The Shorter Wisden 2013 (35 page)

Actor Jason Alexander, best known for playing George in
Seinfeld
, posted a thousand-word apology after repeatedly calling cricket “a gay sport” on an
American chat show. Some of his followers on Twitter had told him they were both gay and offended. There were no reports of complaints from cricketers.

Sachin Tendulkar has been sworn in as a member of the Indian upper house, the Rajya Sabha. “It has been my dream to be remembered as someone who worked for all sports
instead of just cricket statistics,” he said after taking the oath. However, he warned that, as an active player, he would continue to focus on his own game. Tendulkar was chosen as one of
the 12 members of the parliament the president is allowed to nominate, although some critics claimed that a sportsman did not fulfil the criterion of “special knowledge or practical
experience in… literature, science, art and social service” specified for selection under the constitution.

Lot 1706, W15 DEN, was sold for £1,500, almost four times its reserve price of £400, at the regular British auction of personalised car registrations. The buyer
would also have been liable for a further £524 in extra fees and tax.

Barrington were bowled out for six by Huish & Langport in Somerset League Division Two. They had safely reached three for nought, but eight batsmen fell for ducks in reply
to their opponents’ 195 for seven. Huish & Langport captain Dominic Shillabeer took seven for two.

In Division Four of the Huntingdonshire League, Ramsey Third XI were bowled out for 12 by Yaxley Second XI. There were six ducks and a top score of three in reply to a Yaxley
total of 105. “It’s not as though we had a bad team out either,” Ramsey player Richard Clarke said. “We had three experienced second-team cricketers in the side, but they
were all given out lbw, which was crucial.”

An Under-13 match between Scarborough and Bridlington was halted when a seagull stole one of the bails. The Scarborough players were coming out to field when the bird swooped on
its prize, which was lying just behind the stumps. Umpire Barry Rudd tried to chase the bird but it flew off. Scarborough coach John Green said: “Our lads must have been traumatised by what
they’d seen as we lost the game.”

Three nine-year-old boys were injured when a tree fell on them on a windy day as they waited to use the nets at Spencer CC in south-west London. The senior team were playing
against Cheam when the incident happened. Cricketers and spectators freed the boys before an air ambulance arrived. The boys were named as Lewis Gaston, Aidan Oakley and George Roberts.

Elton and Edgworth of the Bolton Association played each other at first- and second-team level on Sunday, and both games were tied. In each case, the chasing team needed two off
the last ball, but could manage only a single.

Heywood fast bowler Humza Naeem had figures of 5–3–9–8 in an Under-18 match against Oldham, who were all out for 15. Heywood won by 127 runs.

Rossington Main CC were banned from the South Yorkshire Senior League until the end of 2013 because players had abused league officials on Twitter.

An animal-rights group has lodged a legal complaint against the Indian Test-player-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu after he arrived at a court hearing on an elephant.

Left-arm pace bowler Gareth Fisher had an analysis of 4–1– 4–9 for Colchester & East Essex in the Essex Premier League, news that might have delighted the
former England left-armer John Lever – had his son James not been playing for the opposition. The young Lever was one of seven Woodford Wells batsmen out for nought in a total of 24 after
they had reached ten without loss in the first over. Fisher’s figures, which included four in four balls, and six lbws, beat the 45-year-old club record of nine for five, held by the former
Ipswich footballer Ted Phillips. Almost the only spectator in 2012 was Ray Hollingsworth, who was operating the scoreboard when Phillips achieved his feat in 1967.

Dundrum’s Indian professional Raviraj Patil hit six sixes in an over in the Ulster Shield for Dundrum at Sion Mills. In all, 39 came off the over: three deliveries were
called wides as the bowler, Andy Lucas, tried to stop Patil getting near the ball. The previous day he had scored 53 from 15 deliveries, and team-mates had started goading him into trying for six
sixes. This time he scored 167 off 78. The Sion Mills ground is best known as the scene of West Indies’ humiliation in 1969, when Ireland bowled them out for 25.

England team members could be investigated by HM Revenue and Customs as part of an inquiry into the use of image-rights companies by the players. According to the Companies
House register, 11 of the 13 contracted England players had companies of this kind.

The Club Cricket Conference have asked members for ideas about how to deal with flying cricket balls after Dymchurch CC in Kent became the latest club to be ordered by a local
council to erect high nets – or move.

The record for the longest continuous match has been broken again, this time by Loughborough University staff, who battled atrocious weather for 150 hours 20 minutes. One
substitute fielder was allowed per side. “We had torrential rain and hailstones the size of golf balls but, in true British tradition, we kept calm and carried on,” said organiser Chris
Hughes.

Eleven-year-old Kieran Gray of Maidenhead & Bray’s Under-13s took the first six Taplow wickets in an over – and was then taken off to allow his team-mates to
bowl. His figures thus remained 1–1–0–6. His first five victims were bowled, the last caught at cover. Taplow, 21 all out, lost by 131 runs.

The Worsley Cup quarter-final between East Lancashire and Enfield, supposedly a one-day game, stretched for more than a month owing to continual rain. East Lancashire captain
Ockert Erasmus finally settled the game by 11 runs with a hat-trick on July 12, just when Enfield appeared to be heading for victory, 33 days after the match should have started. This was the 12th
scheduled day and the fifth actual playing day of a match staged on two different grounds – along the way it was switched to Enfield, which was slightly drier. The Warwickshire all-rounder
Keith Barker began the game playing for his home club Enfield and took an early catch but, when it rained after four overs, had to leave – and could not be replaced.

A father and son took five wickets each in an innings for Goonellabah Workers Sports against Southern Cross University at Bexhill, New South Wales. Michael Mansfield, 56, took
the first five wickets for five. He was replaced after his maximum five overs by his 17-year-old son Kody, who claimed the remaining wickets for 16. The university were 51 all out and lost the
30-over match by 29 runs.

A teachers’ union protested when 117 schools in Hambantota postponed exams because of two one-day internationals between Sri Lanka and India being held in the town.

The former Test batsman Dean Jones, 51, dislocated his finger when his golf club hit a tree root in his first tournament since he gained his professional card to compete in the
Australian senior tour. He popped the finger back in and carried on. His caddy was Graeme Hick.

King’s Circle in Mumbai was closed for an hour as bomb disposal units and dogs examined a cricket ball embedded with the dial of a watch which had been left by a tree. It
turned out to be an IPL souvenir.

With the weather so wet that play was obviously impossible, Bournemouth and Oxford decided to settle their British Universities & Colleges quarter-final without either side
travelling. The tie was decided by a long-distance bowl-out, staged in their own home-town indoor schools, and watched by umpires who kept in contact by mobile phone. Bournemouth won.

Liz Hurley and her partner Shane Warne are believed to have bought Donnington Hall, a £6m mansion near Ledbury, Herefordshire. “I think Shane would get a game for
us,” said Jim Sandford, chairman of nearby Eastnor CC.

Rock star Alice Cooper, 65, visited the
Test Match Special
box at Lord’s during the South Africa Test. On being introduced, Geoff Boycott shook hands with
Cooper’s wife.

Officials at Trent Bridge strategically wheeled a sightscreen into position to protect Nick Clegg, the unpopular deputy prime minister, from protesters when he arrived for a
meeting with colleagues.

Lifeboats had to rescue 11 people and a dog after the annual Brambles cricket match in the middle of the Solent. The sandbar pitch, normally exposed for about an hour at the
lowest tides of the year, remained waterlogged because of a strong westerly wind, and the match had to take place with the players, from two rival yacht clubs, at least ankle-deep in the sea. One
boat ran aground, and another had engine trouble on the return journey.

The England fast bowler Graham Dilley, who died of cancer in 2011, aged 52, left nothing in his will once debts and outstanding matters had been settled. Dilley, twice divorced,
had hoped his money would be divided equally between his four sons. One of them, Paul, said: “Money was never part of our relationship. He was a top-class bloke and was there when you needed
him.”

Former England opener John Edrich, 75, said he was cured of cancer by injections of mistletoe extract recommended by Stefan Geider, a doctor near his home in Aberdeenshire.
Edrich was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2000, and five years later appeared close to death. Seven years after that, he was back playing golf three times a week and saying he felt on top of
the world. The plant has been known for decades to have some anti-cancer properties, but researchers say it can have terrible side-effects, and even Dr Geider admits: “It does not work for
everybody. It’s not a miracle cure.”