Strange but true!

Jim Laker's first wicket in a first-class match was caught at short-leg by a fielder who could not see the ball. Playing for Surrey against the Combined Services at Kinston upon Thames in 1946, Alf Gover was still putting his sweater on and had it covering his head when the ball was edged between his thighs and lodged there!

During school cricket practice at Cowell, South Australia, during the 1967-68 season, Tony Wiseman saw a 3ft 6in poisonous snake slithering up the pitch towards him as the bowler delivered the ball. He allowed the ball to pass as he left his crease to kill the snake with his bat. Surprised not to hear an appeal for a stumping, he turned round to find that the wicket-keeper had vanished.

The highest number of runs scored from a single hit is 286. when a touring team from Bunbury in Western Australia, the opening ball of the match was hit into 'a three-pronged branch of a tall Jarrah tree'. Although the home side claimed a 'lost ball', the umpire ruled that it could not be lost because it could be seen. With the Victorian batsmen continuing to run, the Bunbury players sent for an axe to cut down the tree. None could be found. Eventually someone produced a rifle and, after numerous unsuccessful attempts, the ball was shot down. The Victorians 'stood' on their score of 286 and went on to win the match.