Uncovering Cricket’s Greatest Fables

Throughout the sport’s rich history, many unbelievable stories have emerged from the game we love. 

Did someone really score 286 off 1 legal delivery? Did Hitler genuinely kill the German cricket team? Did someone actually hit a six into the next county? 

Or are these all just fantastical tales that we have been led to believe, passed down from generation to generation?

Case 1: Russia Refuses to Recognise Cricket as a Sport - Fact or Fiction?

On July 15^th 2019, just one day after England won their maiden cricket world cup, Russia removed cricket from their list of official sports - despite the game being watched and loved by nearly a third of the world’s population. 

Many saw this as a political move against the UK; tensions had been brewing between the two nations ever since the poisoning of British intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Sports on the list included model plane flying, footgolf and draughts - but cricket couldn’t get itself a spot, until the 1^st of May 2020, when the sport became officially recognized by Russia again.

Case 2: Did a batsman score 286 runs off 1 legal delivery?

First reported in the London based newspaper, the Pall Mall Gazette, back in 1894, the publication claimed that this extraordinary feat occurred during a cricket match in Bunbury, Western Australia, played between a ‘scratch XI from the neighborhood’ and Victoria. 

The paper reports that the visitors elected to bat after winning the coin flip and the very first delivery of the match was struck into the branches of a tall Jarrah tree that resided on the outfield. Despite the desperate appeals of the home side, the umpires refused to declare the ball as lost, claiming that they could see the ball safely nestled in the tree’s branches. Seizing their opportunity, the Victoria batsmen started running between the wickets...

The local side, who were growing anxious, called for an axe, however no one could produce the tool needed, much to the delight of the Victoria batsmen, who continued to run between the stumps. 

Eventually a rifle was bought to the pitch, in a desperate attempt to move the ball and after many unsuccessful shots, the target was hit and the ball was dislodged from the tree. Not a single fielder managed to catch the ball as it fell from the branches, and by the time it had been retrieved, the batsmen had manged to accumulate a ridiculous 286 runs, covering roughly six kilometres.

However, there is no concrete evidence to support this remarkable tale and the Western Post labelled the events as an ‘enormous fairy tale’ and other Australian papers ridiculed the news.

Case 3: Did Hitler Kill the German Cricket Team?

Legend has it, that during some point during his reign, Hitler, bemused by cricket, decided to go and watch a first-class game between the German side and a touring English XI. 

Supposedly, the Fuhrer sat through all four days of the match, observing the intricacies and peculiarities of our game. His patience didn’t pay off though and by the end of the final day’s play neither side could topple the other and the match ended in a stalemate. 

Disgusted and infuriated by the lack of a result, Hitler ordered his men shoot the German Cricket team and declared the sport as being against Nazi values and an utter waste of people’s time. The bizarre tale was spread throughout the subcontinent, but it contains very little truth; cricket only began to flourish in Germany during the 1980s after the country received an influx of South East Asian immigrants to its shores and an international team played their first game in 1989, long after the dark days of Hitler.

Case 4: A Team All out for 0? Surely Not?

After posting a mediocre 80 in their game against local rivals Langport, the players of Glastonbury CC can’t have been too pleased with their efforts. However, what was to follow made their score seem colossal. 

Not a single Langport batsman was able to amass a run, as their side were skittled for 0.  There wasn't even an extra scored.

The spectacle was described as being ‘quite amusing’ for those watching on and since then no side has sunk to such lows as Langport did in their Somerset League back in 1913. It beggars belief that a team could possibly be all out for 0, but the game’s scorecard has been framed and placed in Langport’s clubhouse - a constant reminder to any cricketer that it could always be worse...

Case 5: Hitting a Maximum Into the Next County - Surely No One Could Do That?

It isn’t uncommon for a commentator to exclaim that a six has ‘gone all the way to the next state along’, when in reality the ball has just gone into the car park.

However, when Indian batsman CK Nayudu walloped Warwickshire spinner Jarret over the square boundary at Edgbaston for six, the commentator would’ve been well within his rights to say that the ball had sailed into the next county, as it quite literally did. 

Back in 1932, when the match was played, the River Rea, which resides behind one of the ground’s square boundaries, served as a natural border between the English counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire and Nayudu’s stroke cleared the waterway, meaning it went into the next county.

With the long range hitting displayed by modern T20 batsman, it might come as a surprise that no other batsman has managed to repeat this feat - but this is largely owing to the fact that the River Rea no longer serves as the boundary between these two counties.

 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more great cricket content.