How Well Do You Know County Cricket?

How well do you know county cricket? We’ll see…

Put that thermos down, this is hard. Really hard. This is not one of your ‘Who won the one-day cup in 2010?’ quizzes, and there’ll be none of that ‘Who was the quickest to 1,000 runs in 2004?’ type stuff here. It’s early April, it’s green, it’s nibbling and you’re batting with a twig – that’s what this quiz is.

You might think you know county cricket, you might even have bought a copy of The Cricketers’ Who’s Who, but this is the acid test. If you can’t separate your Robert Rollins from your Adrian Rollins, just by the way they wear their jumper, you may as well walk away now.

This is the biggie: how well do you really know county cricket? Make sure you show off to your mates… if you don’t fail, that is.

1. Which of these players is former Warwickshire spinner Jamie Spires?

   Don’t get your Spires crossed.

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3

   CorrectWrong

   Jamie Spires is No.1!

   The Warwickshire man, now involved with the Complete Cricket Academy in Warwickshire, can count Andrew Strauss as the first of his 20 first-class wickets.

2. In 2001, which of these guys pulled off four direct-hit run-outs in one game?

   Three of them came in three balls… and it was on TV. “I don’t think we’ll ever see anything like that again,” said commentator Michael Holding, so you must have been paying attention…

   • Chris Taylor
   • James Benning
   • Matthew Fleming

   CorrectWrong

   It’s Matthew Fleming!

   He’s a distant relative of the man behind Bond, Mr Ian Fleming, of course it was him!

3. Curtley Ambrose played county cricket. But at which of these grounds did he do his thing?

   Yeah, that’s right, identify the ground from the small picture.

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3

   CorrectWrong

   No.2 is Wantage Road!

   Northants! Of course it was Northants! And of course that’s their ground!

4. Simple one this… in a way. Which of these is the most recent picture of Phil Mustard?

   You wonder whether the man himself would even know…

   • French Mustard
   • English Mustard
   • Wholegrain Mustard

   CorrectWrong

   It’s English Mustard!

   Or Phil Mustard from 2008, as he’s better known. Wholegrain Mustard is from 2005 and French Mustard from 2006.

5. Which of these men is famous for taking a screamer at Lord’s in the 1971 Gillette Cup final?

   This, unlike the catch, is an absolute gimme…

   • Jack Bond
   • Jack Birkenshaw
   • Jack Bannister

   CorrectWrong

   It’s Jack Bond!

   Bond led Lancashire to a 20-run victory after catching Asif Iqbal off the bowling off Jack Simmons. Proper screamer.

6. One of these players has the best figures in domestic T20 cricket in England? Which is it?

   It was 6-5, by the way. Are these getting easier?

   • Alex Loudon
   • Arul Suppiah
   • Jamie Dalrymple

   CorrectWrong

   It’s Arul Suppiah!

   The Malaysian-born allrounder snared 6-5 for Somerset against Glamorgan in 2011. Remember it like it was yesterday.

7. Which of these lads is former Derbyshire batsman Chris Bassano?

   He was an absolute champ on International Cricket Captain was Bassano. You could build your team around him.

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3

   CorrectWrong

   No.3 is Chris Bassano!

   Don’t let Matthew Wood (Somerset) and Steve Stubbings (also Derbyshire) fool you, Bassano’s our man. He’s now a fly fisherman, so there’s nice.

8. Which of these former England players took a hat-trick with his first three wickets in first-class cricket?

   Banger, Chalky or Digger?

   • Marcus Trescothick
   • Craig White
   • Peter Martin

   CorrectWrong

   It was Marcus Trescothick!

   Weird, eh? It was 1995 and, on debut, he took 4-35 for Somerset against the Young Australians. They remain his best first-class figures.

9. Which of these pictures is from the most recent (and final-ever) Benson & Hedges Cup final?

   You must have the hang of this by now.

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3

   CorrectWrong

   It’s No.3 and Ian Bell and his champagne, from 2002!

   Bell was voted Man of the Match for his efforts in ’02, the late Ben Hollioake received the same honour in 2001 and the other picture is Mark Alleyne, the winning captain in 2000.

10. One of these pictures features current first-class umpire Steve O’Shaughnessy. Which is it?

    Click on his face.

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3

    CorrectWrong

    No.3 is our man! It’s the chap pacing singularly, silently and solemnly: the O’Shaughnessy way.

    As they always say, if you can’t identify O’Shaughnessy at 30 paces you’re not a real cricket fan.

How Well Do You Know County Cricket?