Michael Holding

West Indies·Bowler

Whispering Death — one of cricket's greatest fast bowlers who kicked the stumps in frustration during a Test in New Zealand in 1980.

28 incidents documented

Controversies & Incidents

😂Mild

Arshdeep Singh Roasts Shashank Singh in Airport-Lounge Clip — IPL 2026

Punjab Kings

1 May 2026

A 38-second clip of Punjab Kings' Arshdeep Singh roasting teammate Shashank Singh in an airport lounge became one of IPL 2026's most-shared off-field moments. The premise was Shashank's run of dropped catches across the season — including the now-notorious drop of KL Rahul on 12, who went on to make 150-plus. Arshdeep, on camera, asks Shashank to demonstrate his catching technique using a coffee cup; the bit lands, both players laugh, and the clip is uploaded by a teammate before the squad has cleared security.

#IPL 2026#Arshdeep Singh#Shashank Singh

⭐Mild

Mohammed Shami's Final-Ball Six That Tied a Match — KKR vs LSG

Lucknow Super Giants vs Kolkata Knight Riders

26 April 2026

With seven runs needed off the final ball of KKR's chase against LSG at Ekana on 26 April 2026, KKR No.10 Mohammed Shami launched a Kartik Tyagi half-volley over long-off for six to tie the match. The hit set up the Super Over that Sunil Narine then won for KKR.

#IPL 2026#Mohammed Shami#Kartik Tyagi

🔥Moderate

Rohit Sharma's Hamstring Injury — Three Matches Missed for MI

Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

12 April 2026

Rohit Sharma sustained a hamstring injury during MI's 12 April 2026 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and missed at least three subsequent matches as a result. The injury, suffered during a stretching shot, came at a moment when MI's struggling 2026 campaign could not afford the loss of its most experienced batter.

#IPL 2026#Rohit Sharma#Mumbai Indians

🔥Moderate

WPL 2026's Two-Venue Format — Controversy Over Lack of Home-and-Away Cricket

WPL franchises

January 2026

The 2026 Women's Premier League was played across only two venues rather than the IPL-style home-and-away format that some sections of cricket commentary had advocated for. The BCCI's logistics-and-broadcast-efficiency framing of the decision drew criticism from women's-cricket advocates who argued that the format was holding the WPL back from its full development potential.

#WPL 2026#two venue format#home and away

🚨Explosive

Sandpapergate: Ball Tampering in Cape Town

Australia vs South Africa

24 March 2018

Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper to tamper with the ball during the third Test at Cape Town, in a plan hatched by David Warner and known to captain Steve Smith, leading to unprecedented bans.

#sandpapergate#steve smith#david warner

🥊Moderate

Wahab Riaz's Fiery Spell to Shane Watson — 2015 World Cup

Pakistan vs Australia

20 March 2015

Wahab Riaz bowled a fearsome spell of fast bowling to Shane Watson in the World Cup quarter-final, hitting him multiple times and sledging aggressively.

#wahab riaz#watson#world cup

🚨Mild

Faf du Plessis Zipper Ball Tampering

South Africa vs Pakistan

15 October 2013

Faf du Plessis was caught on camera rubbing the ball against the zipper of his trouser pocket during a Test against Pakistan, constituting ball tampering.

#faf du plessis#ball tampering#zipper

😂Moderate

Shahid Afridi Bites the Cricket Ball on Camera

Australia vs Pakistan

2010-02-01

Shahid Afridi was caught on camera biting the cricket ball in an apparent ball-tampering attempt, leading to a ban and worldwide ridicule.

#shahid-afridi#ball-tampering#biting

😂Mild

Murali's 800th Wicket — Last Ball of His Last Match Drama

Sri Lanka vs India

2010-07-22

Murali needed one wicket to reach 800 in his final Test but kept being denied, creating incredible tension before Pragyan Ojha finally became his 800th victim with the last ball.

#muttiah-muralitharan#800-wickets#retirement

🥊Explosive

Harbhajan Singh Slaps Sreesanth — IPL 2008

Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab

25 April 2008

Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth after an IPL match, leaving Sreesanth in tears on the field. Harbhajan was banned for the remainder of the IPL season.

#harbhajan#sreesanth#slap

🏏Explosive

Kasprowicz Glove Catch — Ashes 2005 Edgbaston

England vs Australia

4-7 August 2005

Michael Kasprowicz was given out caught behind in one of the closest Ashes matches ever, but replays suggested his glove was off the bat handle when the ball hit it.

#ashes#edgbaston#kasprowicz

🚨Explosive

Saleem Malik Banned for Life

Pakistan vs Various

23 May 2000

Pakistani batsman Saleem Malik became the first international cricketer to be banned for life for match fixing, after Justice Qayyum's inquiry found him guilty of offering bribes to Australian players.

#saleem malik#pakistan#life ban

⭐Explosive

Australia End the West Indies Dynasty — Sabina Park 1995

West Indies vs Australia

1995-05-03

On May 3, 1995, Australia beat the West Indies by an innings and 53 runs at Sabina Park to take the four-Test series 2-1 — and end West Indian dominance of Test cricket after 15 years and 29 unbeaten series. Steve Waugh's 200 and a 231 stand with twin Mark anchored the win.

#australia#west-indies#sabina-park

⭐Serious

Sunil Gavaskar Becomes First to 10,000 Test Runs — Ahmedabad 1987

India, Pakistan

1987-03-07

Sunil Gavaskar reached 10,000 Test runs against Pakistan at Ahmedabad in March 1987, becoming the first batsman in history to cross the mark and recalibrating cricket's notion of longevity.

#sunil-gavaskar#india#pakistan

⭐Serious

Patrick Patterson's Debut at Sabina Park — February 1986

West Indies, England

1986-02-21

Replacing the rested Michael Holding at Sabina Park in February 1986, Patrick Patterson took 4 for 30 and 3 for 44 on his Test debut on what Graham Gooch later called 'the only pitch I have ever feared for my life on'.

#patrick-patterson#west-indies#england

🔥Moderate

Ian Botham's 63-Day Cannabis Ban and First-Ball Comeback — 1986

England, New Zealand

1986-08-21

After admitting in the Mail on Sunday to having smoked cannabis, Ian Botham was banned for 63 days by the TCCB in May 1986 — and came back at The Oval in August to take a wicket with his first ball and pass Dennis Lillee's world Test wicket record.

#ian-botham#england#1986

⭐Serious

Joel Garner — 'Big Bird' and the Yorker Length From Six-Foot-Eight

West Indies

1985-06-30

Standing six feet eight inches, Joel Garner — 'Big Bird' — bowled the most accurate Test yorker of the 1980s, took 259 Test wickets at 20.97 and was the second pillar of Clive Lloyd's pace cartel alongside Malcolm Marshall.

#joel-garner#west-indies#fast-bowling

⭐Serious

Clive Lloyd Retires from Captaincy — End of an Era, 1985

West Indies

1985-01-20

Clive Lloyd retired from international cricket and the West Indies captaincy at the end of the 1984-85 Australian tour, ending an 11-year reign that included two World Cup finals, the Blackwash, and the most successful captaincy in cricket history at the time.

#clive-lloyd#west-indies#captaincy

⭐Serious

Blackwash — West Indies 5-0 vs England, 1984

England, West Indies

1984-08-13

Clive Lloyd's West Indies became the first touring side to win every Test of a five-match series in England, sweeping the home team 5-0 in a result that was instantly nicknamed the 'Blackwash'.

#west-indies#england#test-series

⭐Serious

Malcolm Marshall's Broken-Hand Century and 7/53 — Headingley 1984

England, West Indies

1984-07-12

With his left hand encased in a plaster cast after a double fracture, Malcolm Marshall came out to bat one-handed at Headingley, helped Larry Gomes to a century, then took 7/53 to win the Test.

#malcolm-marshall#west-indies#england

⭐Serious

Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath — The Bowlers Who Won the 1983 World Cup

India, West Indies

1983-06-25

Madan Lal's 3 for 31 — including the wicket of Viv Richards — and Mohinder Amarnath's 3 for 12 in seven overs ripped through the West Indies in the 1983 World Cup final and made an unlikely 183 enough to win the trophy.

#madan-lal#mohinder-amarnath#india

🥊Serious

Michael Holding Kicks the Stumps Down

New Zealand vs West Indies

12 February 1980

Michael Holding kicked the stumps out of the ground in frustration after an LBW appeal was turned down against John Parker.

#michael holding#stumps#frustration

🔥Explosive

Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket Revolution

Multiple (WSC vs Establishment Cricket)

24 November 1977

Media mogul Kerry Packer signed 51 of the world's best cricketers to a rival competition after being denied TV broadcast rights, fundamentally transforming professional cricket.

#kerry packer#world series cricket#wsc

🔥Serious

Bedi's Sabina Park Protest — India's Effective Forfeit, April 1976

India vs West Indies

21-25 April 1976

At Sabina Park in April 1976, three weeks after India's chase of 406 at Port of Spain, Bishan Bedi declared India's first innings closed at 306/6 and effectively forfeited the second at 97 — five Indian batsmen recorded as "absent hurt" — in protest at what he considered intimidatory short-pitched bowling. Anshuman Gaekwad was hit behind the ear and hospitalised, Brijesh Patel struck in the mouth, and Vishwanath's finger broken. It was Clive Lloyd's first Test as captain with four genuine fast bowlers — Roberts, Holding, Daniel and Holder — and the moment is generally identified as the start of the West Indian pace strategy of the next two decades.

#Bishan Bedi#Sabina Park#Anshuman Gaekwad

🥊Serious

Tony Greig's 'Grovel' Comment — West Indies Fury 1976

England vs West Indies

3 June 1976

Tony Greig infamously said he intended to make the West Indies 'grovel,' a comment with racial undertones that provoked an incredible West Indian response.

#greig#grovel#west indies

⭐Mild

Roy Fredericks — 169 in 145 Balls, Perth 1975

Australia vs West Indies

12-16 December 1975

Roy Fredericks made 169 from 145 balls at the WACA in December 1975, opening the West Indian innings against Lillee and Thomson at their fastest. He hooked the second ball of the innings, from Lillee, for six. His hundred came in 71 balls and remains, alongside Adam Gilchrist's 57-ball century at the same ground in 2006, among the fastest in WACA Test history. Lindsay Hassett, broadcasting on the ABC, called it "the greatest innings I have seen in Australia". West Indies won by an innings and 87 runs.

#Roy Fredericks#WACA#Lillee

⭐Mild

Freddie Trueman Becomes the First Man to Take 300 Test Wickets — The Oval, August 1964

England vs Australia

1964-08-15

On 15 August 1964, at The Oval, Fred Trueman caught Neil Hawke at slip off his own bowling to become the first man in cricket history to take 300 Test wickets. The milestone had been expected for several matches; the moment itself was characteristically Trueman — a slip catch taken with ease off a delivery bowled in anger. His celebrated remark, that 'whoever gets the next lot'll be bloody tired', has echoed in cricket ever since.

#freddie-trueman#300-wickets#test-cricket

⭐Mild

W.G. Grace's Maiden First-Class Hundred — 224 Not Out at the Oval, 1866

England vs Surrey

1866-07-31

Two weeks after his eighteenth birthday, W.G. Grace scored 224 not out for England against Surrey at the Oval — his maiden first-class century, his first double-hundred, and the innings that, in Harry Altham's phrase, made him 'thenceforward the biggest name in cricket'. On the second afternoon his captain V.E. Walker let him slip away to Crystal Palace to win the National Olympian Association 440 yards hurdles race; he then returned to bat on.

#wg-grace#double-hundred#1866