<h2>Clayton Murzello, Group sports editor, Mid-day</h2>
<img title="Clayton Murzello" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2020/may/the-thirty-may-b.jpg" alt="Clayton Murzello" />
Q 1. A batting feat, which gives a good name to hunger for runs, eluded cricket icon Donald Bradman until his last Test series on Australian soil. Which was this achievement?
Q 2. India under Kapil Dev famously beat England 2-0 in the summer of 1986. In his squad was an experienced batting stalwart who couldn't find a place in the XI in all three Tests. Who?
Q 3. England captain Mike Brearley led a team that was beaten 0-3 by Australia in the 1979-80 season, but Brearley still ended up winning all his Ashes series. How is this possible?
Q 4. A long-retired former Test player figured in a one-day game while on tour as manager of an Indian team. Who was he?
Q 5. In the 1960 Tied Test between West Indies and Australia, Garry Sobers dislocated a finger on his right hand while catching Neil Harvey, but the finger was set right immediately. Was there a doctor at the centre of The Gabba?
1 A century in both innings of a Test. He finally broke the hoodoo against India at Melbourne in January, 1948.
2 Sandeep Patil. And he was not considered later as well.
3 The Ashes were not at stake in 1979-80 since the England cricket board felt the schedule was "exceptional and experimental" in nature. This series was held after the Kerry Packer v Australian Cricket Board war ended.
4 Polly Umrigar, then nearly 52, was coaxed into being in the playing XI for Bishan Singh Bedi's team against Western Australia Country on the 1977-78 tour of Australia. He may have got a duck that day (December 14, 1977) but he was still playing 'A' division cricket for his employers, The Associated Cement Companies.
5 Yes. His teammate&mdash;wicketkeeper Gerry Alexander&mdash;a veterinary surgeon.
<h2>Sharda Ugra, Senior editor, ESPNcricinfo &amp; ESPN India</h2>
<img title="Sharda Ugra" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2020/may/the-thirty-may-c.jpg" alt="Sharda Ugra" />
Q1. Which two teams played in the first international cricket match?
Q2. When did the first all India team set out on its first international tour?
Q3. When did Australia undertake its first cricket tour of England?
Q4. Who is only the second cricketer after Kepler Wessels who has scored centuries for two different countries?
Q5. What do Mike Smith, Donald Carr, Peter May and Raman Subba Row have in common?
1 Everyone says England vs Australia, but the correct answer is USA vs Canada on Sept 24, 1844 at Bloomingdale Park in New York.
2 An informed answer will refer to the Parsees tours from 1888 onwards. The first all India cricket team featuring cricketers from different parts of the country travelled to England in 1911.
3 Again, this was not the 1877 team which played in the first Test, but a team of Aboriginals in 1868 comprising stockmen who had learnt the game on Victoria's cattle stations. The first official representative team travelled only ten years later.
4 Eoin Morgan. In ODIs, both for Ireland and England.
5 Other than being English cricketers, three of them Smith May and Row playing on the same team, they were also four of the first five ICC match referees appointed from 1991 onwards. Peter Burge of Australia was the fifth.
<h2>Joy Bhattacharjya, CEO, Pro Volleyball League and cricket analyst</h2>
<img title="Joy Bhattacharjya" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2020/may/the-thirty-may-d.jpg" alt="Joy Bhattacharjya" />
Q1. Manoj Prabhakar was the first Indian to open the batting and bowling in an ODI match.
Q2. Sachin Tendulkar scored the first ever double century in an ODI, against South Africa in 2010.
Q3. The Mumbai Indians was Ricky Ponting's first IPL team?
Q4. Kapil Dev's 175* took India to the semi-finals in the 1983 WC.
Q5. Kenyans first played an official ODI during the 1996 World Cup.
1 Incorrect. Roger Binny opened the batting for two ODIs in Australia in the 1980-81 season. And, in fact, Kapil Dev also once opened the batting for India in Hamilton in 1992.
2 Belinda Clarke scored 229* against Denmark in 1999, 11 years before Tendulkar.
3 KKR, Not the Mumbai Indians. He played four matches for KKR in 2008.
4 It was the penultimate match. India would have gone through even by just wining their final match against Australia.
5 Harilal Shah and a few others represented East Africa in the 1975 World Cup. The East African team comprised players from Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania.
<h2>Jamie Alter, Sports journalist and digital content specialist</h2>
<img title="Jamie Alter" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2020/may/the-thirty-may-e.jpg" alt="Jamie Alter" />
Q1. Which future Indian cricket icon did ball-boy duties during the 1987 World Cup between India and England at the Wankhede Stadium?
Q2. Who was Man of the Match in the first ODI ever played?
Q3. Who hit the winning runs for India at The Oval in 1971 to secure the team's first Test victory on English soil?
Q4. Who is the first batsman to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket?
Q5. Who was the match referee during the 1987 World Cup match between India and Australia who allowed a four to be changed to six during the innings break, which ultimately proved decisive in the home team's loss?
1 Sachin Tendulkar.
2 England's John Edrich.
3 Abid Ali.
4 Sunil Gavaskar.
5 Hanif Mohammad.
<h2>Mohandas Menon, Cricket Statistician</h2>
<img title="Mohandas Menon" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2020/may/the-thirty-may-f.jpg" alt="Mohandas Menon" />
Q1. Australian Albert Trott's 8/43 against England at Adelaide in 1895 remains the best bowling performance in an innings in Test cricket, while India's Narendra Hirwani's 16/136 against the West Indies at Madras in 1988 is the best in a Test match on debut. What connects these two players?
Q2. Sachin Tendulkar in his final Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai against Haryana at Lahli was involved in an unbeaten match-winning stand of 50 runs with Dhawal Kulkarni in the fourth innings. What date connects these two players?
Q3. When R Ashwin claimed his 300th Test wicket in his 54th match against Sri Lanka at Nagpur in 2017, he became the quickest to reach the landmark in the fewest number of Tests. What is common between Ashwin and player whose record he broke?
Q4. During their respective Test debuts at Lord's in 1996, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were involved in a sixth-wicket stand of 94 runs. Since then, how often has this pair been involved in a partnership below the fifth wicket in Test cricket?
Q5. Only two Indian cricketers have made their Test debut after appearing in just two first-class matches. Name them.
1 They both achieved it on the same day and month i.e. on 15 January, just 93 years apart.
2 10 December 1988&mdash;the day Sachin Tendulkar made his Ranji Trophy debut at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The day Dhawal Kulkarni was born in Mumbai.
3 R Ashwin bettered the previous record held by Australian Dennis Lillee who did it in 56 Tests in 1981. They both achieved the landmark on 27 November&mdash;36 years apart!
4 Just once at Harare against Zimbabwe in October 1998, when they put on 88 runs for the sixth wicket.
5 Budhi Kunderan on 1 January 1960 against Australia at the Brabourne Stadium in and Vivek Razdan on 23 November 1989 against Pakistan at Faisalabad.
<img title="Stuart Broad of England looks on from the outfield during Day One of the first Ashes Test match between Australia and England at The Gabba on November 21, 2013 in Brisbane, Australia. Pic/Getty Images" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2020/may/the-thirty-may-g.jpg" alt="Stuart Broad of England looks on from the outfield during Day One of the first Ashes Test match between Australia and England at The Gabba on November 21, 2013 in Brisbane, Australia. Pic/Getty Images" /> Stuart Broad of England looks on from the outfield during Day One of the first Ashes Test match between Australia and England at The Gabba on November 21, 2013 in Brisbane, Australia. Pic/Getty Images
<h2>Anindya Dutta, Sports columnist and author of Wizards: The Story of Indian Spin Bowling and Spell-Binding Spells</h2>
<img title="Anindya Dutta" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2020/may/the-thirty-may-h.jpg" alt="Anindya Dutta" />
Q1. Fathers, sons, brothers playing Test cricket are fairly common. Only once have four men linked by an uncle- nephew relationship over the course of three generations played in the Test arena. Who were these 4?
Q2. Name the batsman with a Test batting average better than Don Bradman's. Also give his batting average and aggregate runs scored.
Q3. Who is the spinner who holds the unique record of taking 7 for 95 against England in the only innings he bowled in a Test match, which also happened to be his first first-class match?
Q4. Which bowler holds the unique record of bowling the best 'Single Spell' of fast bowling in a Test match, which also happened to be the best 'Single Spell' of bowling in a losing cause by any kind of bowler. What were the bowling figures and who were the teams involved?
Q5. He was born in Panama and went to school in Cuba. Playing 22 Test matches over a 24-year long career, he scored 29% of all runs scored by his team. Bradman only scored 27% in comparison. He also captained in one of those 22 Tests. What was his name and the nickname he was given?
1 Ranjitsinhji, his nephew Duleepsinhji, and Duleep's nephews Indrajitsinhji and Hanumant Singh.
2 Andy Ganteaume of the West Indies. Played only one innings of one Test in February 1948 against England at Port of Spain. So, his average and aggregate are both 112.0
3&nbsp;WH 'Gobo' Ashley of South Africa at Cape Town in March 1889.
4 Kapil Dev. His 9 for 83 at Ahmedabad against the West Indies in 1983. The wickets were taken in an unchanged 30.3 over spell. India lost the match.
5 George Headley of West Indies. He was nicknamed the 'Black Bradman.'
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The Thirty 30 challenge

Clayton Murzello, Group sports editor, Mid-day

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