I don’t like this game.

Did Boon and Bono ever bat together?

This was mentioned on the Guardian OBO yesterday.

“So some more correspondence and pub quiz questions: “How many partnerships in Test history have involved players both of whose surnames used the same letters?” asks Justin Horton. “Root and Trott use only three (I trust readers can work them out) which I’ll speculate is a record low for such a pairing.”

Is Bert moonlighting as Justin Horton?

Yes, this really does rank as one of the finest pieces of Test match trivia. It acknowledges a particular match situation whilst simultaenously being of no consequence whatsoever.

It’s a kind of perfection.

I rather think that you, Sam, have missed the key component of Bert’s challenge, which is the bit about only three letters of the alphabet being in use.

I cannot think of any pairs with the same name who fit that criterion, as names with only three letters of the alphabet are in themselves extremely rare.

But even if you were to find or recall an example of, for example, Peter May bringing in his brother Maurice for one test and the two batting together, I think that would still be missing a couple of additional rarity characteristics:
* Trott and Root are NOT the same name
* neither name has only three letters but both have only three letters of the alphabet.

Magnificent Bert, I am still getting pleasure from the idea and working through all the permutations in my head. Does anyone know what’s been happening in the test match since Bert’s posting?

Superb piece of classic loafers’ trivia there, Bert – probably correct yet hard to prove or disprove – and utterly useless information.

I love it – well done.

All we need now is for the BBC’s Ben Dirs to do a spot of commentary

Snigger

Worth the price of entry alone, it was, to witness Jimmy’s 300th.

That was also the only point in the day when we thought that England might be on top of the match.