Three Greats at Number 3

                  M     I       NO      Runs    HS      Avg     100s    50s
Sir Don Bradman   52	80	10	6996	334	99.94	29	13
Ricky Ponting*    51	90	13	5734	257	74.46	23	19
Rahul Dravid**    49	80	13	4912	270	73.31	14	22

(* Ponting's record between 3 Oct 2002 & 3 Dec 2006 // ** Dravid's record during Sourav Ganguly's captaincy between 2000 & 2005 // Ponting's strike-rate was sixteen runs per 100 balls quicker than Dravid's)

Daylight separates Sir Donald Bradman from every batsman in Test history and just to illustrate this point, I've chosen two modern Number 3 greats who even at the peak of their powers, were on average scoring 25 runs less per innings than The Don.

Sultan Qaboos turns 71

A year ago, the Sultanate of Oman was celebrating four decades of His Majesty's rule* and everything looked rosy. A month later Mohamed Bouazizi's self immolation in Tunisia sparked the Arab Spring. What an eleven months its been since then.

The question of His Majesty's successor assumes even more significance than it did before. Who will it be? And will he receive the wholehearted support of his Omani subjects, in the same way as his predecessor, the incumbent Sultan? GOK.

(* Although November 18 is celebrated as National Day, it is actually the Sultan's birthday. His Majesty came to power on 23 July 1970.)

Words & Phrases: October 2011

01. Belfry
02. Aussie kiss
03. High jinks
04. Hard A
05. Tousled
06. Ham-fisted
07. Two bob
08. Martyr for/to drink
09. Kepi
10. Vituperative
11. (Infantile) Canard
12. Panjandrum
13. Tie-in
14. Bubba
15. Bagatelle
16. Silver bullet
17. Mivvi
18. Pendejo
19. In flagrante
20. Perfidious Albion
21. Munter
22. On the razzle
23. Put that in your pipe and smoke it
24. Its all gravy
25. Salutary
26. Coquettish
27. Bob-a-job
28. Slow Burner
29. Spotted dick
30. Leitmotif
31. Consequences

There's five fewer words than September and that's probably due to being at work for a couple weeks. In this edition there's two borrowed terms from French (9) & (15), a Spanish word (18), an Italian phrase (19) and an old parlour game (31).

[Poll #1796107]