A Bizarre Scorecard Entry: One Body Part Dismissed Another

Explore a rare cricketing oddity where one “body part” dismissed another in Test matches, featuring Travis Head, Josh Tongue, and other anatomical names.

One Body Part Dismissed Another (Image Source: Google)

Something special was missed. Two entries from the score cards of the Tests in recently played Ashes series need a relook with special attention to the name of batsman and bowler:

3rd Test at Adelaide

Australia 2nd Innings: Travis Head c Crawley b Tongue 170

5th Test at Sydney

Australia 2nd Innings: Travis Head c Carse b Tongue 29

Both the names relate to body parts. Both Travis Head and Josh Tongue are not the first cricketers with names related to some body part but a unique thing witnessed in this series was one body part dismissing another. It was generally believed that the two occasions, when Tongue dismissed Head, are the only cases in Tests, when one body part dismissed another. Cricket has seen many other players with such names (body parts) but none of them faced each other.

The further scrutiny revealed that none other than Josh Tongue had done it earlier also. Ireland played a Test at Lord’s in June 2023 and their playing XI included Fionn Hand and the Ireland 2nd Innings had an entry: Fionn Hand c Crawley b Tongue 7.

Let us look at some interesting names, of the cricketers, related to body part:

Michael Chin: A RH batsman from Berbice, who played a solitary first-class match for Guyana (against Demerara) in 1983. Unfortunately, all the Jones Cup matches he played were not accorded First-Class status.

Salman Butt: An elegant LH batsman who played 33 Tests for Pakistan but unfortunately he is most remembered for his role, as a Pakistan captain, in the spot-fixing scandal of 2009.

Travis Head: He needs no introduction and recently scored 600+ runs in the Ashes series. India will never forget him for his match-defining knocks of 163 in the June 2023 WTC final and 137 in November 2023 CWC final.

Doug Insole: He had a modest career of 9 Tests for England. He was more famous as the TCCB (Test and County Cricket Board) chairman and the MCC president.

Graeme Beard: An all-rounder who played 3 Tests for Australia, all in one series (1979-80 tour of Pakistan). In most of his photographs, he is clean-shaven.

Don Beard: This New Zealander is most remembered for his crucial role when New Zealand won their first Test, against West Indies at Auckland in 1955-56, with 31, 1-20, 6* and 3-22.

Miriam Knee: A right-arm Australia woman bowler who could bowl both seam and spin. She took 35 Test wickets in eight matches at 16.28. She averages in the high 20s with bat (27 in Tests, 29 in ODIs) and 16 with ball in both Tests and ODIs.

William Back: Played 2 first-class matches which included Western Australia's inaugural first-class match back in 1893.

David Brain: He led Zimbabwe attack in international cricket but later on sacrificed his cricket career (9 Tests and 32 ODIs) for the family business.

Brian Brain: A fast-medium English bowler who didn’t play international cricket but made his mark in the county cricket.

Henry Foot, Charles Foot, and Anthony Foot: Henry, Charles and Anthony, played one first-class game each.

Josh Tongue: The one English name who is making most news nowadays. So far he has played 9 Tests (claiming 49 wickets) and has already claimed Head twice.

Fionn Hand: Most remembered for getting Ben Stokes out on the ball which was later described as the ball of the 2022 T20 World Cup. He had a taste of Tongue in Ireland's one-off Test against England in 2023.

John Kidney: A former cricketer from Barbados, played in 15 matches including representing an all-West Indies team against a touring MCC side in 1912-13.

Barry Tooth: A South African, participated in 14 first-class matches and three List-A matches. There was Victor Tooth also, in England, who played 3 matches.