Centuries in both innings of a Test-Part 2

Hope you have seen Part 1: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2022/11/21/centuries-in-both-innings-of-a-test-part-1/

Going into more depth, we find there are 5 instances of players making their only two Test centuries in the same match :

1. J Moroney (Aus), 118 and 101* v SA, Johannesburg, 1950
2. Wajahatullah Wasti (Pak), 133 and 121* v SL, Lahore, 1999
3. Yasir Hameed (Pak), 170 and 105 v BD. Karachi, 2003 (on debut)
4. PG Fulton (NZ), 136 and 110 v Eng, Auckland, 2013
5. SD Hope (WI), 147 and 118* v Eng, Leeds, 2017

Points to note:

Wasti was playing in his 2nd Test.

Hope was the first to make centuries in both innings of a first-class match at Leeds, the home ground of several prolific batsmen such as Herb Sutcliffe, Len Hutton and Geoff Boycott.

Yasir Hameed made his only two Test centuries on his debut.

Apart from those listed above, here are those who made their first two Test centuries in the same match :

1. W Bardsley (Aus), 136 and 130 v Eng, Oval, 1909
2. VS Hazare (Ind), 116 and 145 v Aus, Adelaide, 1948
3. LG Rowe (WI), 214 and 100* v NZ, Kingston, 1972 (on debut)
4. GP Howarth (NZ), 122 and 102 v Eng, Auckland, 1978
5. LRD Mendis (SL), 105 and 105 v Ind, Chennai, 1982
6. PJ Hughes (Aus), 115 and 160 v SA, Durban, 2009
7. Imam-ul-Haq (Pak), 157 and 111* v Aus, Rawalpindi , 2022

Notes:

LRD Mendis was the first to make identical scores above 100 in both innings.

LG Rowe is the only one to score a century and double century on debut.

Imam-ul-Haq moved from the first list to the second list after he made his 3rd century in Dec 2022-which was also at Rawalpindi

Centuries in both innings of a Test-Part 1

It is easy to get a list of those who have achieved this using Statsguru:

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=player;qualmax1=2;qualmin1=2;qualval1=hundreds;size=100;template=results;type=batting;view=match

This has been done on 89 occasions in all Tests.

Bradman did it once. Tendulkar never did.

3 players did it on 3 occasions: SM Gavaskar, RT Ponting and DA Warner.

11 others did it on 2 occasions, including R Dravid.

58 others did it on one occasion.

This is a fairly rare occurrence, but seems to have become more frequent in recent times.

LG Rowe and Yasir Hameed are the only ones to score two centuries on their debut. Hameed never scored a century again.

There are some who have scored their only two centuries in a single Test. And some others who scored their first two centuries in a single Test.

Read more in Part 2.

Centuries in both innings of a Test-Part 2

Notes on winning 4th-innings chases

After the end of the 5th Eng vs Ind Test at Birmingham on Jul 5, 2022:

Highest winning scores in 4th-innings chases (300 and more):

This 378/3 is only the 9th highest 4th-innings chase in all Tests, but the highest by England. England’s previous record was set not long ago, when Stokes and Leach helped them to 362/9 in the 2019 Ashes. India is 3rd on this list with 406/4 against the West Indies in 1976.

On that occasion, India took the record which they held until 2003. The previous record was 404/3 by Australia in the 1948 Ashes. It remains the highest winning chase against England.

That included Bradman’s last century in his penultimate Test innings. His last innings was a duck.

India’s record against England is 387/4 at Chennai in 2008, soon after 26/11.

Highest winning scores in 4th-innings chases in England:

Australia’s 1948 feat of 404/3 is at the top here, and England’s 378/3 is second. Third is the Stokes-and-Leach show of 362/9 in 2019.

India’s best is only 174/6 in 1971, but it was enough to win their first Test in England.

Highest winning scores in 4th-innings chases by England:

Today’s chase is the best by England, surpassing the 362/9 in 2019.

Their previous best against India was 208/4 at Delhi in 1972.

Highest partnerships for Eng vs Ind in Tests:

The unbroken partnership of 269 between Root and Bairstow is the 3rd highest for all wickets in this series, and the highest for the 4th wicket. It surpassed the 266 by Hammond and Worthington in 1936.

Centuries in both innings in Tests between England and India:

Bairstow is the third to achieve this. Nobody from India has done it against England.

Rohit Sharma the opener

These are those who have made centuries in both innings as an opener:

The only other Indian player here is Gavaskar (on 3 occasions). Others with multiple appearances are Warner (3) and Hayden and Sutcliffe with 2. Some well-known openers such as Graeme Smith, Fredericks, Boycott and Hutton did not achieve this mark.

No one achieved this feat on his Test debut, as Rohit became an opener after playing several Tests in the middle order. Wasti did so in his second Test, although he had opened in the second innings of his debut.

We also look at those who scored 300 runs in a match while opening. These are in order of runs scored. Some made their 300 in one innings:

Rohit is 19th on this list and 4th for India, with Gavaskar leading and followed by two instances by Sehwag. Others with two instances are Hayden and Gayle.

While LG Rowe scored 214 and 100* on debut, he was not an opener in that match. He later scored 302 as an opener.

Another curiosity is Sutcliffe and Rohit having the same combination of 176 and 127.

Here we look at those who scored centuries as opener for India. This is up to Nov 01, 2019:

Note that Rohit and Mayank Agarwal are side by side. Since Nov 1, the latter has moved ahead of Rohit as he now has 3 centuries AND three fifties.

Interestingly, Gavaskar and Sehwag have almost the same batting average.

Finally, we look at batting averages for all openers with 20+ innings and average of 45.00 and above. This is up to Nov 01, 2019 and does not include the ICC XI Test of 2005:

We see a rather close bunching just above an average of 50.00, with Gavaskar, Hayden, Sehwag, WA Brown and EAB Rowan.

 

 

Centuries in both innings-2 (Revised 2019)

Hope you read the first part: https://abn397.wordpress.com/…/07/centuries-in-both-inning…/

A few other points of interest from the main table: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;opposition=1;opposition=2;opposition=25;opposition=29;opposition=3;opposition=4;opposition=40;opposition=5;opposition=6;opposition=7;opposition=8;opposition=9;orderby=start;qualmin1=2;qualval1=hundreds;size=100;spanmax1=25+Oct+2019;spanval1=span;team=1;team=2;team=25;team=29;team=3;team=4;team=40;team=5;team=6;team=7;team=8;team=9;template=results;type=batting;view=match

CAG Russell (1923) made centuries in each innings in his last Test.

These players made their only two centuries in the same Test:

J Moroney (Aus)-1950

Wajahatullah Wasti (Pak)-1999

Yasir Hameed (Pak)-2003 (on debut)

PG Fulton (NZ)-2013

SD Hope (WI)-2016

Hope is the only current player and may add to his tally of centuries.

PA da Silva (SL) is the only one with unbeaten centuries in both innings (1997).

Apart from those listed above, these players made their first two centuries in the same Test:

W Bardsley (Aus)-1909 Total 6 centuries

VS Hazare (Ind)-1948 Total 7

LG Rowe (WI)-1972 on debut-Total 7

GP Howarth (NZ)-1978 Total 6

LRD Mendis (SL)-1982 Total 4

PJ Hughes (Aus)-2009 Total 3

Mendis made 105 and 105, where 105 is the highest score made in both innings.

While Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most centuries (51), he never made centuries in both innings. His immediate followers Kallis (45) and Ponting (41) have done so.

25 or more Test centuries without ever making a century in both innings:

SR Tendulkar             51

M Jayawardene         34

AN Cook                      33

S Chanderpaul           30

MJ Clarke                    28

GC Smith                     27

 

Test batting performances of 2017

Here we look at individual batting performances for the calendar year 2017.

Most runs (750 and above):

SPD Smith and five others crossed 1000. Smith had the most centuries (6) followed by Elgar and Kohli with 5.

Smith also had 9 scores of 50-plus, which was attained by several others. But it is his Ashes counterpart Root who has 10 such scores. KL Rahul (who scored less than 750 runs and does not appear above) had 9 scores of 50+ with a top score of 90. You can also see Dickwella who failed to convert any of his 6 fifties.

Also Elgar has the most 4s (43) and Warner and Mushfiqur the most 6s (7) in the above table. A closer look shows that de Grandhomme (15) actually had the most 6s though he scored only 293 runs.

Highest individual innings (150 and above):

The highest score was 244* by AN Cook practically at the end of the year, while he and Kohli also made 243. Cook’s 244* is the first Test score at that number (though Bradman was once dismissed on 244). This 244* is also the highest score by anyone carrying his bat through an innings, surpassing GM Turner’s 223* in 1972.

Kohli has three double centuries while Elgar joined the somewhat exclusive 199 club.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Although Pujara and Kohli scored over 1000 runs they batted in less than 20 innings, so they do not appear here. So we have SPD Smith heading this table with Elgar a distant second.

Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, 50.00 and above):

Here we have Kohli closely followed by Dickwella, with Smith considerably behind.

Two centuries in a match:

Only one instance. They were Hope’s maiden centuries, and enabled the West Indies to win a Test in England for the first time since 2000.

Next we will take up bowling.