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Harry Sobers and the King of Spain

EW Swanton: enjoyed a little-known stint as an Argentinian despot © The Cricketer International

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A tale of two Huntes
A copy-typist transcribing a scorecard rendered "Errol Hunte" as "RL Hunte" during one match of West Indies' 1929-30 series against England, which resulted in two Huntes being given separate Test career records in Wisden and elsewhere for nearly 40 years until 1967, shortly before Errol died.

The great dictator
Some people - many of them players - felt that the powers-that-be paid far too much attention to the writings and theories of EW Swanton in the Daily Telegraph. So there was much mirth when one overseas newspaper reviewed Sort of a Cricket Person, Swanton's magisterial first volume of autobiography, under the title Sort of a Cricket Peron.

Beavis would approve
There was more to Nicky Peng, then of Durham and later of Glamorgan, than he let on. In filling in a form for the 2001 Playfair Annual, the Durham scorer Brian Hunt wanted to point out that the player's full surname was Peng Gillender, and hand-wrote: "He's a little coy about it as there's been a second marriage - But that is what is on his birth cert, according to the office and him. Hope this is clear." Bill Frindall, Playfair's editor at the time, thought it was. "Brian is meticulous," he told the Sunday Telegraph. "I therefore took the 'Butthat' as his father's surname. It looks as though he managed to begin 'But that' with a capital and run the words together." Next year Nicky Peng Butthat had become Peng Gillender.

Police record
When the stylish Nottinghamshire batsman Reg Simpson was called up for England's 1948-49 tour of South Africa, his local paper reported that he had been "a detective in the local police farce". Pressed for a correction, they obligingly conceded that it should have read "Simpson has been a defective in the local police force".

The King of Spain
Warwickshire and England spinner Ashley Giles wanted something a bit different for his 2004 benefit, and ordered some commemorative mugs with "The King of Spin" emblazoned on them. But the consignment turned up with an extra vowel - and promptly became collectors' items.

The case of the outraged modesty
Reporting on a Test between India and Pakistan in Bombay in 1979, the Daily Telegraph solemnly announced: "Javed Miandad was the eighth to go. He was stretched well forward when a ball from Doshi raped him on the pad."

Basil D'Oliveira in 1958: pretty spry for a 927-year-old © Getty Images

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The promiscuous offspinner
The Telegraph clearly liked the Indians: after a match in 1967 they reported that "In the collapse after the interval, the 26-year-old Prasanna shot out seven batsmen for 69 runs in 16 lovers, two of which were maidens."

Dolly's date of birth
There was always some debate about Basil D'Oliveira's age. When he first played for England in 1966, the selectors thought he was 31, but once he was established in the side he added three years on and owned up to being born in 1931. His autobiography sheepishly admitted that even that might be a little optimistic, but the Playfair Annual went a bit too far in 1979, when they gave his year of birth as 1031.

Not so fiery Fred
Fred Trueman was, as he liked to remind everyone, among the fastest bowlers who ever lived. But he clearly didn't impress Wisden's correspondent at Fenner's on his county debut in 1949: "Yorkshire gave a trial to three young players - Lowson, an opening batsman, Close, an allrounder, and Trueman, a spin bowler."

Is that Harry Sobers?
Another all-time great tripped Wisden up a few years later. When Garry Sobers made his debut for Barbados against the 1952-53 Indian tourists, aged 16, he batted at No. 9, bowled 67 overs in the second innings... and was dubbed "H Sobers" by the Almanack.

Hutton ill
And finally, not so much a misprint as a misread. The BBC radio announcer John Snagge was once relaying the county scores, and intoned: "Yorkshire 232 all out, Len Hutton ill - no, I'm sorry, Hutton 111."

Steven Lynch is the editor of the Wisden Guide to International Cricket 2011. And Ask Steven is now on Facebook

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