Friday, March 25, 2005

Inzamam-ul-Haq: 100 not out!

On the first day of the third Test against India at Bangalore, Inzamam-ul-Haq became the 31st cricketer, the fourth Pakistani and the 22nd batsman to play 100 Tests. Inzamam also became only the only the fifth player after Gordon Greenidge (149), Javed Miandad (145), Alec Stewart (105) and Colin Cowdrey (104) to score a century in the 100th Test. Inzamam took 12 years and 293 days to reach this milestone after making his debut against England at Edgbaston on June 04, 1992.

The exclusive club of cricketers with 100 or more Test appearances now includes eight Australians, seven Englishmen, seven West Indians, four Indians, four Pakistanis and one South African. Colin Cowdrey was the first 100-Test centurian when he did so in 1968. The next 37 years, since then, saw 30 more players reaching this landmark. The 100 Test-men include 22 specialist batsmen, four all-rounders, three specialist bowlers and two wicket-keeping batsmen. India's Sachin Tendulkar, at 29 years 134 days, was the youngest to appear in his 100th Test, whereas England's Geoff Boycott at 40 years 254 days, was the oldest. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details. Click to see the Table

Sunday, March 20, 2005

400 in each innings of a Test

During the recently concluded second Test against Pakistan at Kolkata, India made 400 plus runs in each innings of the match. It thus provided only the seventh instance in the annals of Test cricket when one side registered 400 totals in both innings of a Test match. It was also the first such instance for India and the second against Pakistan by any side. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details. Click to see the Table

Identical totals in both innings

During the recently concluded second Test against Pakistan at Kolkata, India made identical totals in both innings of the match. It thus provided only the third instance for India and tenth overall in the annals of Test cricket when one side registered identical scores n both innings of the match. It was also the third time that side making identical scores also won the match. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details. Click to see the Table

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Dravid 9th to score two twin 100's in a match

On the fourth day of the second Test against Pakistan at Kolkata, India’s Rahul Dravid became only the ninth player and the second Indian to score two hundreds in match on two or more occasions. Dravid had previously performed this feat against New Zealand at Hamilton in 1998-99, scoring 190 and 103* in first and second innings respectively. Sunil Gavaskar still remains as the only player in Test annals with three such instances. Dravid also provided the sixth instance of an Indian scoring twin hundreds in a Test. Vijay Hazare is the other Indian after Gavaskar and Dravid to perform such feat. It was also the seventh time that this feat has been performed by any player against Pakistan. For reader’s interest the accompanying tables have the complete details. Click to see the Tables

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Tendulkar youngest to reach 10,000 mark

On the first day of the second Test against Pakistan at Kolkata, India’s Sachin Tendulkar became only the fifth player to cross the 10,000 run mark in Test cricket. He achieved this milestone when he reached 27 during his innings of 52. It was the 194th innings of his 121st match. At the age of 31 years and 327 days he also became the youngest batsman to reach 10,000 run mark. Brian Lara was the previous youngest at the age of 35 years and 103 days. Tendulkar, who made his debut against Pakistan at Karachi in November 1989, took 15 years and 121 days to reach this milestone.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

A Rare Hundred for Bucknor

By officiating in the second Test between Pakistan & India at Kolkata, West Indian Steve Bucknor became the first ever Test umpire to stand in 100 Test matches. Bucknor, who began his umpire career way back in 1989, took 15 years and 322 days to reach the landmark. Interestingly, Bucknor has been chosen 16.08 % times of the 622 Test matches played since his umpiring debut. Overall Kolkata Test is Bucknor’s 231st international match as an umpire. England’s David Shepherd holds the world record in this regard. He has so far officiated in 252 international games since June 1983. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details.


Most Test matches as an umpire in Test cricket
[Qualification: 40 or more] [10]

Umpire M First Match Last Match
Bucknor, SA 100 28 Apr 1989 25 Jan 2005
Shepherd, DR 87 01 Aug 1985 13 Mar 2005
Venkataraghavan, S 73 29 Jan 1993 20 Jan 2004
Bird, HD 66 05 Jul 1973 24 Jun 1996
Koertzen, RE 60 26 Dec 1992 12 Mar 2005
Hair, DB 59 25 Jan 1992 12 Mar 2005
Harper, DJ 49 28 Nov 1998 13 Mar 2005
Chester, F 48 28 Jun 1924 26 Jul 1955
Orchard, DL 44 14 Dec 1995 28 Mar 2004
Elliott, CS 42 30 May 1957 13 Aug 1974

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Akmal Joins The Immortals

On March 12, during the fifth day of the first Test against India at Mohali, Kamran Akmal made a match saving century to help his side to draw the match from the jaws of defeat. Akmal became the first Pakistani and only the seventh wicketkeeper in international cricket to register atleast one century in both forms of cricket. Akmal’s brilliant 109 was also the 10th century by the fifth Pakistani keeper in Test cricket. At the age of 23 years and 58 days he became the second youngest Pakistani and 13th youngest overall keeper to score a Test century. Just for record, Kamran holds the world record of being the youngest ODI keeper centurion [124 vs West Indies on January 19, 2005 @ 23 years & 6 days at Brisbane]. For reader’s interest the accompanying tables have the complete details.


Test Cricket ODI Cricket
Keepers For 100s Hs 100s Hs

Flower, A Zim 12 232* 4 145
Gilchrist, AC Aus 14 204* 10 172
Kaluwitharana, RS SL 3 132* 2 102*
Parore, AC NZ 2 110 1 108
Sangakkara, KC SL 5 230 1 101
Stewart, AJ Eng 6 173 4 116
Kamran Akmal Pak 1 109 1 124



100s by Pakistani wicketkeepers in Test Cricket [10]
Keeper Yrs Days Score Vs Venue Series

Moin Khan 23 40 115* Aus Lahore (GS) 1994-95
Kamran Akmal 23 58 109 Ind Mohali 2004-05
Moin Khan 24 3 117* SL Sialkot (JS) 1995-96
Moin Khan 24 321 105 Eng Headingley 1996
Taslim Arif 25 310 210* Aus Faisalabad 1979-80
Imtiaz Ahmed 27 296 209 NZ Lahore (LG) 1955-56
Imtiaz Ahmed 30 52 122 WI Kingston 1957-58
Moin Khan 32 90 137 NZ Hamilton 2003-04
Imtiaz Ahmed 33 8 135 Ind Madras (Corp) 1960-61
Rashid Latif 33 110 150 WI Sharjah 2001-02

Friday, March 11, 2005

Sehwag’s Successive Century Stands

On the second and third day of the Mohali Test, Virender Sehwag was involved in three century partnerships during his epic innings of 173 runs - 113 runs for the first wicket (with G Gambhir), 103 runs for the second wicket (with R Dravid) and 118 runs for the third wicket (with SR Tendulkar). It thus provided only the 25th instance when a single batsman was involved in three or more 100 partnerships during the same Test innings. Sehwag also became only the third Indian to perform such feat. Vinod Kambli and Rahul Dravid are the other two Indians to do so. However, it was the first time that century partnerships were made for first three wickets in the same innings for India. Had Sehwag put on another century stand for the fourth wicket he would have become only the second batsman in Test cricket history to participate in four century partnerships in the same innings. This distinction is held by Hanif Mohammad, who featured in four century stands in Pakistan's second innings of Bridgetown Test in 1957-58. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details.

Three century partnerships by Indians
in the same Test innings
Player Partner Stand Wkts Vs Venue Season

VG Kambli NS Sidhu 107 2nd Zim Delhi 1992-93
SR Tendulkar 137 3rd
M Azharuddin 107 4th
R Dravid PA Patel 129 2nd Pak R’pindi 2003-04
VVS Laxman 131 4th
SC Ganguly 131 5th
V Sehwag G Gambhir 113 1st Pak Mohali 2004-05
R Dravid 103 2nd
SR Tendulkar 118 3rd

Sami Completes 50 Test Wickets

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On the third day of the first Test against India at Mohali, Mohammad Sami became the 26th Pakistani bowler to complete 50 Test wickets when he dismissed Dinesh Kartik. Sami at the age of 24 years and 14 days became ninth youngest Pakistani bowler to reach the milestone. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details.

Breakup of Sami’s Test bowling performance
Vs Mt Overs Mdns Runs W Best Avg B/w R/o 5/10w
Aus 4 121.5 15 470 6 3-104 78.33 121.8 3.86 -
Ind 4 154 27 540 9 2-92 60.00 102.6 3.51 -
NZ 4 170.4 41 491 14 5-36 35.07 73.14 2.88 2
SA 3 91.3 9 395 5 3-92 79.00 109.8 4.32 -
SL 2 72.9 10 254 9 4-71 28.22 49.00 3.46 -
Zim 2 68 15 188 7 4-53 26.86 58.29 2.76 -

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