ESPNcricinfo XI

And nine other memorable individual performances in Tests between England and India

Characters from books, comics and television who played cricket

Cricketers who played all five Tests of a series, and no more

Players who defined a series by the way they began it

Some entertainingly hopeless batsmen

Test cricketers who moved from the field to the press box

Popular and much-loved cricketers who played little international cricket

Not all cricketers are super-stylish. Sometimes they defy the coaching book, but get the job done

Famous cricketing mothers (and others who ought to be)

Players who ended their international careers in style

Cricket's statistics aren't all 99.94s. Sometimes the numbers are satisfyingly round

Cricketing twins, some who confused the opposition, others who faced off against each other

Kevin Pietersen was dropped from the Lord's Test for textual impropriety. Here are some other instances of players who missed matches for unlikely reasons

Some names that go well together on a scorecard, conjuring up visions of food, music or even spy movies

Players who had a solitary day in the sun in otherwise unremarkable careers

Successful Test returns from injuries, bans, exiles, and offending royal sensibilities

Not-so-famous cricketers who share names with better known colleagues

Tatenda Taibu recently quit cricket to join the church. Here are other cricketers who were also men of the cloth

Cricketers who earned presents for themselves on their birthdays

Cricketers (or their kin) who played at Wimbledon. And a tennis star who likes cricket