In the ongoing Test between Australia and the West Indies at Perth, M Labuschagne became the 8th to achieve this double. Here is the list in chronological order:
KD Walters 242 & 103 Aus v WI Sydney 1969
SM Gavaskar 124 & 220 Ind v WI Port of Spain 1971
LG Rowe 214 & 100* WI v NZ Kingston 1972 (On debut)
GS Chappell 247* & 133 Aus v NZ Wellington 1974
GA Gooch 333 & 123 Eng v Ind Lord’s 1990
BC Lara 221 & 130 WI v SL Colombo SSC 2001 (WI lost)
KC Sangakkara 319 & 105 SL v BD Chattogram 2014
M Labuschagne 204 & 104* Aus v WI Perth 2022
Note that there are other cases of 300 runs without a double century, last achieved by RG Sharma (176 &127) at Vizag in 2019. AR Border (150* & 153 at Lahore in 1980) is the only one to score 150 or more in both innings.
Gooch and Sangakkara are the only ones with a triple century.
“YJ” Bairstow became the latest to score a century in each innings against India. Bradman was the first to do this:
This the only “double” by Bradman.
Also note the 300 +100 by Gooch. Strauss is the only other one to score centuries in both innings for England against India.
Gooch also holds the record for the most runs in a Test.
Bradman and Gooch were both captaining their sides.
Those who scored a century in both innings for India:
Gavaskar did it thrice (twice against WI) and Dravid twice. Kohli, Rahane and RG Sharma are the most recent ones. Gavaskar (Dec 1978) and Kohli were captaining their sides.
When Hazare made his double against Bradman’s team, it was the first time he had crossed 50.
Gavaskar’s 344 remains the most runs in a match by an Indian batsman. VVS Laxman’s 340 (59 + 281) is next.
The series was drawn 2-2 with 1 draw. India however retained the Pataudi trophy by virtue of their win in India in early 2021.
This is only the second drawn series for India in England, the first being 1-1 in 2002. They had won only in 1971, 1986 and 2007.
The jinx at Birmingham continued, as India have lost 7 and drawn 1 at this venue.
The overall summary:
Note England’s strong home advantage, although India is coming up.
Proceeding to individual performances, starting with
Batting:
Most runs (800 and more):
JE Root has come within a whisker of overtaking Tendulkar’s total of 2535, and has overtaken Gavaskar. Kohli and Pujara are next among current players.
Root has the most centuries (9) followed by Cook, Dravid and Tendulkar with 7.
Gavaskar and Tendulkar have the most 50+ scores (20), followed by Root with 19.
Highest innings scores (180 and more):
The highest score in recent years was 218 by Root in early 2021.
Spare a thought for KK Nair who made India’s highest against England but played only 6 Tests overall. This was his only Test score more than 50.
Highest batting averages (Min 20 innings, 35.00):
Root is in second place, after Barrington. Kohli and Pujara are next among current players.
Pant has the best strike rate among current players, after Kapil and Sehwag. Buttler and Ashwin are a little below, followed by Bairstow. Many of the higher strike rates are from recent years.
Next we take up
Bowling:
Most wickets (40 and more):
Anderson leads by a large margin over Chandrashekhar. Ashwin and Broad are next among current players.
Chandra has the most 5-fors (8) followed by 6 by Anderson, Ashwin and Botham.
Bedser is the only one with 2 10-fors, which came in his first 2 Tests.
Best innings bowling (includes all 7wi and above):
Nothing much from recent years. The 3 best performances were 50 or more years ago.
Best match bowling (includes all 10wm and above):
While there a few from recent years, such as Ashwin’s 12-for in 2016, we can also note AR (Axar) Patel’s 11-for in 2021 which is the best in any pink-ball Test. Note Bedser’s twin 11-wicket hauls at the start of his career. And JK Lever’s 50 and 10-for on debut.
Best bowling average (Minimum 2000 balls bowled, maximum 35.00):
The bowling averages are headed by Illingworth and JK Lever,
The best economy rates are by Illingworth and Nadkarni
We have looked at the highest Test scores without sixes and fours. Now we look at the counterpart-scores with the most sixes, fours and boundary runs in Tests.
A basic reference would be the highest Test innings scores:
which most fans are generally aware of, including Sehwag’s 319 in 2008 which is the highest for India
We also look at the lesser-known
Highest Test match scores (adding scores of both innings):
While everyone knows about Lara’s record of 400* and earlier record-holders such as Hayden, Sobers and Hutton the record scores in a match are not so well known. The record is held by Gooch (456) followed by Mark Taylor (426) and Sangakkara (424). Gooch and Sangakkara are the only ones to score a triple century and century in the same Test. The highest for India is the relatively old 344 (124 and 220) by Gavaskar in 1971.
We now look more closely at fours and sixes:
For Test innings:
Most sixes:
Akram’s 12 6s has been the record since 1996. He took the record from Hammond (10) made back in 1933.
Sidhu and Agarwal also appear from India.
Holder, Stokes and Agarwal all scored 8 6s in an innings in 2019.
It is interesting to compare the record for most sixes in a Test match:
The record recently passed to Rohit Sharma with 13 6s in his two centuries against South Africa. Before that, Akram’s 12 (in one innings!) was the match record standing since 1996.
Now we look at the most fours in a Test innings:
This record was made over a half-century ago with Edrich’s 52 (plus 5 sixes) against New Zealand in 1965. Next are Sehwag (47 in a score of 293) and Bradman (46 in 334)
The most fours in a Test match:
Edrich is in third place with 52, after Gooch and VVS Laxman (56 in two innings).
The next question one may ask is regarding the most runs in boundaries in an innings and match. This requires putting the Statsguru results into a spreadsheet for further work. This is what we get:
Most runs in an innings in boundaries:
Here we see that the most is 238 (out of 310) by Edrich, being (52*4)+(5*6) = 238. Next come Hayden (218/380) and Inzamam (206/329) before two by Sehwag (202/293 and 198/319). Sehwag indeed has 4 of the top 10 entries here!
And finally, the most runs in a match in boundaries:
Edrich’s 238 in one innings is surpassed only by Gooch’s 266 (56*4 + 7*6) in his two centuries . Sangakkara is third with 232 (from 319+105) and VVS Laxman fourth with 224 (from 59+281).
To sum up:
Highest innings: 400* by Lara in 2004
Highest total runs in a match: 456 by Gooch in 1990
Most sixes in an innings (12 in 257*) by Wasim Akram vs Zimbabwe in 1996
Most fours in an innings (52 in 310*) by JH Edrich vs New Zealand in 1965
Most sixes in a match (13 in 176+127) by RG Sharma vs South Africa in 2019
Most fours in a match (56 in 333+123, 56 in 59+281) by GA Gooch (1990) and VVS Laxman (2001) respectively
Most runs in boundaries in an innings (238 = 52*4 +5*6) by JH Edrich in 1965.
Most runs in boundaries in a match (266 = 56*4+7*6) by GA Gooch in 1990
Remember that Gooch’s 456 runs in this match is the most in any Test or indeed in any first-class match.
RG Sharma made the 54th score of 200 and above in a Test for India. These include 3 of 300+ and 51 from 200-299. Kohli has the most such scores (7), although Sehwag has the highest scores both inside and outside India. Outside Asia, we go quite far down until we reach Tendulkar’s 241* at Sydney.
The first such score was Umrigar’s 223 in 1955, equalled in the next month by Mankad and then surpassed by him with 231 which remained the record until Gavaskar’s 236* in 1983.This was surpassed by VVS Laxman’s 281 in 2001, Sehwag’s 309 in 2004 and again by him in 2008.
The highest in a win is 309 by Sehwag, in a loss 201* by Sehwag and in a draw 319 by (who else) Sehwag. An unique triple.
Now we see who did the same against India:
4 triple centuries and 47 from 200-299.
McCullum and Ponting have each done this 3 times against India.
The highest score here is Jayasuriya’s 340, the highest outside Asia is Gooch’s 333 and the highest in India is M Jayawardene’s 275.
The best in a victory is 333 by Gooch, in a defeat 242 by Ponting and in a draw 340 by Jayasuriya. In fact, Ponting’s 242 is the highest in any Test defeat.
The topic of honors boards at Lord’s for Tests has been covered in this blog several times.
Now the authorities have announced that they would be adding honors boards for
ODIs and Women’s matches.
We start with the centuries in ODIs at Lord’s:
Here is the entire list of 30 centuries:
A total of 30 centuries have been made here. The highest is 138* by Vivian Richards in the final of the 1979 World Cup. Next is 137 by DL Amiss which was in the very first match of the inaugural match of the World Cup, and another 137 by ME Trescothick in 2001. You can see that Trescothick is the only one to score three centuries here.
Some of the earlier matches were of 60-over duration.
While World Cup matches have been played here in 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 (including the finals), none of the Champions Trophy matches in 2004 were played here.
We now list out the centuries in the way they would be listed at Lord’s. They would be in chronological order.
First, the centuries by the home team (15):
The highest is 137 by Amiss and Trescothick. Trescothick has 3 centuries and Gooch 2.
Atherton never scored a Test century at Lord’s, with 99 being is highest in 15 Tests. He does however have a century here in 1995.
There are 4 centuries against India, headed by Amiss’s 137.
Next, the centuries by the visiting team against England (11):
The record score by Vivian Richards is the first such score here.
No one has scored more than one century here.
RT Ponting never scored a Test century at Lord’s, with a top score of 42 in 4 Tests. He does appear here.
No centuries by India here. The highest such score is 90 by SC Ganguly on 5 Sep 2004. Next is 87* by M Kaif in the tri-series final on 13 Jul 2002.
Finally, the centuries by neutral teams (4):
The first is by CH Lloyd in the World Cup final in 1975.
The next two by Mark Waugh and Neil Johnson were in the same World Cup league match in 1999. Johnson’s 132* is the highest score here.
The highest for India was only 38 by K Srikkanth in the World Cup final on 25 Jun 1983. It was the highest score in that match. This is the only neutral ODI played by India at Lord’s.
In that match, the highest score against India was 33 by IVA Richards.
Next we will look at the 5-fors in ODIs at Lord’s. As you may guess, there are considerably less instances than centuries.
38 of these resulted in victories, 11 in losses and 37 in draws.
3 players have achieved this on 3 occasions: SM Gavaskar, RT Ponting and DA Warner.
10 players have achieved this on 2 occasions: AR Border, GS Chappell, PA de Silva, R Dravid, ML Hayden, GA Headley, JH Kallis, KC Sangakkara, H Sutcliffe, BRM Taylor and CL Walcott. Walcott did this in the same season.
And 57 did this on one occasion.
EH Weekes scored his 2 centuries in a sequence of 5 centuries in successive innings.
6 did so as captain: Border, IM Chappell, Gooch, Inzamam, Melville and RB Simpson. Of these, Melville’s 2 hundreds came in a sequence of 4 centuries in successive innings (with World War 2 intervening).
Two players have scored a triple hundred and hundred in the same Test: Gooch (1990) and Sangakkara (2014).
The following players have scored a double hundred and hundred in the same Test (in chronological order):
KD Walters (1969)
SM Gavaskar (1971) in debut series
LG Rowe (1972) on debut
GS Chappell (1974); his brother IM Chappell scored a century in each innings of the same Test.
BC Lara (2001); The only such instance on the losing side. His total of 221 + 130 = 351 is the highest match total in a losing side.
We now look at the honors boards in England’s dressing room.
A total of 129 centuries were made for England:
The most centuries by an English batsman are 6 each by Gooch and Vaughan.
Centuries in both innings were made by Gooch (333 and 123 v Ind in 1990) and Vaughan (103 and 101* v WI in 2004). Gooch’s 333 is also the only Test triple century at Lord’s. This was also the first instance of a triple century and century in a first-class match. Some years later Sangakkara repeated this in a Test against Bangladesh.
The next highest score for England here is 240 by Hammond v Aus in 1938.
Those who scored a century on debut were Hampshire (107 v WI, 1969), Strauss (112 v NZ, 2004) and Prior (126* v WI, 2007).
Next we look at the 95 five-fors by England:
The most five-forsare 8 by Botham followed by 5 each by Anderson and Trueman. Anderson may yet add to this.
The best performance here is 8-34 by Botham vs Pakistan in 1978, and he also scored a century in that match. Eight-wicket hauls have been made on 4 occasions by Botham (twice), Verity and Underwood.
There are numerous cases of five-fors in both innings. The most recent instance was by Woakes vs Pak in 2016.
It seems to be easier for debutants to take a five-for than to score a century at Lord’s. Here are those who took a five-for on debut:
Cork has the best figures here. No one has taken five-fors in each innings on debut.
And finally, we look at the rather shorter list of the 17 who took 10wm for England:
Underwood is the only one to do so twice.
Verity’s 15-wicket haul is the best here.
Bedser is the only one to do so on debut.
And MM Ali is the only English player to score a fifty and take a ten-for in a Test at Lord’s. He finished the match with a hat-trick.
There are some who have scored both a century and a five-for at Lord’s (though not always in the same Test):
Botham (108 and 8-34 v Pak in 1978) is the only one to do so in the same Test.
Those who scored both a century and ten-for at Lord’s:
None of them scored a century and took 10 wickets in a match (in fact, this has happened only 3 times in all Tests, Botham being the first to do so.) Oddly enough, Allen and Broad scored their only Test centuries at Lord’s.
Finally, in the third part, we will look at the boards for visiting teams.
abn397 