It’s not over till it’s over!

QUESTION

Was Scott Boswell’s over, mentioned in an earlier answer, the longest ever bowled in professional cricket? ON AUGUST 14, 1982, Gladstone Small, a 21-year- old Barbados-born english fast bowler, was trying to make an impression on his new employer — Warwickshire — when things went horribly wrong.

Off a long run, he sent down ten consecutive no-balls. he then radically shortened his run to two paces, but the concentration of staying behind the line and keeping the ball on the pitch at the same time was too much and he bowled a wide. he eventually bowled a 17-ball over, the joint longest on record.

It prompted Warwickshire’s Dennis Amiss’s famous quip: ‘When I said give us three or four quick overs at the start, I didn’t mean all at once.’

But unlike with Boswell, it didn’t ruin Small’s career, who went on to win 17 Test caps and play an important part in an Ashes-winning team.

In the international one-day format, the longest over was bowled by Pakistan seamer Mohammed Sami. In a 2004 Asia Cup tie against Bangladesh, Sami sent down a 17-ball over featuring seven wides and four no-balls, leaking 24 runs. Despite this, Sami finished with figures of 3 for 38 in 8.2 overs and Pakistan won easily.

Perhaps the most surprising inclusion in this list is West Indian Test legend Curtly Ambrose. The 6ft 7in Antiguan was perhaps the most naturally gifted fast bowler of all time.

Despite 405 Test wickets at an average of 20.99, he bowled a 15-ball over containing a record nine no-balls in the first innings of a match in Perth in February 1997.

But still the West Indies won by ten wickets — and Ambrose had a five-wicket haul.

his 15-ball over — which wasn’t much fun for batsmen Shane Warne and Andy Bichel, as every ball was on target — took 12 minutes to complete.

George O’Brien, Worcester. Cricket debacle: Bowler Gladstone Small

QUESTION

Who performed the first cataract operation and how has it been refined over the years? CATARACTS occur when changes in the lens of the eye cause it to become less transparent. This results in cloudy or misty vision. Clumps of either protein or yellow-brown pigment might be deposited in the lens, reducing the transmission of light to the retina at the back of the eye.

Cataract surgery is one of the oldest surgical procedures known. The Indian surgeon Sushruta first described a procedure known as ‘couching’ in the Indian medical treatise Sushruta Samhita in 800BC and the technique was already in widespread use by the 5th century BC.

Couching was only possible when the lens had become completely opaque, rigid and heavy, to the point where its supporting zonules (the ring of thousands of fibrous strands connecting the ciliary muscles with the crystalline lens) had become fragile.

The eye would then be struck with a blunt object with sufficient force to cause the zonules to break, so the lens would dislocate into the vitreous cavity, restoring limited, but completely unfocused, vision.

French ophthalmologist Jacques Daviel (1696–1762) was the first modern european physician successfully to extract cataracts, performing the first extracapsular extraction on April 8, 1747, in Paris. he purposely made a corneal incision to remove part of the inner lens.

This technique was adapted in 1753 by London surgeon Samuel Sharp, who was the first to perform intracapsular cataract extraction successfully (ICCE).

he used thumb pressure to negotiate the entire lens out. By the early 20th century, tools to grasp the lens, such as forceps and suction cups, were developed. But the technique was restricted to ‘ripe’ lenses: cataracts so hardened they would not break into pieces while being removed.

The most significant modern era change was the introduction of phacoemulsification surgery in 1967 by Dr Charles Kelman.

his technique uses ultrasonic waves to emulsify the nucleus of the eye’s lens to remove the cataracts without a large incision. This removed the need for an extended hospital stay and made surgery less painful. It has since helped millions of people worldwide.

After the cloudy lens is removed, it is replaced with an artificial clear plastic lens, called an intraocular implant or intraocular lens (IOL).

Yasmin Gay, London W6.

QUESTION

On the day ITV launched in 1955, it featured a boxing match. Who was it between? FURTHER to the earlier answer, The Bridge house in Canning Town in 1975 was operating as a successful music venue at least a decade before Terry Murphy took over. I often played there in the mid-Sixties with a jazz/comedy band called The Lounge Lizards — a name subsequently used by a number of bands, none connected with the original band.

The Bridge house was a short distance along the east India Dock road from the Iron Bridge Tavern, which was run for many years as a music venue by famous actress and singer Queenie Watts and her husband Slim. Both pubs often featured jazz bands before the rock era took over.

Bill Stagg, London SE23.

IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT. You can also fax them to 01952 780111 or you can email them to charles. legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.