A 29-year-old Leicestershire batsman, Clive Inman born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), engraved himself in cricket’s record books in eight minutes’ play on the third day of the game against Nottinghamshire. But there were some who thought Clive Inman’s record was an insult to cricket at Nottingham in August 1965. It came on the final day of a game that was evenly balanced but running out of time.
Despite Leicestershire’s fast start 75 in the first hour of the match and 161 in the 150 minutes before lunch — they needed to score quickly on the final morning if there was to be any chance of a finish. So they did. Jayasinghe thrashed the Nottinghamshire batsmen to various corners of the ground. Yes, batsmen.
One of the tactics of the day was to use irregular bowlers in order to bring forward the declaration. When Jayasinghe was bowled for 99 by Brian Bolus, the Nottinghamshire opening bat, the fun really started. Clive Inman, the new batsman, took a single from Bolus to face the bowling of Norman Hill, the other Nottinghamshire opening bat.
In the space of a further 12 balls (13 in total), Inman raced to the fastest 50 on record. Norman Hill, bowling an inviting brand of `donkey-drops’, went for 4, 4, 0, 0, 6, and 4 in his first over and 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4 in his second. Inman, pulling strongly to mid-wicket, raced to 50 in eight minutes, beating the 11-minute record by Jun Smith of Middlesex, against Gloucestershire at Bristol in 1938. Read More – Sidath Wettimuny – Mr. Pleasant’ Has Pleasing Strokes