Ordeals by fire and pestilence are commonplace in cricketing history and plague has frequently been wished onto opponents and umpires. These pages are liberally strewn with the stories of catastrophe and disaster and punctuated with bizarre records and tales of the incredible. Of course what is disaster for one side may be glorious success for their opponents and many of these tales have been reported with malicious glee by the beneficiaries.
Readers of The Cricketer around the world have contributed many amazing stories, some of which are well documented and others which may only have been over heard at the bar.