Review of South Africa-Zimbabwe Tests

A summary of all Tests between these countries:

SA has won 8 out of 9 Tests, including all 4 played at home and 4 out of 5 played away. Zimbabwe’s best performance can thus be said to be the Test at Bulawayo starting on 14 Sep 2001 (just after 9/11!) which was drawn.

We quickly go through the main individual performances:

Most runs (200 and above):

Andy Flower’s performance in a weak team is particularly creditable. He and Kallis are the only ones with more than one century.

Highest innings scores (90 and above):

Andy Flower again, highlighting his lone battle with 142 and 199* in a losing cause.

Most wickets (8 and above):

The first three names are no surprise. Zimbabwe bowlers hardly figure here, particularly since their team sustained several innings defeats.

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi and above):

Donald’s performance in the first Test between these teams remains unsurpassed. And Bryan Strang’s performance in the same Test is still a record for Zimbabwe.

Best match bowling (6wm and above):

As above, Donald’s record stands since 1995. And no Zimbabwe bowler appears here (again, because of the numerous innings defeats).

Most dismissals (5 and above):

As one would expect. Interestingly four non-keepers share the record of 5 catches.

Best innings fielding (3 or more dismissals):

As expected, though Sibanda’s presence as the lone Zimbabwe player is strange.

Best match fielding (4 or more dismissals):

Note the absence of any Zimbabwe players here, and GC Smith’s record among non-keepers.

Overall all-round performance (see criteria below):

The best all-rounder on both sides, while Pollock and Streak did not play enough in these matches.

All-round match performance (50+ runs and 5+ wickets):

There is no instance of 50+5wi in these matches, so the criterion is reduced to 50 runs and 5 wickets in the match. Here again it is Kallis all the way with Pollock playing a minor role.

 

 

Records of the Nagpur Test

Cheteshwar Pujara probably became the first player to bat on 8 successive days in Tests, though it may be difficult to verify this. We do however have a list of those who batted on all 5 days of a Test, so one can use this as a starting point:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283161.html

India equaled its record for the highest margin of victory in a Test (innings plus 239 runs) as you can see in the link below. This had earlier been achieved against BD at Dhaka in 2007.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/210099.html

We also look at Chandimal’s 50 in both innings. This has been achieved 132 times against India. 45 were in victories against India, 60 in draws and 27 in losses to India. Here is the list of instances in the last category:

This is in chronological order. Andy Flower is the only one to achieve this more than once, as he did this in 1993, 2000 and 2001. He also has the highest match total with 253, ahead of Amla (237), Strauss (231) and Samaraweera (220). Amla and Strauss scored centuries in each innings.

While on this line, we look at those who scored 175 or more runs in a match when their team lost to India:

Note Ponting’s 242 and 0, which occurred in the only Test where Agarkar took a fiver. Hayden’s 203 and 35 came against Harbhajan’s 15-wicket haul.

Viv Richard’s score came in India’s unexpected run chase of 400+, which was then a record for the highest winning score in the 4th innings.

History of the Champions Trophy since 1998

A look at the past editions of the ICC Champions trophy, giving a quick summary of the results:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_Champions_Trophy

Apart from the World Cup, this is the only tournament in which all Test countries have had the opportunity to take part-though in 2017 only the top 8 are playing, with the West Indies and Zimbabwe failing to qualify. Similarly in 2009 and 2013 Bangladesh and Zimbabwe did not qualify for the top 8. In 2006 all 10 countries competed, while the “main” tournament followed immediately after the “qualifying” tournament involving the bottom 4: West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. As things turned out West Indies and Sri Lanka qualified and the former ultimately became the runners-up.

There has been only one other multinational 50/60-over tournament (other than the Champions Trophy and World Cup) where all Test countries participated. This was the Benson & Hedges World Championship in Australia in 1984-85:

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1984-85/OD_TOURNEYS/WCC/

All 7 Test-playing countries at that time took part. These included Sri Lanka but not the exiled South Africa. You might say this was an unofficial World Cup.

Note that the only ICC tournaments won by South Africa (1998) and New Zealand (2000) can be found in the records of the Champion’s Trophy).

Footnote: If anyone wants to play around on Statsguru, they can select “ICC Champions Trophy (ICC Knockout)” in the Tournament heading, to get the aggregates for all these matches from 1998 onwards. I will be doing this in more detail over the next few days.

For the moment, the most matches played are 22 by M. Jayawardene and Sangakkara. The most runs scored is 791 by Gayle, and the most wickets 28 by the lesser-known KD Mills of New Zealand. The most dismissals are 33 by Sangakkara.

The best individual scores are 145* by NJ Astle and 145 by Andy Flower.

The best innings bowling is 6-14 by MF Mahroof of Sri Lanka. No one else has taken more than 5 wickets in an innings.

 

 

Unbeaten scores of 99,199 and 299

Test scores of 99 are more common than one may imagine. Misbah’s score of 99 in the ongoing Test at Kingston was the 89th such instance. The first such score was by Clem Hill against England in early 1902.

Scores of 99* are somewhat rarer. Here is the full list of such scores in chronological order:

The first such score was recorded only in late 1979. Boycott carried his bat through this innings.

Boycott had a special affinity for 99, as he was the first to score 99 and a century in the same Test:  http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63121.html

That series-equalling win was also due to Tony Greig’s little-used off-spin which got him 13 wickets in the match.

RT Ponting (101 and 99) was the only other batsman to score a century and 99 in the same Test, which was against South Africa at Melbourne in 2008-09.

All the scores of 99* (except that of Tudor) ended when the team was bowled out. Tudor’s 99* remains the only one where the team was chasing a target. This Test, which immediately followed the 1999 World Cup, had a rather weird scorecard:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63841.html

10 wickets fell on the first day and 21 on the second. At close England was 3 for 1 facing a target of 208. Alex Tudor, who normally batted at 8 or below, had come in as a nightwatchman at the fall of the first wicket. On the 3rd day it looked as if he would get a century but his fourth-wicket partner Graham Thorpe was in a hurry to finish things off, leaving Tudor stranded on his highest Test score of 99*. It was to be his only score above 50.

199s and 199*s are still rarer. Here is a complete list of the 11 instances:

The first 199 was scored in late 1984 by Mudassar Nazar, and the most recent by KL Rahul. Both the unbeaten 199s came when the teams were bowled out. Andy Flower scored 142 in addition to 199* in a follow-on as his side lost the Test. (That match ended on 9/11 in 2001).

Sangakkara was more fortunate as his team won.

And 299? Two such instances, the first one being unbeaten:

Martin Crowe’s 299 was the New Zealand record for over two decades until McCullum made 302.  Let us have a closer look at Bradman’s unbeaten 299:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62601.html

This was the 4th Test of Australia’s 5-0 whitewash of South Africa, who had not yet fully graduated from whipping boys. Bradman was stranded on 299 when the No 11 HM Thurlow was run out for 0 on his debut. Thurlow also failed to take a wicket in two innings. Predictably his first Test was his last.