OKAY, FOLKS, A likkle quiz question: what do cricketers Charles Bannerman, Billy Murdoch and 'Tip' Foster have in common.
Five .. four ... three ... two ... one, time's up give up?
The answer is that they all held the crown for the highest Test score.
Hard-hitting Aussie Bann-erman didn't break the record for most runs in a Test innings as there was no record to break when Australia played England in the first official Test 127 years ago in Melbourne.
Bannerman, who once hit a ball so high three runs were made before he was caught, made 165 not out in the inaugural Test. His effort was passed by compatriot Murdoch 7 1/2 years later as the Aussie, who later played for England, became the world's first double centurion with a knock of 211 against the Poms at The Oval in 1884.
Then came 'Tip', who is still the only man to captain England at football and cricket. He crushed the record with a knock of 287 against Australia in Sydney in his Test debut in 1903.
Of course, all this leads up to King Lara's record-breaking 400 not out against England on the ARG's sofa-bed of a wicket this week.
Ten occasions
Discounting Bannerman (someone had to set the benchmark in the first ever Test), the record has now been broken on ten occasions - twice by Lara - but which was the best of the lot.
Perusing the list, I see it come down to three - Lara this week, Sir Garfield Sobers at Sabina Park against Pakistan in the 1957-58 series and Sir Donald Bradman against England at Headingly in 1930.
Let's break them down, shall we.
Lara: 400 not out, 778 minutes, 582 balls, 43 fours, four sixes.
Sobers: 365 no, 614 minutes, -, 38 fours, no sixes.
Bradman: 334, 383 minutes, 448 balls, 46 fours, no sixes.
The negatives:
Lara played on one of the most benign pitches ever created by man (what is Andy Roberts - a former fast bowler thinking?) in a match of no great importance.
Sobers faced a Pakistan attack minus two of its leading bowlers due to injury.
The positives
Bradman was challenged by Harold Larwood and Maurice Tate but little after that from an anaemic English attack.
The positives:
Lara endured 778 minutes at the crease to become the first 400-run man.
Sobers declared after breaking Sir Len Hutton's record and his side won the match.
Bradman's 334 came in a mere 383 minutes with 309 of them being scored in a day.
The intangibles:
Who knows how many more runs Lara, 34, could have made if he chose to bat on?
Who knows how many more runs Sir Garfield, then 21, could have made if he decided to bat on?
Bradman's (21) 334 was in total of 566 - more than three fifths of the team's total. The next best score was 77 (Alan Kippax).
To split them is almost impossible because we are comparing batting genius with batting genius.
However, as I am willing to boldly go where no man has gone before, I'm going to go for The Don because I can't see a triple century being made again in three sessions.
Lara's record looks relatively safe for a good while but watch out for three players who could give it a mighty good threat: former record holder Matthew Hayden, his Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting and Indian opener Virender Sehwag.
Later ...
