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Which was the shortest completed Test match in cricket history?

According to Guinness World Records, the shortest Test match ever was the first Test between England and Australia at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in June, 1926, in which there were just 50 minutes play and 17.2 overs bowled. That match was, of course, drawn, but the shortest completed Test match was the fifth, and final, Test between Australia and South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in February, 1932. Ironically, for a so-called ‘timeless’ match, it was all over in five hours and 53 minutes, albeit spread over three days, with a rest day in between, and a total of 109.2 overs.

On slow, easy and apparently harmless pitch, South Africa won the toss and elected to bat. They had, however, reckoned with the ability of Australian leg-spinner Herbert ‘Dainty’ Ironmonger to extract turn from the most innocuous of wickets. On Friday, February 12 – a day on which all twenty first-innings wickets fell – South Africa were skittled out for just 36, with Ironmonger taking five wickets for just six runs off his 7.2 overs. Australia, too, struggled to 153 all out, such that, at the close of play on the first day, South Africa were already 5-0 in their second innings.

The second day, Saturday, February 13, was washed out as was Sunday, February 14, which was a shceduled rest day in any case, so play did not resume until after lunch on the third day, Monday, February 15. When it did, ‘Dainty’ carried on where he had left off, taking another six wickets for 18 runs – and record match figures of 22.5-12-24-11 – and reducing South Africa to 45 all out in their second innings. Australia won the match by an innings and 72 runs and the five-match series 5-0.

What’s the largest football stadium in the world, by capacity?

The largest football stadium in the world, by capacity, is the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, a.k.a. the May Day Stadium, situated on Rungra Island in the middle of the Taedong River, which flows through Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea. Built between 1986 and 1988 and, as the name suggests, opened on May 1, 1989, under Kim Il-sung, founder of North Korea, the stadium served as the venue for largest gymnastic display in the world, known as the Arirang Mass Games, until 2013.

However, that event was cancelled by current leader, Kim Jong-un, apparently in favour of competitive sport. Indeed, Kim Jong-un spoke of remodelling the May Day Stadium ‘into a stadium befitting the appearance of the highly civilised nation’ and, after substantial restoration, it supposedly became the flagship stadium for football and athletics in North Korea. Nevertheless, the Arirang Mass Games returned, after a five-year hiatus, in 2018 and North Korean national football team still plays its home games at the much older, and smaller, Kim Il-sung Stadium, which is nearby.

The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium covers an area of over 50 acres, making it slightly larger than Grand Central Station, and has an unofficial seating capacity of 150,000, although the official seating capacity is often quoted as 114,000. Either way, the May Day Stadium is substantially larger than the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, which has a seating capacity just shy of 100,000.

Why is West Bromwich Albion nicknamed ‘The Baggies’?

West Bromwich Albion Football Club was founded as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878 – a century + before today’s world of social media and brand new casino sites – before being renamed two years later, and for much of its existence was ‘officially’ nicknamed ‘The Throstles’. However, ‘The Baggies’ nickname has been in use, unofficially and officially, for almost as long and various theories, some more plausible than others, exist for its origin.

One of the most common is the outsize – that is, ‘baggy’ – shorts worn by the players around the time West Bromwich Albion won the Football League for the first time in 1919/20, but baggy, knee-length ‘knickerbockers’ or ‘knickers’ pre-dated the nickname by many years. I must say, I often sport the same when I’m playing on casinoclic casino en ligne . Another stems from the protective moleskin trousers traditionally worn, often in low-slung fashion, with a belt rather than braces, by local ironworkers. Legend has it that, faced with legions of similarly-attired Albion supporters, ‘The Baggies’ nickname was coined by rival Aston Villa fans even before the turn of the twentieth century.

Yet another involves the gatekeepers at The Hawthorns, which has been home to West Bromwich Albion since 1900. On match days, they collected the takings in large cloth bags and carried it, under police escort, to an office beneath the grandstand, opposite the halfway line. This ritual soon prompted the chant ‘Here come the bag men!’ and, hence, ‘Here come the Baggies!’ Other theories include sponsorship by a local sports shop, which supplied kit bags, and a derogatory remark once made about thickset defender Amos Adams, but there appears to be no definitive answer.

Sport: A Welcome Distraction

We live in strange and troubling times where we can take nothing for granted. For months on end, not only did we have to deal with unnerving unknowns, but also our most beloved of sports were put on ice. It led to many twiddling their thumbs and looking for hobbies at home. Exercise, online fun such as casino usa, movies – we were all scrambling for ideas. Thankfully now, although crowds are still not allowed at sporting events, the sports themselves are back with a bang, and if you’re anything like me you appreciate it more than ever before. As the saying goes ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone’.

In the UK the very last major sporting event to be held was the prestigious Cheltenham Festival. Racing crowds into the hundreds of thousands attended the festival (and were later criticised for doing so), but directly following this sport was all but shut down in the country for months on end. Disappointingly this snuffed out the prospect of the jewel in the crown of racing, The Grand National for one of the first times in its 181 year history. Also the world of elite athletics was put on hold, as the Olympics in Japan was postponed for a year. The Premier League season was also put on hold for a period of time, as were numerous boxing world title fights.

Thankfully the Premier League season was later completed (and the next season is running like clockdown) and some top boxing matches have been taking place ‘without’ crowds (often in Barry Hearns back yard), so we’ve turned a corner. Even as another month long lockdown begins in the country today, this time around we won’t be losing sport. We’re no longer confined to the aforementioned perpetual loose end, or even online excitement such as fronlinecasino. We instead have competitive sport back and that means a lot to people. In fact, much more than they may have ever realised.

 

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