Cricket history: Earthquake during a match & stranger things on England's past tours of India

The Lahore ‘Test’ of 1937/38 was hit by earthquake. As the pavilion clock fell with a crash, the crowd made a dash for the safest nearby place – the ground. (Representational image: Jack Birns/Google Arts and Culture via Wikimedia Commons)

We have chronicled the most singular experiences of Indian cricketers on tours of England, but what about the other way? Incidents have taken place in India as well…

A historic first

The first five places to host Test cricket – England, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean, and New Zealand – were all predominantly Christian, and the rest days invariably fell on Sunday, the Day of the Sabbath. The Bombay Test of 1933/34 was the first to witness play on a Sunday in nearly 57 years of Test cricket. The other two Test matches of the series, at Calcutta and Madras, followed suit.

Tectonic cricket

Lionel Tennyson’s English team played five matches against all-India sides in 1937/38, but for some reason, these did not get official Test match status. The Lahore ‘Test’ was hit by earthquake. As the pavilion clock fell on the ground with a crash, the crowd made a dash for the safest nearby place – the ground.

Double attack

The Commonwealth XI that toured India, Pakistan, and Ceylon in 1949/50, included the legendary Jim Laker, still in the early days of his Test career. As he came to bowl against the Raja of Jath’s XI in Poona, Laker spotted a rat “almost as large as a terrier” on the pitch. Before he could do anything, a kite swooped and flew away, the rat clutched in its talons. Laker was so confounded that his next ball bounced twice and went for four.

The ancestors pay a visit… or two

A monkey showed up at mid-wicket when England were playing a tour match against Maharashtra at Poona (again!) in 1951/52. The fans easily identified Jaico, a local favourite. Curiously, when England toured in 2012/13, another monkey showed up when they were playing Haryana and in Ahmedabad. These non-human spectators were probably not related.

Unusual rest days

During the fifth Test match on the same 1951/52 tour, England finished the first day of the Madras Test match on 224-5. By the time the cricketers left the ground, news of King George VI succumbing to coronary thrombosis had arrived. The next day was immediately rescheduled as the rest day. This was also the first Test match India won.

The Jubilee Test match of 1979/80 at Bombay also had the rest day scheduled on the second day – but that was well in advance, due to a solar eclipse.

Cricket’s martyr

In 1961/62, India beat England by 128 runs at Madras to win their first Test series against England. The euphoria got to 56-year-old Srivijay Raghavan of Vellore: he had a heart attack in the stands and died on his way to the hospital.

A near-Test cap

Following a string of illnesses, England were down to 10 men on the eve of the Bombay Test of 1964/65. They needed a British citizen in the XI, and the name of Henry Blofeld, who was covering the tour for The Guardian, was casually suggested. He never got the cap, for Micky Stewart walked out of the hospital in the morning and got his name added in the team sheet, only to fall ill again and return to the hospital and straight back home. England played with 10 men; India lent Kripal Singh as a substitute fielder.

More than a handful

When the diminutive Gundappa Vishwanath got a hundred in 1972/73, a very tall Tony Greig lifted him in his arms, cradled him like a baby, and sung a lullaby, bringing the crowd to their feet. Five-foot-four Viswanath plotted with five-foot-five Sunil Gavaskar: they tried their best to ‘avenge’ the act, but six-foot-five Greig turned out to be too much.

“I am very sorry”

Umpire M.V. Nagendra gave Mike Brearley a poor decision in the Bangalore Test of 1976/77, but it was a subsequent conversation that made it stand out. Nagendra approached Brearley, who was having a quiet lunch, with “Mr Brearley, I am very sorry. I knew it was not out, but I felt my finger going up and I just couldn’t stop it.” Brearley’s response remains undocumented.

Double assassination

England went ahead with the 1984/85 tour despite the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31. On November 26, the British deputy high commissioner in Bombay hosted the English cricketers for dinner. He was shot dead next day, about half a mile away from the team hotel. The England team stayed put.

The most bizarre excuses

England lost the first Test match of the 1992/93 tour due to extremely questionable team selection and sublime cricket from India. Chair of selectors Ted Dexter responded by blaming the pollution in Calcutta. Kamal Nath, then forest and environment minister, immediately assured that he would “commission a report into the effect of pollution levels upon the trajectories of India’s spinners”.

India duly swept the series 3-0. Dexter blamed the facial hair of the English cricketers for their defeat. The board also criticised tour manager Bob Bennett for attending a press conference in T-shirt and shorts and, for good measure, the Indian Airlines service. “At least we now know that we didn’t lose because we played terribly,” said one English cricketer.

The aftermath of 26/11

India won the fifth ODI in 2008/09, on November 26 at Cuttack. Upon their return to the hotel, the cricketers found out about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The remaining two matches were called off and England flew back home. However, they returned to play the two Test matches, which were moved from Mumbai and Ahmedabad to Chennai and Mohali.

To bee or not to bee?

A swarm of bees invaded a game between India A and England Lions at Thiruvananthapuram in 2018/19, forcing even India A coach Rahul Dravid to abandon his calm demeanour and sprint for safety.

Bonus entry: Vengeance

The British cast of Lagaan challenged the Indian unit for a real cricket match on the sets of the movie. The match, played on March 26, 2000, turned out to be anticlimactic. The British won easily, for several of them were serious cricketers. One amusing story is of Aditya Lakhia (Kachra in the movie), who played for the British, who were a man short: the Indians kept calling him a traitor.