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One-dayers without the Waughs
Wisden CricInfo staff - March 9, 2002

Sunday, March 10, 2002

The column in which our database director answers your queries, large or small, about the history of the game

  • How long since Australia played a Waughless one-dayer?
  • Edgar Willsher's overarm revolution
  • The lowdown on debutant captains
  • Why is the gully called the gully?
  • Were the Hon. Ivo Bligh, captain of England, and William Bligh, captain of the Bounty, in any way related?
  • Raquel Welch's connection with cricket (and she's not Graeme's mum ...)

    Now that both Waugh twins have been dumped, could you tell me the last time that Australia's one-day side was a Waugh-free zone? asks Chris Dempster

    Actually, it was surprisingly recently that Australia played an ODI without either Waugh twin. It was last year at Melbourne - January 21, 2001 to be exact - when Australia (captained by Adam Gilchrist) trounced Zimbabwe by eight wickets, mainly thanks to Darren Lehmann's 92 not out. Steve Waugh was nursing an injury, and Mark Waugh was rested under Australia's sometimes-controversial rotation system. The only other time Australia had been Waughless in their previous 331 ODIs was against New Zealand at Sydney in 1997-98. The recently announced Australian squad for the one-dayers in South Africa was the first one for 16 years that didn't include either of the twins - since before Steve's Test debut in 1985-86, when he was 20.

    Is it recorded who started overarm bowling? asks Ken Myhill

    In cricket's early days all bowling was underarm, and then some people tried bowling roundarm. This was legalised in 1828 the Law allowed the bowler's hand to be level with his elbow and remained the norm for next 30 years or so. Eventually some pioneers tried bowling in the fashion we know today. In 1862 a Surrey player called Edgar Willsher was no-balled for having his hand higher than his shoulder bowling overarm in a match against an England XI at The Oval. Willsher left the field and play was suspended and resumed the next day with a new umpire. The Laws were changed to allow full overarm bowling in 1864.

    Who was the last person to captain his side on debut? asks Charles Sanderson

    Strictly speaking the answer is Naimur Rahman, who captained Bangladesh in their inaugural Test against India at Dhaka in 2000-01. He also took 6 for 132 in India's first-innings total of 427. Before him, the last player to captain his country in his first Test was Lee Germon, playing for New Zealand against India at Bangalore in 1995-96. Germon, who also kept wicket, led New Zealand in each of his 12 Tests.

    What is the gully fielder called that? asks Brinsley Jenkins

    Gully is a fielding position just behind square alongside the slips - and a horrible place to field unless you're a specialist, as the ball comes very quickly to you, often curving away with the spin or swing. According to John Eddowes's The Language of Cricket (1997) the word comes from the French "goulet", meaning a channel, or the neck of a bottle. The usage seems to stem from the idea that there was a gully, or channel, between point and the slips.

    Was Ivo Bligh, the England captain who regained the original Ashes, any relation of William Bligh, the ex-captain of the Bounty? asks Ross Campbell

    If there was a relationship between the two - and I can't find any mention of one - it must have been distant. The Honourable Ivo Bligh, who captained England in Australia in 1882-83, and famously regained "The Ashes of English Cricket" which had been surrendered at The Oval in 1882, later became the eighth Earl of Darnley, and his family lived in Kent for generations. William Bligh, the man who famously provoked the Mutiny on the HMS Bounty, was born in Plymouth - his father was a Customs and Excise officer - and went to sea at 15, which would have been an unusual departure for someone with aristocratic connections at that time.

    What is Raquel Welch's connection with cricket? asks Thomas Adams from New York

    The only connection that I'm aware of is that Raquel Welch's son, Damon, married Rebecca Trueman, the daughter of the former England fast bowler Fiery Fred, in secret in Los Angeles in June 1990. The marriage was blessed at a church service in England the following year, when Fred apparently felt that "the dynamic curvaceous sex symbol of the late 1960s" (as Halliwell's Filmgoers' Companion describes Miss Welch) did her best to outshine his daughter. Sadly, the marriage didn't last.

  • If you have a question, e-mail it to steven.lynch@wisden.com. We can't normally enter into individual correspondence, but a selection of questions and answers will be published here each week

    More Ask Steven columns
    March 3, 2002
    February 24, 2002
    February 17, 2002
    February 2, 2002
    January 2002
    November 2001
    October 2001

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