The Cricket Fan's Handbook is packed full of games, facts and coaching tips, so you can not only become a better cricket fan, but a better player too. There’s plenty of Howzat Cricket Facts. For example, did you know that a very young Sachin Tendulkar tried out as a fast bowler at Dennis Lillee’s Pace Academy in Mumbai?

We're looking for fast facts for the 2006 edition, so if you have one, submit it here.

The handbook also has a Cricket Songbook, Know Your Medallist and a terrific dice cricket game. There are several quizzes too, like the Super Trivia Test. Why don't you see how you go?

THE SUPER TRIVIA TEST

1. For most of Ricky Ponting’s stellar Test cricket his average has been above 50. What was his average for the 2001 tour of India?

(a) exactly 100
(b) 112.40
(c) 51.50
(d) 3.40

2. What is the name given to the English supporter group that sings its way around Australia and the world, following the England cricket team?

(a) the Barmy Army
(b) the Crying’ Lions
(c) the Fanatics
(d) the London Boys Choir

3. What is the name of the rock band formed by Brett Lee, his brother Shane Lee and former Test spinner Gavin Robertson?

(a) One Hand One Bounce
(b) Six and Out
(c) Can’t Bowl, Can’t Throw
(d) Tippety Run

4. What sport is former Test captain and current cricket commentator Bill Lawry also famous for?

(a) yachting
(b) biathlon, which is a combination of cross country skiing and shooting
(c) pigeon racing
(d) French cricket

5. Which of the following countries has not won the men’s cricket World Cup?

(a) Australia
(b) Sri Lanka
(c) England
(d) India

6. Limited overs specialist and member of the 2003 winning World Cup side Brad Hogg made spent has spent time working as

(a) a postie
(b) a fortune teller
(c) a wrestling promoter
(d) all of the above

7. Who was the first Australian to score a double century in a one day international?

(a) Greg Chappell
(b) Mark Waugh
(c) Adam Gilchrist
(d) Belinda Clark

8. Sir Don Bradman is the fastest Australian to reach 4000 runs, doing so in 31 matches. The next fastest to 4000 runs amongst Australians is

(a) Alan Border
(b) Adam Gilchrist
(c) Matthew Hayden
(d) Neil Harvey

9. What do fast bowling greats Jeff Thomson and Glenn McGrath have in common?

(a) they both began their careers playing cricket for Queensland
(b) they both bowl with an irregular ‘slingshot’ action
(c) they both enjoy pig shooting
(d) they both have taken 300 wickets in Test cricket.

10. In 1959, an all time MCG record crowd of 130,000 people turned up to the stadium to watch

(a) The AFL Grand Final between Melbourne and Collingwood
(b) Christian preacher Billy Graham deliver a sermon
(c) the last Test of an Ashes series between Australia and England
(d) Don Bradman play one last Test at the age of 51, trying to lift his average from 99.94 to 100.

11. Which of the following champion players wears prescription glasses in the field?

(a) Daniel Vittori
(b) Brian Lara
(c) Harbharjan Singh
(d) Michael Vaughan

12. Which Australian bowler is a bit of a bookworm, and is said to have speed read 24 books on one tour of Pakistan?

(a) Shane Warne
(b) Stuart McGill
(c) Jason Gillespie
(d) Michael Kasprowicz

13. Legendary Australia captain Steve Waugh played most of his career with a good luck charm. It was

(a) a lock of brother Dean’s hair
(b) a lock of brother Mark’s hair
(c) a red handkerchief
(d) a bottle cap

14. Which of these two Australian players love listening to heavy metal music together, especially Metallica?

(a) Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz
(b) Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie
(c) Jason Gillespie and Ricky Ponting
(d) Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz

15. Before Matthew Hayden scored his amazing 380 in 2003/4, who had the highest test score for Australia in an individual innings?

(a) Sir Donald Bradman
(b) Mark Taylor
(c) Sir Donald Bradman and Mark Taylor
(d) Alan Border

16. At the 2003 World Cup in Africa, which Australian batsman had the highest batting average in the tournament?

(a) Ricky Ponting
(b) Matthew Hayden
(c) Andrew Symonds
(d) Adam Gilchrist

17. Who was the last Australian to play Test cricket and senior AFL football?

(a) Simon O’Donnell
(b) Shane Warne
(c) Ricky Ponting
(d) Max Walker

18. Who is the current Australian player to have made a century in both innings of a Test match twice?

(a) Justin Langer
(b) Adam Gilchrist
(c) Matthew Hayden
(d) Ricky Ponting

19. Which Australian Test star is very proud of his gardening, and in particular his rose garden?

(a) Michael Clarke
(b) Justin Langer
(c) Damian Martyn
(d) Stuart McGill

20. How did a desperate Jason Gillespie try to secure a breakthrough during the massive 376 run partnership between VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid at Kolkata in 2001?

(a) he bowled round arm
(b) he sang loudly as he ran in to bowl
(c) he sat down in the middle of the pitch and prayed
(d) he ran into the wicket flapping his arms like a bird

Answers

1(d) 3.40. Poor Punter endured a horror run with scores of 6, 11, 0, 0, and 0. Just 17 runs for the series

2(a) the Barmy Army. One of the classics in its songbook is ‘Three dollars to the pound’.

3(b) Six and Out. Brett Lee plays bass, Shane plays lead guitar, and Roberson is on drums.

4(c) Lawry is a very keen pigeon fancier.

5(c) England

6(a) Brad Hogg was a postman and mail sorter before he started to make a full time living from cricket.

7(d) As captain of the Australian women’s team Belinda Clark scored 229 not out against Denmark in Mumbai in 1997. She’s also Australia’s highest Test run scorer amongst women cricketers.

8(c) Matthew Hayden did it in 46 matches, making 16 hundreds.

9(c) Both Thomson and McGrath are interested in pig shooting. Thommo used to chase wild pigs around back paddocks to improve his fitness.

10(b) Remarkably, the biggest crowd to ever attend the ground came to watch an American evangelist.

11(a) Daniel Vittori. The bespectacled Kiwi was the youngest spinner to reach 100 Test wickets (21 years, 29 Tests).

12(b) Stuart McGill might not be a fast bowler, but he is a fast reader.

13(c) a red handkerchief. By the end of his amazing 168 match career, it was very thin and tattered.

14(d) Gillespie and Kasprowicz like to travel to matches with headphones on, both head banging to the metal band Metallica.

15(c) The record was shared. Don Bradman made his 334 in 1930, including an amazing 309 in a single day. Mark Taylor made his 334 not out in Pakistan in 1998/99. As captain, he decided to declare overnight, instead of batting on.

16(c) Andrew Symonds topped the averages for all countries with 326 runs at an average of 163.00. The highest total runs was Sachin Tendulkar with 673.

17(a) Simon O’Donnell played 24 games for St Kilda between 1982 and 1983. Max Walker played for Melbourne in the 70s. Shane Warne played Under 19s football for St Kilda in the late 1980s. Ricky Ponting barracks for the Kangaroos.

18(c) Matthew Hayden against England 2002/3 and against Sri Lanka 2004. Aravinda Da Silva has also accomplished the feat for Sri Lanka.

19(b) Justin Langer is a keen gardener, and says it makes it ‘easier to smell the roses that way’.

20(d) Gillespie ran in flapping his arms