all the times before.

# They were playing their first ODI since their match in ICC World Cup 2011 at Nagpur.

# Australia and New Zealand were playing their 125th ODI match together. Only other 3 pair of teams to play 125+ matches are 139 - India vs Sri Lanka, 135 - Australia vs West Indies and 132 - Sri Lanka vs 

Pakistan.

# This was their 3rd match in England. 

Australia Inning

# Philip Hughes registered his first Duck in ODI career in his 11th inning.

# George Bailey scored 55(91) which is his 6th Half century in ODIs and his 3rd as captain in 5 games.

# George Bailey also scored 55(69) against England in the previous games.

# Adam Voges scored his 3rd ODI fifty. He scored 77(76). This is his highest score in ICC Champions Trophy after his 15 runs in the first match against England.

McClenaghan became the fastest bowler to take 25 ODI wickets

# Mitchell Marsh achieved his highest score in ODIs with 22(22) in his 3rd ODI. In his first two ODI matches he scored 8*(5) and 5(12).

# Mitchell McClenaghan completed 25 wickets in his ODI career in his 9th match.

# Mitchell McClenaghan is the fastest bowler to reach 25 wickets in ODIs. He overcame Ottis Gibson and Ajantha Mendis who got their 25th wicket in 10th ODI.

# Mitchell McClenaghan finished with 4/65 in his 10 overs. This is his 4th 4-wicket haul in ODIs and 2nd consecutive in this ICC Champions Trophy. He is only the second bowler after Douglas Hondo in 2002 to take 2 4-wicket hauls in an edition of ICC Champions Trophy.

# Mitchell McClenaghan is the 4th bowler to take a 4 wickets against Australia in ICC Champions Trophy.

# 4/65 by Mitchell McClenaghan are the second best bowling figures by a kiwi bowler at Edgbaston after Chris Pringle's 5/45 in 1994.

# Australia's 243/8 in 50 overs is their highest total against New Zealand in England outstripping their 213/8 at Cardiff in 1999.

New Zealand Inning

# Luke Ronchi played 4 ODIs for Australia in 2008 and in this match he was playing against Australia.

# Clint McKay dismissed both the opener Guptill and Ronchi and had figures of 2/10 in 4 overs.

Clint McKay did the damage needed for Australia but Rain interrupted

# Rain stopped the play after the 15th over when the score was 51/2.

# Match could never begin again and was called off. Each point were rewarded a point each. 

# This is the 4th abandoned match in ICC Champions Trophy. Other 3 were 2 Finals of ICC Champions Trophy 2002 between India and Sri Lanka in Colombo and India vs Australia at Centurion in 2009.

Australia  needed a must win in this game but they could finish with earning one point only. Now for Australia to enter the Semi Finals

In Eng vs SL, SL should win

In SL vs Aus, Aus should win

In Eng vs NZ, NZ should win

New Zealand are not into semis for sure too. If they win their remaining gama against England, they will be into semis without any doubt.

Thats all from the Statistical Highlights of Australia vs New Zealand. Hope you liked it and see you all in the next game on 13th July between England and Sri Lanka.