Meet Jim Laker - master wicket taker

Australian team in England 1878

​Australians are renowned for their love of sport.  We love the spectacle, the heroic triumphs and the bonding cemented when “our” team wins.  We love our football codes and our swimmers.  We’re proud of our tennis champs and rowers.  But come summer —and love it or loathe it— there is really only one sport on the table, and that’s cricket.
 
Since the first cricket match took place in the Sydney summer of 1803, Australians have embraced cricket and everything that it entails – the SCG “hill”, day/night games, tea breaks, Richie Benaud and Bodyline.  The Ashes series continues to be a fixture aligned with national pride and the cracking pace of the Big Bash League has been a blockbuster from day one.
 
But there are cricket fans and cricket FANS.  True blue diehard cricket fans love two things:  the complexities of the game itself and the myriad facts and figures native to a sport that originated over 400 years ago.

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Bush fire at Kurri Kurri NSW 2002 - photo by Darren Pateman

Jim Laker still holds the record for the most wickets taken in a Test match

In Australia, the social saturation of cricket is such that even those who claim to despise the game possess sufficient knowledge to answer quiz night questions on what is, arguably, our national sport.
 
Enter Jim Laker
 
Entry level trivia questions tend to focus on Don Bradman’s heroic stats or the winners of particular Tests and “one dayers”.  And this is how it should be.  But cricket aficionados are always pleased when quiz masters raise it up a notch and ask questions that the average Aussie punter might not know.
 
Jim Laker (1922 –1986) was a Yorkshire-born off-spin bowler who was the first player to take all 10 wickets in a Test match innings - 10 for 53 - in Australia’s 2nd innings of the 4th Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1956.  Known as “Laker’s Match” it continues to be the gold standard for Test bowlers and is a solid inclusion for general knowledge trivia nights.
 
Laker's effort was part of a record-breaking performance during the 1956 Ashes series: Laker's 46 wickets established a record for a 5-Test Ashes series which remains unbroken. It led to him being awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 1956, the first cricketer to win the award.
 
Trivia Zoo’s Cricket Quiz doesn’t have a Jim Laker question, but it is peppered with plenty of others that will have cricket tragics racking their brains and knocking the occasional six.

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​Did Elvis Presley ever write his own songs?
answer is the next blog headline!

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​Trivia Zoo quiz nights are superior to other trivia nights because we use PowerPoint* slideshows loaded with quality graphics.  Our questions are closely vetted to ensure all ages and skill levels are accommodated.  Questions are culturally respectful and inclusive and we can get the package to you instantly via secure email.
*If you don't have PowerPoint it doesn't matter.  We supply a link to PowerPoint Viewer - a free download from Microsoft

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