Top 5 little known statistical wonders from unexpected countries
Did you know that the record for the quickest run chase in international cricket belongs to Nepal as they bowled out Myanmar for 10 runs and chased down the total off two balls in 2006? And that the only country to win its first two ODIs is Papa New Guinea (PNG)?Strange as it sounds, Associate and Affiliate nations have been coming through with leaps and bounds in international cricket. They have often been giant-killers and given their ability to surprise the opposition, no big team can afford to relax against them now.Some of the most desirable and eye-catching records, in fact, belong to cricketers from the nations that are not a dominating force in the sport. Let us take a look at 5 such little known statistical wonders.
#5 Peter Muspratt - 8 for 62 against Pakistan
Fiji has never had much of a presence on the global cricketing map. But they did enjoy their brief tryst with destiny as one Peter Muspratt ran through a famous Pakistani top order back in 1955. Fiji, having been hit by a couple of cyclones, could only prepare a concrete pitch covered in mat for the match.
The conditions might have suited Fiji more as all-rounder Peter Muspratt surprised one and all with a dream spell. Muspratt quickly removed Taslim Arif, Haroon Rasheed, Javed Miandad and Wasim Raja to reduce Pakistan to 54 for 4 at one stage.
Zaheer Abbas scored a fighting 98 as Muspratt finished with surreal bowling figures of 8 for 62. Fiji's batsmen, however, failed to fire and they were shot out for 101. Pakistan dominated after that but the two-day match eventually ended in a boring draw.