One of the most successful British tennis players of the Open Era, Tim Henman had the distinction of being the first British man since Roger Taylor, in 1973, to reach the singles semi-finals at Wimbledon. Indeed, he did so in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002, but never reached the final.
In 1998, Henman, seeded 12, beat subsequently disgraced Czech Petr Korda, seeded 3, in straight sets in his quarter-final to set up a semi-final clash with reigning champion Pete Sampras. In what he later described as the ‘most intense match of my life at that stage’, Henman lost in four sets and did so again, to the same opponent, at the same stage, in 1999, emphasising his ‘nearly-man’ status.
In 2001, Henman faced unseeded Croatian Goran Ivanisevic in a semi-final that was played over the course of three days due to rain delays. He lost the first set 7-5, but battled back to win the second 7-6 and the third 6-0, having lost just four points. He led 2-1 in the fourth set when rain arrived, but when play resumed the following day, Ivanisevic fought his way back from the brink of defeat to level the match in a tie-breaker. After just five games of the deciding set, with Ivanisevic leading 3-2, play was suspended again and did not resume until the following afternoon. When it did, the Croatian converted his third break point to lead 5-3 and served out the match to win 7-5, 6-7, 0-6, 7-6, 6-3.
After his third semi-final defeat, Henman said, ‘Unfortunately, my best was not good enough this year but I certainly know I’ll be back for many more tries.’ However, he reached the Wimbledon semi-finals just once more, in 2002, when a straight sets defeat by Lleyton Hewitt extinguished his chances of reaching the final in SW19 for a fourth and final time.
Prior to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, in Qatar, Wales had qualified for the finals tournament just once, in Sweden in 1958; provided the other three Home Nations – England, Northern Ireland and Scotland – also qualified that year (which, of course, they did), 1958 must be the answer.
None of the Home Nations participated in the World Cup in 1930, 1934 or 1938, having withdrawn from FIFA in 1928 and not rejoined until after World War II. In 1958, British Home Championship ceased to be a qualifying tournament for the World Cup so, for the first time ever, all four had an opportunity to reach the finals.
Wales originally finished second to Czechoslovakia in their UEFA qualifying group, but qualified via a two-legged playoff with Israel, who won their group by default after Indonesia, Sudan and Turkey refused to play because of international tensions. Im Sweden, they drew with Hungary, Mexico and the hosts before beating Hungary 2-1 in a playoff to advance to the quarter-finals, where they lost 1-0 to eventual winners Brazil, with the winnimg goal scored by a 17-year-old Pele.
Northern Ireland, too, fared above expectations on their finals debut. They beat Czechoslovakia 1-0 and recovered from a 3-1 defeat by Argentina to draw 2-2 with West Germany, which was enough to earn a playoff against Czechoslovakia, which they won 2-1 after extra time. Northern Ireland were subsequently trounced 4-0 by France in the quarter-finals, but still progressed further than England or Scotland, who were early casualties.
Scotalnd managed a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia in their opening group game, but lost to Paraguay and France, 3-2 and 2-1, respectively to exit the tournament with just a single point. England drew all three group games, against USSR, Brazil and Austria, but lost 1-0 in a playoff with USSR, who would, themselves, be knocked out by Sweden in the quarter-finals.
The first bowler to claim five hat-tricks in international cricket, of any description, was former Sri Lankan right-arm fast bowler Separamadu Lasith Malinga. He did so in the third of three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches against New Zealand in Pallekele on September 6, 2019. In fact, he not only dismissed Colin Munro, Hamish Rutherford and Colin de Grandhomme with the third, fourth and fifth balls over the third over of the match, but also Ross Taylor with the sixth, thereby taking four wickets in as many balls for the second time in his career.
The first time achieved the feat – and with it, of course, his first One Day International (ODI) hat-trick – against South Africa in an International Cricket Council (ICC) match in Providence on March 28, 2007. On that occasion, he took the wickets of Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini in four successive deliveries during the ‘death’ overs of the match. For the record, Malinga achieved his three other ‘regulation’ hat-tricks against Kenya in Colombo on March 1, 2011, against Australia in Colombo on August 11, 2011 and against Bangladesh, again in Colombo, on April 6, 2017.
Renowned for his distinctive, authentically roundarm – but, nonetheless, legal – bowling action, which led to his nickname, ‘Slinga Malinga’, the former Sri Lankan captain was a particularly potent force in limited overs cricket. He was a fine exponent of the yorker or, in other words, a delivery that pitches in, or close to, the blockhole, thereby preventing the batsman from lifting the ball into the air and, hence, over the boundary. Like any effective death bowler, he also bowled slowed-than-usual deliveries, to keep the batsman guessing at a time when he was looking to play aggressively.
Benjamin Andrew ‘Ben’ Stokes, a.k.a. ‘Stokesy’, made his Test debut for England against Australia in the second Test of the 2013/14 Ashes series at the Adelaide Oval on December 5, 2013. Australia won the toss and elected to bat, declaring their first innings closed at 570-9 after tea on the second day. Stokes took his first Test wicket when Australian captain Michael Clarke, on 148, chipped to James Anderson at short midwicket, and finished the innings with bowling figures of 18-0-70-2. With the bat, he added just one to England’s first innings total of 172 before being trapped lbw by Mitchell Johnson in his second over after lunch on the third day.
Clarke decided not to enforce the follow-on and, in the second innings, Australia scored 132-3 declared, with Stokes recording bowling figures of 7-3-20-0, setting England a target of 531 runs. In the face of almost inevitable defeat, Stokes batted for just over two hours before being caught by Clarke, off the bowling of Ryan Harris, for 28. However, with the last four England second innings’ wickets falling with 12 overs, the visitors were bowled out for 312, giving Australia victory by 218 runs.
Born in Christchurch, New Zealand on June 4, 1991, Stokes moved to Cockermouth, Cumbria as a 12-year-old boy. Having made rapid progress through the ranks, he eventually made his first-class debut for Durham against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in the traditional curtain-raiser for the County Championship season at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on March 29, 2010. Of course, nowadays, Stokes is a mainstay of the England Test team, having captained the side since April, 2022; at the last count, he had 89 matches, 5,602 runs and 193 wickets to his name.
Remarkably, live pigeon shooting did feature once, and only once, at the Olympic Games, albeit as a demonstration, rather than official, sport. The Games of the II Olympiad were unusual infosar as they were piggybacked onto the Exposition Universelle, or World Exhibition, which was held in Paris, France between April and November, 1900. As such, they were poorly organised, poorly promoted and poorly attended.
All told, eight officially-recognised shooting competitions were held at Camp de Satory, Versailles
and Le Stand de l’Île Séguin, Billancourt in early August, but the Exposition Universelle featured many more ‘non-Olympic’ shooting events, some of which required an entry fee and awarded prize money. The main live pigeon shooting event, for example, required an entry fee of 200 French francs and offered total prize money of 20,000 French francs.
Competitors were required to shoot as many pigeons, released one at a time, as possible; when they missed two in a row, their total number of hits was tallied. After nearly 300 living, breathing pigeons had been blown away, Belgian Léon de Lunden was declared the winner, with 21 kills, one ahead of Frenchman Maurice Faure, with 20 kills, and two ahead of Australian Donald Mackintosh and American Crittenden Robinson, with 18 kills apiece.
As far as prize money was concerned, that quartet agreed to divide the 20,000 French francs equally between them. Indeed, the leading four competitors were posthumously awarded gold, silver and bronze medals in 1992, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reclassified the live pigeon shooting event(s), such that they were no longer recognised as official Olympic events. Unsurprisingly, live pigeon shooting never again featured in, or in association with, an Olympic programme.