Q & A / Lumbago catches batsman out

Q. I read in a report on the fourth Test that Chanderpaul took 'a full two minutes' to reach the pavilion having been dismissed. I have always been told that if the next batsman was not at the crease within two minutes, the whole batting side would be 'timed out' and their innings would end. Am I wrong? If not, has it ever happened?

A. Law 31 states that the incoming batsman shall be out 'timed out' if he wilfully takes more than two minutes to step on the field of play after a wicket falls. In this instance the umpire would have had to be satisfied that the delay was wilful, and this is unlikely as the West Indies were not playing for time. It would also have been necessary for one of the England players to have appealed, which would have been regarded as unsporting.

In the final innings of Somerset v Sussex at Taunton in 1919, the scores were level when Sussex lost their ninth wicket. The remaining batsman was crippled with lumbago and had not intended to take any further part, but the Somerset secretary sportingly invited him to bat. Taking some time he was padded up and helped to the field when a Somerset player appealed to the umpire that two minutes had been exceeded. The umpire gave him out and the match was declared a tie. The MCC committee later upheld the umpire's decision, though there was over a day of play remaining and the delay hardly constituted a refusal of the batting side to continue to play. - Kenneth B Stone, Bexhill

Q. Walsall have gained more points away than at home this season, and are teams that do so ever successful in those seasons?

A. At the time of writing, Shrewsbury Town have just secured the Third Division championship with 41 away points and 37 points gained at home, and one game remaining. - P T Evans, Hertfordshire

Q. Those Test batsmen who have held the record for the highest individual score all did so at the start of their international careers. How is it that none of them has gone on to better their record with further experience?

A. 'A little learning is a dangerous thing' - Alexander Pope, 1711. - David Balcombe, Northwood, Middlesex

Q. This season a full team of ex- Bournemouth players could be selected from the staff of Premiership clubs. Has any lower division club ever been able to make such a claim before?

A. Leeds certainly are not lower division - neither were Spurs (Q & A 1 May), but the team of 'rejects' which Wilkinson and his predecessors discarded is a sorry sight for Leeds fans:

David Seaman (Arsenal), Denis Irwin (Manchester United), Andy Linighan (Arsenal), Ian Snodin (Everton), Terry Phelan (Man City), David Rocastle (Manchester City), David Batty (Blackburn Rovers), John Sheridan (Sheffield Wednesday), Scott Sellars (Newcastle United), Lee Chapman (West Ham), Eric Cantona (Manchester United).

The manager would be Brian Clough, brought out of retirement, and passing on his knowledge to his successor, Joe Jordan (Stoke City). Joe could fill in for Cantona during periods of suspension. - Dan Germain, Cambridge

Q. Why, when attendances at football and rugby league matches are reported, are the figures for cricket and rugby union games almost never quoted?

A. One answer that your correspondents do not seem to have provided so far is that not giving out attendance figures, and understating them for tax purposes, could give clubs a valuable source of hidden income. Which could then be used to pay players for upholding the fine amateur traditions of the game or some other useful purpose. - Anon, Gwynedd

ANSWERS PLEASE

Q. Sometime in the 1970s, Hearts were playing Rangers and spent most of the 90 minutes in their own penalty area. They had one breakaway when Tommy Murray went on a solo run down the left, and in order to wait for support he sat on the ball. When Donald Ford arrived in the penalty area, Tommy Murray stood up and crossed the ball, which was headed into the net by Ford for a 1-0 win. Have there been any other similar incidents? - Chris White, Swindon

Q. It is said that having played his last game for Liverpool before going to Juventus Rush swore at the referee as he left the field, and was sent off. However, Rush never served a ban for it either here or in Italy. Coincidentally, the referee in question was not used again in top League games. True or false? - Tony Attwood, Kettering

Q. Graham Gooch's description of himself as a 'hopeless tosser' and Mike Atherton's failure to win more than one toss in the West Indies prompt the question: is there any statistical correlation between winning the toss at cricket and subsequently winning the match? - Tony Kelly, Cambridge

Q. Why is a cricket ball red? - V M Roffe, Ermington, South Devon

Q. Which League football team has had the most promotions/demotions: in the past 10 years; in the past 20 years; since the Second World War? - Bob Bullock, Swansea

Q. Am I right in thinking that there was a one-armed German international footballer in the early Fifties? Or have I been reading too much of 'Roy of the Rovers'? - Martin Easterbrook, Northampton