Andy Sandham

Andrew Sandham (6 July 1890 – 20 April 1982) was an English cricketer, a right-handed batsman who played 14 Test matches between 1921 and 1930. He scored over 40,000 first-class runs, but bowled only very rarely; he took just 18 wickets in his career.

Biography

Born in Streatham, London, Sandham made his Surrey debut in 1911, and was capped in 1913. In his 26 years at the county Sandham formed a formidable opening partnership with Jack Hobbs, and the two put on a hundred for the first wicket on 66 occasions, the highest of these the 428 they accumulated against Oxford University in 1926. He passed 2,000 runs in eight seasons, and during the middle part of his career between 1924 and 1931 averaged above 50 in all but two years. He scored an unbeaten 292 against Northants, being denied his triple century only by Percy Fender's declaration, and still holds three record Surrey partnerships, including the 173 he put on with Andy Ducat for the 10th wicket at Leyton after suffering a bout of food poisoning.

Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider, styled as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider between 2001 and 2007, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formally owned by Eidos Interactive, then by Square Enix after their acquisition of Eidos in 2009, the franchise focuses on the archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft, who travels the globe searching for lost artifacts and infiltrating dangerous tombs and ruins. The character was created by a team at Core Design that included Toby Gard. The gameplay generally focuses around action-adventure exploration of environments, solving puzzles, navigating hostile environments filled with traps, and fighting numerous enemies.

Development on the original game began in 1993. Its success prompted Core Design to develop a new game annually for the next four years, which put a strain on staff. The sixth game, The Angel of Darkness, faced difficulties during development and was considered a failure at release. This prompted Eidos to switch development duties to Crystal Dynamics, which has been the series' primary developer since then. Other developers have contributed either to spin-off titles within the series or ports of mainline titles.

West Indies

The West Indies is a region of the Caribbean Basin and North Atlantic Ocean that includes the many islands and island nations of the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago.

After the first of the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the Americas, Europeans began to use the term West Indies to differentiate that region from the Indies (South Asia and Southeast Asia).

History

From the 17th through the 19th century, the European colonial territories of the West Indies were the French West Indies, British West Indies, the Danish West Indies, the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch West Indies), and the Spanish West Indies.

In 1916, Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to the United States for US $25 million in gold, as per the Treaty of the Danish West Indies. The Danish West Indies became an insular area of the US, called the United States Virgin Islands.

Between 1958 and 1962, the United Kingdom reorganised all their West Indies island territories (except the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas) into the West Indies Federation. They hoped that the Federation would coalesce into a single, independent nation. However, the Federation had limited powers, numerous practical problems, and a lack of popular support; consequently, it was dissolved by the British in 1963, with nine provinces becoming independent sovereign states and four becoming British Overseas Territories.

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket and is considered its highest standard. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The two teams of 11 players play a four-innings match, which may last up to five days (or longer in some historical cases). It is generally considered the most complete examination of teams' playing ability and endurance. The origin of the name Test stems from the long, gruelling match being a "test" of the relative strength of the two sides.

The first officially recognised Test match began on 15 March 1877, between England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where Australia won by 45 runs. A Test match to celebrate 100 years of Test cricket was held in Melbourne from 12 to 17 March 1977, in which Australia beat England by 45 runs—the same margin as that first Test.

In October 2012, the International Cricket Council recast the playing conditions for Test matches, permitting day/night Test matches. The first day/night game took place between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide on 27 November 2015.

Tomb Raider II

Tomb Raider II is an action-adventure video game, part of the Tomb Raider series and the sequel to the 1996 video game Tomb Raider. Developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive, the game was originally released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation in 1997 and Mac OS in 1998.

The game sold over 8 million copies worldwide as of 2003, making it one of the best-selling games released up to that point and the second best selling of the franchise.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Tomb Raider II builds upon the basic set up of the original game. For a detailed discussion of its features, see the gameplay section of Tomb Raider. Innovations in Tomb Raider II include, new weapons, extra moves, a small set of vehicles, larger levels, many more enemies, mostly human enemies and dynamic lighting (in the original gun fire did not briefly light up the immediate area and flares did not exist). As well as these new features, the player may now save wherever and whenever they choose, save for a few special locations, as opposed to its predecessor's crystal saving feature.