Family History

• Identical twins Hamish and James Marshall both topped 170 in the same innings of a first-class match in New Zealand’s Plunket Shield in 2009/10. During Northern Districts’ record-busting 726 against Canterbury at Rangiora, all 11 batsmen reached double figures, with Hamish out for 170 and James unbeaten on 178.
• A special cricket match took place in England in 2011 that celebrated an event 18 years previously when three members of a cricket club became fathers within 13 hours of each other. All three sons went to follow in their fathers’ footsteps to play cricket together. A 20-over ‘Dads and Lads’ match was played to note the 18th birthdays of Michael Bodo, John Wigfield and Jack Fuller, whose fathers had all played for the Flitwick cricket club.
• When Zimbabwe re-entered the Test arena in 2011, two of the debutants in its first match in almost six years – against Bangladesh in Harare – were the sons of former first-class cricketers. Craig Ervine’s father, Rory, played three matches for Rhodesia in 1977/78, while Kyle Jarvis’s dad, Malcolm, played in five Tests for Zimbabwe in the early 1990s, including the country’s first.
• Appearing in his first first-class match in his native Zimbabwe in six years, Sean Ervine posted two 150-plus centuries and a 150-run stand with his brother Craig. Playing for Southern Rocks against Mid West Rhinos at Masvingo in 2009/10, Sean scored 208 – his maiden first-class double-century – in the first innings, adding 178 for the fifth wicket with Craig, who hit 81. In the second innings, Sean scored 160 and 368 for the match.
• During a tour of England by the New Zealand women’s team in 1954, an aunt of Kiwi all-rounder James Franklin batted for over five hours to save a Test match at Worcester. Appearing in just her second Test, Joyce Clothier scored an unbeaten 37 at the top of the order off 134 overs faced by the New Zealanders (174/6), who had been set a target of 338 for victory.
• Dan Rixon, the son of former Australian Test wicketkeeper Steve Rixon, took all ten innings wickets in a club match in Scotland in 2011. A wicketkeeper himself, Dan took his record-breaking haul of 10-21 when asked to bowl for the Edinburgh Academicals XI against Gala in the Scottish Cup. In 2008, Rixon had topped the run-scoring charts for Surrey county league side Morrow, hitting 881 runs, with three centuries, at 62.93.
• Following a three-year hiatus, Mali Richards was back in the first-class game in 2009/10, making his debut for his father Viv’s former team, the Leeward Islands. Opening the batting against Trinidad and Tobago in Barbados, Mali made scores of two and six. Prior to his Caribbean first-class debut, Mali had appeared in a dozen matches for Oxford and MCC, the last in 2007.
• When identical twins Mark and Maurits Jonkman represented the Netherlands in the British CB40 competition in 2010, the tournament’s programme mistakenly featured the same photograph for each player. Both are medium-pace bowlers, with Mark making his one-day international debut in 2006 and Maurits playing in his first match the following year.
  

  The Netherlands’ pace-bowling identical twins Mark and Maurits Jonkman

• When Kenya took on the Netherlands in Nairobi in 2009/10, their two debutants were related to other Kenyan one-day international cricketers. Shem Ngoche joined his brother Nehemiah Odhiambo in the team, while fellow newcomer, the unrelated Nelson Odhiambo, is the nephew of Thomas Odoyo, who made his ODI debut in 1995/96.
• South African-born Wellington batsman Craig Cachopa made his first-class debut in 2011/12, losing his wicket in the match against Auckland to his brother Bradley. He became the third brother in the Cachopa family to play first-class cricket after Carl, who made his debut for Auckland in 2004/05.
• A nephew of former England opener Chris Tavaré made his debut in first-class cricket in 2010, opening the batting against his uncle’s former county. Playing for Loughborough MCC University against Kent at Canterbury, Will Tavaré was dismissed for a duck in his first innings. Another of Chris’s nephews played cricket, with Matthew Tavaré appearing for the Gloucestershire Under-14s in 2008.
• At the end of the 1993 Ashes series, both Steve and Mark Waugh commanded a Test career average of 39. After his first 27 Tests, Mark had an average of 39.34, alongside a 39-run bowling average and 39 catches. His highest score with the bat had been 139 not out against the West Indies at St John’s in 1990/91. Steve had played in 58 Tests by that time, averaging 39.44.
• In a first-class career of 648 matches, Ernest Tyldesley achieved 102 centuries. His older brother Johnny made 86 hundreds in 608 matches. Both played for Lancashire and England, both scored in excess of 35,000 runs, and both had a career average in the 40s. Johnny, who made his Test debut in 1898/99, had a top score of 295 not out, while Ernest, who first played for England in 1921, had a best score of 256 not out. Their combined total of 188 centuries and 76,771 runs are both records for a pair of brothers in first-class cricket.
  
• Test wicketkeeper David Bairstow fathered two wicketkeeping sons, one of whom also played for England. In 2011, Jonny Bairstow scored an eye-catching unbeaten 41 on his one-day international debut against India at Cardiff, becoming just the 13th son to follow in the footsteps of his father. David appeared in 21 ODIs, and four Tests, with his other son, Andy, also playing first-class cricket, appearing in three matches for Derbyshire in 1995.
• The one-day international between India and New Zealand at Delhi in 1999/2000 marked a special family moment with the Indian pair of Vinit Gupte and Surinder Sharma standing in the middle. Their fathers – M.Y. Gupte and Har Sharma – had both umpired Test matches, although not together.
• When Ann Browne played at the 1993 World Cup, she became the third member of her family to represent the West Indies. A wicketkeeper, she appeared in 11 one-day internationals, the final one as West Indies captain in 1997/98. Her older sister Louise played in nine Tests and eight ODIs, making her debut as captain in the first Test against Australia at Montego Bay in 1975/76. Their younger sister Beverly also made her Test debut in the same match as Louise, going on to appear in a total of 11 Tests and eight one-dayers.
• Anil Lashkari and his son Neil both played cricket and batted alongside each other in a major ICC tournament. Anil appeared in a dozen first-class matches, mostly for the Indian side Gujarat, in the 1950s, and batted with his son in three matches for the United States, against Israel, Sri Lanka and Wales, in the 1979 ICC Trophy in England.
• When Yorkshire won the County Championship in 2001, two of their squad were brothers-in-law. Darren Lehmann, who married Craig White’s sister Andrea, scored close to 1,500 first-class runs for the county, while his brother-in-law topped 500. Yorkshire-born White – who represented Australia in Under-19 Tests – opposed his brother-in-law during the 2002/03 Ashes, dismissing him in consecutive innings, for five at Adelaide and 42 at Perth. In one-day international cricket, White began and ended his career with matches against Australia, nabbing Lehmann (37) for a third time during his farewell appearance for England in the 2003 World Cup at Port Elizabeth.
• Within his first dozen matches at Test level, the West Indies’ Darren Bravo had scored double the number of centuries as his famous cousin Brian Lara had achieved at the same time. Batting against India at Kolkata in 2011/12, Bravo’s 136 was the West Indies’ 100th Test hundred against India bringing them level with England, which, at the time, also had exactly 100 Test tons against the Indians.

  Bravo’s Test numbers after 12 matches – 941 runs at 47.05 – were identical to those of Lara after his first 12. He said: “I am quite honoured by the fact I am compared with Brian Lara. He is definitely my role model. I play my natural game and look something like Lara, but nevertheless I know that emulating him will be difficult.”

  

  “My mother and Brian are first cousins. My grandfather [mother’s father] is Brian Lara’s mother’s brother.”

  Darren Bravo

  “He will bat and bat and bat. He does not bowl, all he likes to do is bat. He has patterned himself on the great Brian Lara and we all know how Lara liked big hundreds.”

  Darren Bravo’s half-brother, the Test-playing Dwayne Bravo

  

  The batting style of Savion Lara, Brian Lara’s 17-year-old cousin in 2011

• During the Sydney grade competition in 1935/36, three brothers from the Central Cumberland club combined to take all ten wickets in an innings. In a first-grade match against Paddington, Arthur Howell took 4-31, while Norman took 4-43 and Bill 2-17. Identical twins David and Dennis Hourn shared all ten wickets in two matches for Waverley, a unique performance in Sydney grade cricket.
  
• A pair of brothers joined forces in a match in South Africa in 2011/12, with each picking up a five-wicket haul in the same innings. Representing Namibia in a first-class match against KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg, Nicholass Scholtz took 5-103 while his younger brother Bernard Scholtz took 5-112.
• A family of cricketers celebrated a day of unbridled success during the Cornwall League in England in 2007 with one member taking a hat-trick. Martin Strick struck 41, along with his hat-trick, for the Redruth XI in the first division while his brother Adrian hit a half-century for the second XI. In another grade, their father Tony scored an unbeaten 60, with his teenage nephew Nathan hitting an unbeaten 32 after Nathan’s dad Roger had taken 5-24.
• When Zimbabwe hosted New Zealand in a Twenty20 international at Harare in 2011/12, one debutant from each side was the son of a former Test player. The 21-year-old Doug Bracewell became the third member of his family to have represented New Zealand, with his father, Brendon, appearing in six Tests and one one-day international. Doug’s uncle John Bracewell played in 41 Tests and 53 ODIs, while two other uncles – Douglas and Mark – played first-class cricket, as did a cousin, Michael. For Zimbabwe, Malcolm Waller – the son of Andy Waller, who played in two Tests in 1996 – also made his Twenty20 international debut.

  In the second Twenty20 – also in Harare – the New Zealand bowling attack was opened by the sons of two former first-class cricketers. Bracewell, with 3-25, was joined by debutant Graeme Aldridge, whose father Charles had appeared in four first-class matches for Canterbury in the 1970s.

  Bracewell and Waller then both made their Test debuts in the same match, at Bulawayo, with the latter scoring an unbeaten 72, matching his dad who made a half-century on his debut, at the same venue, against England in 1996/97. Bracewell also rose to the occasion, becoming just the seventh New Zealand debutant to take five wickets in an innings, picking up 5-85. His father had an equally impressive start to his Test cricket career, dismissing England openers Mike Brearley (2) and Graham Gooch (0) during his first eight deliveries on his debut at The Oval in 1978. Brendon and Doug Bracewell became the eighth father and son to have played Test cricket for New Zealand.

• England fast bowler Stanley Christopherson, who appeared in a single Test match in 1884, had nine brothers who also played cricket. The Kent brothers often fielded a family XI – The Christophersons – which was boosted by the inclusion of their father, Derman. A president of the MCC, Stanley’s brother Percy also played first-class cricket, appearing in one match together, for Kent against Sussex in 1887.
• When Sarah Coyte made her Test debut for Australia, she played under the captaincy of Alex Blackwell, both of whom have cricket-playing twins. Coyte’s twin brother Adam has played youth cricket for Australia, while Blackwell and her twin Kate have both played Test cricket. Ian Healy’s wicketkeeping niece Alyssa Healy also made her debut in the same match as Sarah, a one-off Test against England at Bankstown Oval in Sydney in 2010/11.
• Batting for the first time in a competitive game of cricket in eight years, Steve Waugh had the joy of doing so with his young son Austin. The two batted together in a charity Twenty20 match at a suburban cricket ground in Sydney in 2011.
  

  The rare sight of a father and son batting together – Austin Waugh and his dad Steve in a Twenty20 fundraiser in Sydney in 2011

• Of the 52 Test centuries scored by Steve and Mark Waugh, both made two scores of exactly 100. Steve’s first such dismissal came against the West Indies at Sydney in 1992/93, with his second also against the Windies, at Kingston in 1998/99. Mark’s first innings of 100 also came at Sydney, during the second Test against South Africa in 1997/98, with his second at Brisbane in 1999/2000 in the first Test against Pakistan. The Australian Test record for being dismissed the most times on exactly 100 is three, by Graeme Wood.
• In the first Test of the Sri Lanka–Zimbabwe series in 1996, Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed a pair of brothers with consecutive deliveries. Murali bowled Grant Flower for 27 in the second innings in Colombo then got his incoming older brother Andy for a duck with his next ball. The Waugh twins also suffered a similar misfortune in a Test match, when Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq dismissed Mark then Steve with consecutive balls during the second Test at Sharjah in 2002/03.
• While the West Indies were doing battle in the 2012 World Twenty20 tournament, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and his teenage son slaughtered a local club side with a double-century partnership. Representing Gandhi Youth against Transport Sports, Shivnarine scored an unbeaten 143, while his young son Tagenarine hit 112 not out. Their unbroken 256-run third-wicket stand was the backbone of a massive 125-run win for their team in the 40-over match.

  In 2012/13, Tagenarine made his first-class debut for Guyana. Shivnarine (aged 18) and Tagenarine (16) both made their first-class debuts as teenagers and both made their debuts in the same fixture – Guyana versus Leeward Islands – with the elder Chanderpaul doing so in 1991/92. A little later, they played together for the first time in a first-class match, against Trinidad and Tobago at Port-of-Spain. Shivnarine (108) celebrated the occasion with his 65th first-class century, while his son made 42 and 29 opening the batting.

  

  Shiv Chanderpaul’s son Tagenarine with West Indies superstar Chris Gayle

• In the same month that his oldest son made his Test debut, Geoff Marsh’s other boy was named in Australia’s Twenty20 squad. Mitchell Marsh – who captained Australia to victory in the 2010 Under-19s World Cup – joined his brother Shaun for a two-match series against South Africa in 2011/12. In their first match together – at Johannesburg – Mitchell out-scored his brother, 36 to 26, striking four sixes in 21 balls.

  Back home, Shaun was then dropped from Australia’s one-day international squad, while Mitchell was included. It came just a few days after Geoff Marsh had been sacked as coach of Sri Lanka following a disappointing series in South Africa.

• During the Big Bash League in 2011/12, Mitchell Starc dismissed brothers Shaun and Mitchell Marsh with consecutive deliveries in a match at the SCG. On the same day, the younger brother of Australian Test all-rounder Andrew McDonald made his debut for the Melbourne Renegades playing under his captaincy. The leg-spinning Brenton McDonald took one wicket in his first BBL match, while Andrew scored one run, in a loss against the Hobart Hurricanes at the Blundstone Arena in Hobart.
• One shot away from a Test century against India at Bridgetown in 1952/53, Clyde Walcott was sent packing on 98, dismissed lbw. The umpire who raised his finger to terminate the innings was Walcott’s uncle, Harold Walcott.
• In 2011, the younger brother of a record-breaking batsman also made the record books by becoming the youngest-ever cricketer to take part in inter-school competition in India. Six-year-old Musheer Khan – whose brother Sarfaraz had scored a record-breaking quadruple-century in the Harris Shield at the age of 12 in 2009 – made his debut in the Giles Shield Under-14s, taking 6-11.
• The younger brother of Doug Walters, Terry, was once 12th man in a Sheffield Shield match for New South Wales. In the same season – 1971/72 – he played in a three-day match for Northern New South Wales against a World XI, a side that included the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Graeme Pollock and Tony Greig.
• During celebrations that marked the SCG’s 100th Test match, a descendant of Australia’s first Test captain was on hand as a flag-bearer. Siobhan Gregory – the great-great-granddaughter of Dave Gregory – had applied for the honour through a junior cricket club that chose the 11-year-old unaware of her famous link with the game and the SCG. She said: “It was a big surprise when they picked me.” Siobhan was selected to lead the Australian and Indian teams on to the field on day four of the second Test of the 2011/12 series between the two countries.

  Dave Gregory led Australia in their first three Tests, playing his first-class cricket for New South Wales, as did three brothers and three nephews. Four members of the clan went on to play Test cricket, with Ned Gregory making the first Test duck, against England at Melbourne in 1876/77, a match captained by his brother Dave. Ned’s son Syd – who was born on the site of the SCG – appeared in 58 Tests, scoring four centuries, with a highest of 201. Another of Dave’s nephews, Jack, was a fast bowler of some note, who appeared in 24 Tests after World War One.

• On his way to his second five-wicket haul of the season in 2011/12, the son of a former Test cricketer took the wicket of the son of another former Test player. Fremantle’s captain Chris Wood – son of Graeme Wood – was dismissed lbw by Subiaco-Floreat’s Matthew Thomson – son of Jeff – in the Perth first-grade competition. The game also featured Mitchell Marsh, son of Geoff.
• On his Test debut, Shingi Masakadza joined his brother Hamilton in the Zimbabwe XI and both claimed a wicket. The debutant took 1-102 against New Zealand at Napier in 2011/12, while Hamilton, in his 19th Test, took 1-45. They provided just the 11th occasion of brothers taking at least one wicket each in the same Test, and the second for Zimbabwe after Paul and Bryan Strang. The West Indies’ Pedro Collins and his half-brother Fidel Edwards performed the feat five times in six consecutive Tests in the calendar year of 2004.
• In a two-day match at Clifton in 1859 an 11-year-old W.G. Grace batted at number 11 while his brother Alfred opened the innings. Playing against the South Wales Cricket Club, the Clifton team also included W.G.’s father Henry, brother Edward and an uncle, Alfred Pocock.
• During the England–Australia Test match at The Oval in 1880, the Grace family made history with three brothers gracing the field. W.G. was joined in the team by E.M. and G.F., both of whom appeared in their only Test. All three opened the batting during the match – E.M. and W.G. opened the first innings, while G.F. opened the second with Alfred Lyttelton.
• In 2011/12, the son of Australia’s current bowling coach achieved career-best figures in a nail-biter at the Gabba taking 7-24. Set 68 to win the Sheffield Shield match against Queensland, they got there by the skin of their teeth at 68/9. By taking the first seven wickets to fall, Alister McDermott matched his father Craig, who had also taken the first seven wickets in a first-class innings, in the fifth Test against England at Perth in 1990/91.
• Of the record 37 players who made their one-day international debuts under the captaincy of Sri Lanka’s Arjuna Ranatunga, three were his brothers. Dammika Ranatunga debuted alongside his brother against India at Pune in 1990/91; Nishantha against Zimbabwe at Sharjah in 1992/93 and Sanjeeva against Pakistan at Colombo in 1994.
• When Arthur Cotterill made his debut in 1865/66, he became the first of eight members of his family to play first-class cricket. Arthur appeared in ten matches for the New Zealand side Canterbury, while four brothers – Charles, Edward, Henry and William – and three sons – Keith, Basil and George – also played first-class cricket.
• Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi has an older and a younger brother who also played first-class cricket. Neither got anywhere near the lofty heights of the flamboyant all-rounder, with Tariq Afridi appearing in two first-class matches in 1999/2000 and Ashfaq Afridi playing in one match, in 2008/09.
• In a Twenty20 match in Dubai in 2011/12, Kenyan brothers Shem and James Ngoche were run out off consecutive deliveries by the same fielder. Scotland’s Richie Berrington pulled off a hat-trick of run-outs, including nabbing the Ngoche brothers with the penultimate and final balls of the match.
• In a three-day match at Oxford in 1969, the opposing wicketkeepers each had a twin brother who also played first-class cricket. Stuart Westley – whose twin Roger played in the same XI – kept wicket for Oxford University, while Derek Taylor did the job for Surrey. Derek’s twin Mike played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire and Hampshire.

  On two occasions, Derek Taylor caught his identical twin brother for a duck. The first occasion came in a County Championship match at Nottingham in 1970 when Derek was playing for Somerset; the second instance was in a Benson and Hedges Cup match at Taunton in 1974.

• Jemma Barsby and her brother Corey both made their state debuts for Queensland in 2010/11 following in the footsteps of their father Trevor who appeared in 111 first-class matches. Jemma made the news in 2012 with her unusual bowling style, which saw the then-17-year-old medium-pacer changing between right-arm and left-arm during matches. She said: “I was getting sick of my brother smashing me around the backyard everywhere, so I tried bowling with a different arm. I started landing them pretty well bowling with my other arm and so I just kept mixing it up.”
• In a comeback match for Australia in 1979/80, Ian Chappell scored a half-century under the captaincy of his brother Greg. Ian scored an unbeaten 63 against the West Indies in the World Series Cup on 21 December 1979, having scored 63 in his previous appearance, against the same opposition and under the same captain on 20 December 1975.

  The interval of four years and a day is the longest break for a pair of brothers appearing alongside each other in one-day internationals. In 2011/12, Yusuf Pathan rejoined his brother Irfan in the line-up for the India–Pakistan ODI at Mirpur, after an interval of three years and 38 days between appearances together.

• Batting against Pakistan in 1994/95, Andy and Grant Flower produced a double-century partnership in which both brothers passed 150. Their 269-run stand for the fourth wicket against Pakistan in Harare was the biggest of the Test and the highest-ever partnership between a left-handed batsman who bowls right-handed and a right-handed batsman who bowls left-handed. Andy, Zimbabwe’s wicket-keeping captain, scored 156, while his younger brother scored a Test-best 201 not out. Overtaking the previous best fraternal Test stand of 264 between Greg and Ian Chappell, the Flowers shared the man-of-the-match award that celebrated Zimbabwe’s first-ever Test victory.
  
• When the Flowers made their debuts for Zimbabwe in 1992/93, both took part in a century-run partnership, a first for brothers in Test match cricket. Grant (82) opened the batting in their country’s first Test – against India at Harare – with Kevin Arnott (40) and put on exactly 100, while Andy (59) shared a 165-run stand for the sixth wicket in the same innings with Dave Houghton (121). Prior to their fraternal feat, only six other pairs had previously shared in a century partnership on their Test debuts.
• During the month of March in 2012, Ken Rutherford’s son Hamish scored his maiden century in first-class cricket and two hundreds in the match followed by a maiden double. Opening the batting for Otago against Northern Districts at Hamilton, he hit 107 – his maiden first-class ton – and 118, and then struck 239, three matches later, against Wellington in Dunedin. Hamish’s dad had also scored a first-class double-century, with a triple, while his uncle Ian also scored a 200.

  Hamish got to his pair of tons at Hamilton in double-quick time, reaching his two centuries on consecutive days. His first on the third came off 91 balls, while his second came off 109. Exactly a year later, he marked his Test debut with 171 against England in Dunedin. In 1984/85, his dad had made a pair on his Test debut, against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain.

• Charles Coventry, who scored a Zimbabwe-record 194 not out in a one-day international, is the son of a ODI umpire. His father – also named Charles Coventry – umpired five one-day internationals, making his debut at Bulawayo in 2000/01. His son, who became Zimbabwe’s youngest-ever first-class player at the age of 15, made his Test debut at the same ground in 2005/06.
• A decade after his last first-class match, Denis Streak made a comeback in 1995/96 playing alongside his son. Making up the numbers for Matabeleland in the final of the Logan Cup against Mashonaland, a 46-year-old Denis and his son Heath played in a winning side captained by Wayne James, who scored 99 and 99 not out and claimed 13 dismissals behind the stumps.
• Carlisle Best famously scored a six off the first ball he hit in Test cricket, on his debut for the West Indies in 1985/86. Twenty-six years later, his nephew Tino Best (95) struck a six on his way to the highest score by a number 11 batsman in Test match cricket, against the same opposition – England – at Birmingham, in 2012. Tino said: “My uncle Carlisle Best always wanted me to be a Test batsman. To fall five runs short, I know he’s disappointed.”
• Play was called off after the second day of a first-class match in South Africa in 1937/38 following the death of the brother of one of the players. North Eastern Transvaal’s Dudley Helfrich scored 62 in the match against Griqualand West, but proceedings were soured with the passing of his 18-year-old brother Basil, who had played in 13 first-class matches. Two other brothers also played first-class cricket – Ken, who appeared in eight matches, and Cyril, who appeared in 47.
• In a first-class match at Calcutta in 1952/53, three brothers named A.K. Das Gupta represented Bengal in a semi-final against Mysore. Ajit made a duck and eight opening the batting, Benu made 13 and four at number three, while Anil hit 17 and seven at six.

  Ajit and Benu both scored a single century each in first-class cricket – 117 and 104 respectively – while Anil had a highest score of 34.

• A nephew of the legendary Inzamam-ul-Haq etched his name in the record books in 2012 when he took part in the first-ever double-century partnership for Pakistan in an Under-19 one-day international. On his debut, 16-year-old Imam-ul-Haq scored 88 against India at Kuala Lumpur, sharing a second-wicket stand of 212 with Sami Aslam.
• New Zealand’s Doug Bracewell marked his first Test in Australia with a duck, just as his father had done three decades before. Playing in the first Test at Brisbane in 2011/12, Doug made an 18-ball duck, while his dad Brendon made a duck in his first Test at Brisbane in 1980/81, a match that also featured his brother John.

  Later in the season, Doug made two ducks against South Africa in Hamilton, signalling just the second instance of a father and son bagging a pair in Test match cricket. Brendon had made two ducks on his Test debut – against England at The Oval in 1978 – while John Bracewell also made a pair – in Test cricket’s 1,000th match, at Hyderabad in 1984/85 – making it three from the Bracewell family. The first father and son to make Test pairs were the West Indies’ Everton Weekes and David Murray. Weekes fell in such fashion at The Oval in 1957, while the wicketkeeping Murray copped a pair against Pakistan at Multan in 1980/81.

• When Sachin Tendulkar was bowled for the 50th time in his Test career, he became part of a family feat by losing his wicket to an uncle and his nephew. John Bracewell got him at Christchurch in 1989/90, with his nephew Doug Bracewell taking his wicket for a first time, at Bangalore in 2012. Doug became the 150th bowler to dismiss Tendulkar in Test match cricket.
• Ian Chappell denied his brother Greg the chance to score a century during the 1975/76 Sheffield Shield when he caught him on 99 off the bowling of Terry Jenner at the Adelaide Oval. Greg was also out in the 90s in a 1980/81 match when he was dismissed by younger brother Trevor, who took his wicket for 94 at Brisbane.
  
• In the same match in which India’s Lala Amarnath made his final first-class appearance, his son Surinder made his first-class debut. Lala appeared for the Maharashtra Governor’s XI, while his son played for the Chief Minister’s XI in the three-day match at Poona in 1963/64.
• Graeme and Peter Pollock made their limited-overs debuts together in a side selected by a poll of South African radio listeners. Representing a South African XI against an Australian XI at Johannesburg in 1966/67, Graeme marked his List A debut with a match-winning unbeaten 132, while his brother took 2-63.
• A 21-year-old Canterbury all-rounder who made his debut for the Netherlands in 2012 is the grandson of the only player to appear in Tests for both the West Indies and New Zealand. The great-grandfather of Logan van Beek – a former New Zealand youth international – also played first-class cricket. Victor Guillen appeared in a single match for Trinidad in 1921/22, while Sam Guillen played in five Tests for the West Indies and in three for New Zealand during the 1950s.
• During his Test career for Pakistan, Hanif Mohammad played in matches against India’s Lala Amarnath, Datta Gaekwad and Vijay Manjrekar. Hanif’s son, Shoaib Mohammad, played against their sons in Tests – Mohinder Amarnath, Anshuman Gaekwad and Sanjay Manjrekar.
• Appearing in his first first-class match at The Oval, Luke Wells scored a century on the ground where his father had made a duck in his only Test for England. In 1995, Surrey stalwart Alan Wells received a long-overdue Test invitation for the sixth match of the series against the West Indies at The Oval, but was consigned to a first-ball duck and an unbeaten three off 39 balls. Playing against his dad’s old team, Luke avenged his father’s disappointment by scoring 108 for Sussex in the 2012 County Championship, a match that also contained an unbeaten 72 from Mike Gatting’s nephew Joe.

  Luke’s uncle Colin Wells also played for England, appearing in two one-day internationals as a batsman in the 1985 Four-Nations Cup.

• The glorious career of New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee began in 1972/73 when he claimed the first of his 431 wickets, a caught-and-bowled that replicated the feat of his brother Dayle who did so at Lord’s in 1969. The first Test wickets of both Ian and Greg Chappell were also caught-and-bowled.
• When the Pakistan Cricket Board began to retire some of its senior staff in 2010, questions were raised about the birth dates of brothers and former first-class cricketers Sultan and Azmat Rana. An inquiry was launched after viewing the birth certificates of Azmat – a regional PCB coach – and Sultan, the then-head of domestic cricket, which indicated the same date of birth. It was a case that stumped human resources staff at the board. The PCB said: “It is strange because while their date of births are the same, which means they are twins, they have never been known as twins and, in cricket circles, the general impression has been that Azmat is older than Sultan. According to their current date of birth they will turn 60 years in less than a year’s time and will have to retire under the new regulations.”

  Two of their brothers – Shafqat Rana and Test umpire Shakoor Rana – and two nephews, Maqsood Rana and Mansoor Rana, also played first-class cricket. Maqsood and Mansoor both appeared in one-day internationals for Pakistan in 1990, while Azmat and Shafqat played Test cricket.

• When Jamie Overton made his first-class debut in 2012, he batted at number 11 behind his twin brother Craig who came in at ten. Both remained unbeaten in Somerset’s first-innings total of 512 for 9 declared against Surrey at The Oval. With a score of 34 not out, the fast-bowling Jamie opened the attack with South Africa’s Vernon Philander and took 2-62 and 0-18, while his brother, a right-arm medium-pacer, went wicketless.
  
  
• Fifty-five years after his grandfather last played for England, Nick Compton made his Test debut, signalling the first set of grandfather-grandson batsmen to play for England. Denis Compton made his Test debut, aged 19, in 1937 and played in 78 matches, scoring 5,807 runs at 50.06. Nick made his Test debut at the age of 29 against India at Ahmedabad in 2012/13 and said: “I am not as good as my grandfather. But who was and who is? Nobody in this country.”

  Nick’s father, Richard, appeared in seven first-class matches for Natal, while an uncle, Patrick, and a great-uncle, Leslie, also played the first-class game.

  

  Appearing in his fifth Test match - at Dunedin in 2012/13 - Compton (117) brought up his maiden Test century, a day after Ken Rutherford’s son Hamish had done so for New Zealand. When Compton reached his three figures, it marked only the second instance of a grandfather-grandson combination scoring centuries in Tests after Australia’s Vic Richardson and Ian and Greg Chappell. With a score of 100 in his next innings, at Wellington, Compton matched his grandad who also scored his second Test century – at Lord’s in 1939 – in his sixth Test.

• Percy Herbert got his one and only chance to play first-class cricket when his nephew Percy Fender invited him to appear in a benefit match in 1920. Herbert arrived at the ground a day late after the Players of the South had scored 551/9. It then rained for the next two days, thus ending his first-class career without ever seeing a ball bowled.
• On the same day that Sachin Tendulkar celebrated 22 years of international cricket, his son Arjun made his debut in the Harris Shield Under-16s school tournament. Opening the bowling for Dhirubhai Ambani School in 2011, Arjun took a match-winning 8-22 against Jamnabai Narsee.
• Ben Hilfenhaus achieved something with the bat that his second cousin and Tasmanian team-mate Ricky Ponting never did, and that was to score a half-century in a Test match at Lord’s. Batting at number ten against Pakistan in 2010, Hilfenhaus scored an unbeaten 56, his maiden half-century in Test match cricket. In eight innings at the home of cricket, Ponting never reached 50, with a best of 42 in the 2005 Ashes.