Category: Cricket

At the time of writing, former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon “Baz” McCullum, has recently made headlines again. On September 3, 2024, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that McCullum would officially be taking over as head coach of the England men’s white-ball or, in other words, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 (T20), teams, replacing the previous incumbent Matthew Mott. Mott was originally appointed as white-ball coach in May 2022, at the same time McCullum assumed red-ball duties, but failed to improve England’s record, in either format, and was dismissed in late July 2024.

McCullum, on the other hand, has revitalised the England Test team with his devil-may-care style of cricket, a.k.a. “Bazball”. He won his first series in charge, against his home country in June 2022, 3-0 and has since won four more and drawn three, including a remarkable comeback against Australia in The Ashes in 2023, having lost the first two Tests by narrow margins.

Of course, Test cricket has not been altogether plain sailing for McCullum or Ben Stokes, who has been England captian throughout his tenure as red-ball coach. A narrow victory against India in Hyderabad in January was followed by four successive defeats and a first, chastening series loss for the pair. Nevertheless, a Test record of 19 wins out of 28, including 15 out of 18 at home, speaks for itself, particularly in view of the fact that England had won just once in 17 matches before McCullum took charge.

For the uninitiated, “The Hundred” is an annual, 100-ball cricket tournament run by and, until recently, funded by, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It is a fairly recent addition to the cricketing calendar, having first been staged in 2021, and involves eight, purpose-built franchises, based at major venues around the country. Competition, for both men’s and women’s teams, takes place over a five-week period during the school summer holidays, with matches held at the same venue on the same day.

Each team plays eight matches, four at home and four away, making a total of 32 matches, in the league stage of the tournament. The top three teams in the league progress to “Finals Day”, with the team that finishes top automatically reaching the final and the teams that finish second and third playing off in the “Eliminator” for the remaining final place. At the time of writing the reigning champions are and London Spirit, who beat Welsh Fire by four wickets, albeit with just two balls to spare, to win their inaugural women’s title at Lord’s on August 18, 2024, and Oval Invincibles, who retained their men’s title with 17-run victory over Southern Brave later the same day.

The Hundred format was intended to create a faster, more exciting form of cricket, which is more attractive to a younger, more diverse audience than the traditional Test, One Day International (ODI) or Twenty20 (T20) formats. Granted that 41% of the 540,000 tickets sold in 2024 were bought by families, and 30% by newcomers to cricket, few could argue that it has been successful in achieving that aim.

Of course, under normal circumstances, the maximum number of runs that a bowler can concede off a single, legitimate delivery is six. However, the Laws of Cricket, not to mention a variety of abnormal, at times bizarre, circumstances, dictate that the maximum number can be more, every so often many more, than six.

For example, if the ball strikes a protective helmet belonging to the fielding side, a penalty of five runs is awarded to the batting side, while any runs completed, or in progress, if the batters have already crossed at the moment of impact, also count against the bowler. Likewise, a six off a no-ball counts as seven runs and four runs plus four overthrows, if the ball crosses the boundary at the result of misfielding, counts as eight.

The record for number of runs conceded off a single delivery in any form of top level, competitive cricket is, in fact, 20. That unenviable feat was achieved by Hobart Hurricanes’ seamer Clint McKay against Melbourne Stars in a Big Bash League match at Bellerive Oval on January 9, 2012. In pursuit of a Stars’ total of 203/3 over their 20 overs, at a run rate of 10/15, Hurricanes were 0-1 after just two balls when heavy-hitting left-hander Travis Birt came to the crease.

True to form, in the fifth over, with rain clouds looming, Birt set about McKay with gusto. The fourth ball of the over was the first of three consecutive sixes, the last two of which came off no balls, such that the total was effectively 6 + 7 + 7 = 20 off a single delivery. Ironically, Birt played on next ball, having made 51 off 23 balls, and Hobart subsequently collapsed to 184 for 9, thereby losing by 19 runs.

The short answer is no. Law 17.6 of the Laws of Cricket, laid down by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) states, “A bowler shall be allowed to change ends as often as desired, provided he/she does not bowl two overs consecutively, nor bowl parts of each of two consecutive overs, in the same innings.” In other words, a bowler cannot, legally, cannot complete one over from one end and immediately start another from the other end.

Nevertheless, the nuances of cricket, or, more specifically, the Follow-on Law, in this case, mean that it is possible to bowl two consecutive overs, albeit in two different innings. In a two-innings, five-day match, if the side batting first leads by 200 or more runs the team batting second can be invited to bat again, immediately, rather than taking alternate innings as is customary.

That was, in fact, the case on the morning of August 15, 1982, the fourth day of the second Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s, London. In their first innings, Pakistan scored 428 for 8 declared and, when Pakistani captain Imran Khan trapped Robin Jackman lbw for a duck off the last ball of the first over, England were reduced to 227 all out, 201 runs behind. Khan took up the option to make England bat again and, when play resumed, bowled the first over of the second innings, thereby bowling two consecutive overs in the same match. For the record, England fared little better in the second innings, being dismissed for 276; Mohsin Khan and Javed Miandad needed just 13.1 overs to score the 77 runs required for victory on the final day, giving Pakistan victory by 10 wickets.