Twenty years ago the bowler switched ends at Headingley and ripped out four wickets for only the sixth time in Test history
Before England’s second match against Pakistan 4,938,971 deliveries had been bowled in the history of Test cricket, equivalent to 823,161 (and a bit) six-ball overs, and of those only six have featured four wickets. About a quarter of one percent of the 2,392 Tests to have been played have had a four-wicket over, falling to only a tenth of a percent of the 912 Tests played since the turn of this century. Weirdly, three of those six four-wicket overs were bowled at Headingley, where Test bowlers are more than 15 times more likely to take four wickets in an over than anywhere else.
This Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of the last time it happened, at Headingley or anywhere else. Andy Caddick was the bowler, a player who, just a few months from his 32nd birthday, was in the best form of his international life. Given his debut in 1993 under the captaincy of Graham Gooch, Caddick had been in and out of the side under his successor, Michael Atherton, and entirely out of the side under Alec Stewart, but his international fortunes were transformed by the near-simultaneous arrivals of Nasser Hussain as captain, Duncan Fletcher as coach, and central contracts.
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Thowback to Andy Caddick taking 4️⃣ wickets in 5️⃣ balls against the Windies! #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/2cTXJJbO3Y
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