Cricket Megaconnect

1. This cricketer played 76 first class matches for Kent scoring 2152 runs at an average of 20.11 and took 1 wicket at an average of 19.00. In winter he played football for Fulham, Lincoln City and Walsall; he claimed to have played four sports professionally - the others being table tennis and boxing. He was awarded the OBE for his services to cricket.

2. _______ was born in Barnsley in April 1933. 5'10" and a right-hand batsman, _____ played in a Barnsley side that included Geoff Boycott and the journalist Michael Parkinson, with whom he remained friends. A good enough player to have represented Yorkshire during their period of dominance (debuting in 1956 against Scotland), a regular first team place eluded him in such a strong side (his career best performance 181* against Glamorgan at Bradford in 1959 was rewarded with omission from the next game as the senior players returned from Test duty) and he moved to Leicestershire at the end of that year. He won his county cap in his first season, 1960, in which he topped 1,000 first-class runs, but later referred to the decision to leave Yorkshire as "the biggest mistake of my life".

_____ retired relatively early, aged just 32, and spent a few years coaching and playing as a club professional. He later admitted to regret that his playing career had not been more successful (first-class average in 93 matches: 20.71) .

3. ________ came to cricket by accident. Signed as a footballer by Bristol Rovers - he scored 60 times for them in 139 league matches (including one in the famous 4-0 FA Cup victory over Manchester United in 1951) and had equally useful spells with Plymouth, Newport County and Bristol City) he earned some extra cash by helping the Gloucestershire groundstaff in the summer. But it soon became apparent that he was a more than capable wicketkeeper, even if his batting was poor, and he was a regular in the county side for 15 seasons. He played 406 first class matches scoring 5367 runs at an average of 14.19 and was a useful leg break bowler.

4. His career spanned 11 tests and 24 ODI's starting from 1986 till 1990. His first test was India vs. Australia in Mumbai 1986 and first ODI was India vs. England in Chandigarh, 1985.

5. ________ played 14 matches for Baluchistan, Quetta and Karachi and scored 422 runs at an average of 21.10 and took 12 wickets and an average of 22.58. He was born in Delhi in 1938.

6. His career spanned from 1986-95 with Test debut being NZ vs Aus in 1986 and ODI debut in the same tour in NZ vs Aus.

7. He was immensely popular as a player , his roly-poly figure again hiding his worth to Gloucestershire as a pugnacious middle-order batsman who contributed to the side both on and off the field. He made his county debut late - he was 25 - after dabbling in teaching, and smashed a hundred on debut. Despite his bulk, which made him something of a liability in the field, he excelled at the one-day game where his placing of shots compensated for his lack of speed between the wickets. Has played 282 first class matches scoring 10,672 runs at an average of 24.47. Was awarded MBE for services to cricket in 1997.

8. Made his test debut in 1989 in Kingston in the WI vs. India match and has a career spanning more than 100 tests. Made his ODI debut in WI vs India at St. John's and his ODI career spans more than 150 matches. Has been involved in five world cups.

Connect all of them. The connection itself is far, far easier than getting the individual names. And, of course, encode in rot13 and post in comments sections.

~NCJ and Vaibhav.