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The lights that failed
Wisden CricInfo staff - May 1, 2002

Sunday, May 5, 2002

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

  • The youngest Test cricketer to die
  • The origins of the Busta Cup
  • Three Sri Lankan openers from the same family
  • Five wickets in a one-day innings
  • Reggie Spooner's resting place
  • England's highest score against Sri Lanka

    It's a sad subject but I wondered if Ben Hollioake was the youngest Test cricketer to die? asks David Kendix

    Someone asked a question like this soon after Trevor Madondo of Zimbabwe died last year. The holder of this sad record is actually the brilliant Australian batsman Archie Jackson, who was only 23 years 164 days old when he died of tuberculosis on the day England regained the Ashes in the 1932-33 Bodyline series. Four years previously Jackson had marked his Test debut with a scintillating 164 at Adelaide. Trevor Madondo, who succumbed to malaria last June, was 24 years 201 days old when he died, 43 days older than Cyril Christiani - another malaria victim - who kept wicket for West Indies in all four Tests of England's 1934-35 tour. Ben Hollioake was only 24 years 132 days old when he died - so he is the second-youngest of all, and the youngest Englishman. That unwanted record was previously held by Monty Bowden, who became England's youngest captain when he led England in a Test against South Africa in 1888-89. Three years later Bowden died, aged 26 years 110 days, after a heavy fall in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). An armed guard stood guard over his body to prevent lions from snatching it, and Bowden was buried a few days later in a makeshift coffin made out of whisky crates.

    Is the Busta Cup named after Alexander Bustamente, the Jamaican politician of the 1950s (I believe Len Hutton once referred to him, unfavourably, in a book)? asks Christopher Allan

    I think the reason it's called the Busta Cup is more commercial than that: Busta is the name of a brand of soft drink in the Caribbean, and they sponsor the West Indies' domestic competition. Busta's parent company is in Trinidad, and they were the first to use plastic bottles for drinks out there. Alexander Bustamente (1884-1967) was Jamaica's prime minister from 1962, when they gained independence from Britain, until he retired in 1967. There was an incident on England's 1953-54 tour of West Indies, when Len Hutton, the captain, shook hands with him then hurried to the dressing-room - but Mr Bustamente had been hoping for a photograph, and kicked up a fuss about Hutton's "rudeness". Hutton wrote, in Just My Story (1956): "My hands were wet with sweat, perspiration coursed down my face, and my shirt was sticking to my body. I felt I was hardly in a fit state for formal presentation ... [later] I sought him out in the pavilion and said that if I had caused any offence in any way I was profoundly sorry. He accepted my remarks, saying, however, that mine was `hardly the conduct of an English gentleman!'. I made no retort to that and leave readers to judge the whole of this `incident' for themselves."

    Which family has had three members who all opened for Sri Lanka? asks Mahenda de Silva

    Confining the answer to Tests and one-day internationals, the answer is the Wettimuny family. Sidath (born 1956) has the best record - he scored 1221 runs in 23 Tests, including Sri Lanka's first Test century, 157 against Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1981-82, and one of their best-remembered innings, 190 in 642 minutes against England at Lord's in 1984. In New Zealand in 1982-83 Sidath opened the batting with his brother Mithra (b 1951), only the third time in Test history that brothers had opened (after EM and GF Grace in 1880, and Hanif and Sadiq Mohammad in 1969-70). Mithra made only two Test appearances. Sunil Wettimuny (b 1949) opened for Sri Lanka in one-day internationals before they achieved full Test status. He is probably best remembered for retiring hurt at The Oval in 1975, after being hit on the foot by a Jeff Thomson special during the first World Cup.

    Who was the first bowler to take five (and six and seven and eight) wickets in a one-day international innings? asks Robert Dale

    The first one-day five-for came on the first day of the first World Cup. The bowler was Dennis Lillee, who took 5 for 34 against Pakistan at Headingley as Australia swept to a 73-run victory. Another Australian claimed the first six-wicket haul in the same tournament, also at Headingley: Gary Gilmour, with 6 for 14 in the semi-final against England. That performance remains top of the Wisden 100 for one-day internationals. Headingley also produced the first seven-wicket haul in ODIs, this time against Australia. The bowler was Winston Davis, who grabbed 7 for 37 for West Indies in the 1983 World Cup. And last December Chaminda Vaas became the first to take eight wickets in an ODI innings, taking 8 for 19 as Zimbabwe were bundled out for 38 (another ODI record) at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

    The England batsman Reggie Spooner died in a Lincoln nursing-home in 1961, but he isn't buried in the vicinity. Do you know where his grave is? asks Kevin Butler

    I didn't know, so asked David Frith, the former editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly, who has done a lot of research on cricketers' final resting places. He tells me that Spooner is buried in Woodhall Spa Cemetery, which is about 20 miles south-east of Lincoln. Spooner was a very stylish batsman, who shone as a schoolboy and went on to score over 13,000 runs in a first-class career that spanned 24 years. Business and injuries meant that he never toured Australia, but he did play 10 Tests, averaging 32.06, including an innings of 119 against South Africa at Lord's in 1912. He also played rugby union for England, against Wales in 1902-03.

    Has any England player scored a Test double-century against Sri Lanka? asks Ainsley Bond

    No, the highest Test score for England v Sri Lanka is Graham Gooch's 174 at Lord's in 1991. In all there have been nine centuries for England v Sri Lanka in Tests - all by different players. Sri Lanka have managed only eight centuries against England, but that includes two double-centuries - Sanath Jayasuriya's 213 at The Oval in 1998, and Marvan Atapattu's 201 not out at Galle in 2000-01.

  • 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
    April 24, 2002
    March 24, 2002
    March 17, 2002

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