Saturday 14 June 2014

Players scoring 175+ in consecutive innings at a particular venue in Test Cricket

Joe Root scored 180 against Australia in 2013 and 200* vs Sri Lanka in 2014 in two consecutive test innings at Lord's. He became the first player in the history of test cricket to score 175+ in consecutive test innings at Lord's, Meeca of Cricket.

First player to score 175+ in consecutive test innings at Lord's.


Before Joe Root, there are 13 occasions of a batsman scoring 175+ in consecutive test innings at a particular venue. Sir Donald Bradman is the only player to do so at more than one venue, he did at three venues. Complete detail is provided in the table below.

Players scoring 175+ in consecutive innings at a particular venue in Test Cricket

Batsman
Venue
1st
2nd
Sir Don Bradman
Leeds, England **
334 vs Eng, 1930
304 vs Eng, 1934
Sir Don Bradman
The Oval, England
232 vs Eng, 1930
244 vs Eng, 1934
George Headley
Kingston, West Indies
223 vs Eng, 1930
270* vs Eng, 1935
Sir Don Bradman
Brisbane, Australia
187 vs Eng, 1946
185 vs Ind, 1947
Sir Len Hutton
The Oval, England
206 vs NZ, 1949
202* vs WI, 1950
Sir Frank Worrell
Nottingham, England **
261 vs Eng, 1950
191* vs Eng, 1957
Dennis Amiss
The Oval, England
183 vs Pak, 1974
203 vs WI, 1976
Qasim Umar
Faisalabad, Pakistan
210 vs Ind, 1984
206 vs SL, 1985
Richie Richardson
Georgetown, West Indies
194 vs Ind, 1989
182 vs Aus, 1991
Gary Kirsten
Durban, South Africa
275 vs Eng, 1999
180 vs SL, 2000
Sachin Tendulkar
Nagpur, India
201* vs Zim, 2000
176 vs Zim, 2002
Marvan Atapattu
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe **
216* vs Zim, 1999
249 vs Zim, 2004
Kumar Sangakkara
Colombo (SSC), Sri Lanka
185 vs Pak, 2006
287 vs SA, 2006
Joe Root
Lord's, England
180 vs Aus, 2013
200* vs SL, 2014
** denotes that the player achieve the feat in an away ground


No batsman scored 3 consecutive 175+ scores at any venue. Mohammad Yousuf was very near to do so at Lahore in Pakistan. He scored 223 vs Eng, 173 vs Ind and 192 vs WI from 2005 to 2006. 

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Friday 13 June 2014

Players scoring 2 centuries in career's first 2 Test matches


Jimmy Neesham, 23 year old all-rounder, from New Zealand has done something which none other Kiwi player has done that before. First he scored a match saving 137* vs India at Wellington in February 2014 on his debut and then in his second test in the Caribbean scored 107 in the first inning. This made him the first player from New Zealand to achieve this unique feat in Test Cricket.

Neesham smashed 2 centuries in his Test career's first 2 Tests


Before Neesham, seven other players scored a century in each of their first two test matches of their career. First to achieve this was Bill Ponsford for Australia in 1924/1925 and the last to do this was Rohit Sharma from India in 2013. Below is the complete list.

Players scoring a century in each of their first two Test matches

Batsman
Team
First Test
Second Test
Year
Bill Ponsford
Australia
110 & 27 vs Eng
128 & 4 vs Eng
1924-1925
Doug Walters
Australia
155 vs Eng
22 & 115 vs Eng
1965
Alvin Kallicharran
West Indies
100* vs NZ
101 & 18 vs NZ
1972
Mohammad Azharuddin
India
110 vs Eng
48 & 105 vs Eng
1984-1985
Greg Blewett
Australia
102* & 12 vs Eng
20 & 115 vs Eng
1995
Sourav Ganguly
India
131 vs Eng
136 & 48 vs Eng
1996
Rohit Sharma
India
177 vs WI
111* vs WI
2013
Jimmy Neesham
New Zealand
33 & 137* vs Ind
107 vs WI
2014

Other than Neesham, all the previous seven batsmen had scored a century in their debut test inning.
Neesham is the only player to achieve the feat against 2 different teams.
Mohammad Azharuddin had scored a century in his third test as well making him the only player so far to score 3 centuries in each of the first 3 test matches.

Apart from the above eight cricketers there are four more cricketers who had scored 2 centuries in their career’s first 2 test matches, but in a different fashion. Two players scored two centuries in their debut test match and other two players scored two centuries in their second test match. Below is the table listing them.

Batsman
Team
First Test
Second Test
Year
Lawrence Rowe
West Indies
214 & 100* vs NZ
22 & 1 vs NZ
1972
Yasir Hameed
Pakistan
170 & 105 vs Ban
23 & 18* vs Ban
2003
Wajahatullah Wasti
Pakistan
6 & 9 vs Ind
133 & 121* vs SL
1999
Phillip Hughes
Australia
0 & 75 vs SA
115 & 160 vs SA
2009



Monday 9 June 2014

Youngest cricketers to score 2000 runs in Test Cricket

On the opening day of the test series between New Zealand and West Indies in the Caribbean, New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson reached 2000 runs in his Test career. He got there in his 32nd test and 57th inning when he reached 36. Though he is the 25th Kiwi to complete 2000 Test runs, he is the youngest of all of them. He got to the milestone at age of 23 years and 10 months. He overcame Martin Crowe who had reached the milestone at age of 24 years, 5 months, 10 days in March 1987.

Kane Williamson is the youngest from New Zealand and 10th youngest cricketer to score 2000 Test runs


Williamson, though being the youngest batsman from New Zealand to reach 2000 Test runs, is the 10th youngest overall to score 2000 Test Runs. Youngest batsman to reach 2000 Test runs is Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar managed to score 2000 runs at age of 20 years, 10 months, 24 days.

Youngest batsman to complete 2000 Test Runs
Age
Batsman
Team
Date
20y, 10m, 24d
Sachin Tendulkar
India
20-Mar-1994
22y, 05m, 24d
Sir Garry Sobers
West Indies
28-Mar-1968
22y, 06m, 08d
Javed Miandad
Pakistan
20-Dec-1979
22y, 10m, 19d
Ramnaresh Sarwan
West Indies
12-May-2003
23y, 01m, 26d
Graeme Smith
South Africa
27-Mar-2004
23y, 02m, 17d
Alastair Cook
England
13-Mar-2008
23y, 03m, 00d
Sir Donald Bradman
Australia
27-Nov-1931
23y, 09m, 11d
Dilip Vengsarkar
India
16-Jan-1980
23y, 09m, 17d
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
15-Mar-2001
23y, 10m, 00d
Kane Williamson
New Zealand
08-Jun-2014

Youngest New Zealand batsman to complete 2000 Test Runs
Age
Batsman
Milestone Date
23y, 10m, 00d
Kane Williamson
08-Jun-2014
24y, 05m, 10d
Martin Crowe
03-Mar-1987
24y, 06m, 18d
Craig McMillan
30-Mar-2001
25y, 01m, 27d
Stephen Fleming
27-May-1998
26y, 09m, 15d
Glenn Turner
12-Mar-1974


With Kane Williamson becoming the youngest New Zealand batsman to score 2000 Test runs, let us look at the youngest 2000 test run getters from each team.

Youngest batsman to complete 2000 Test runs from each team
Team
Batsman
Age
Milestone Date
Australia
Sir Donald Bradman
23y, 03m, 00d
27-Nov-1931
Bangladesh
Tamim Iqbal
23y, 11m, 06d
25-Apr-2013
England
Alastair Cook
23y, 02m, 17d
13-Mar-2008
India
Sachin Tendulkar
20y, 10m, 24d
20-Mar-1994
New Zealand
Kane Williamson
23y, 10m, 00d
08-Jun-2014
Pakistan
Javed Miandad
22y, 06m, 08d
20-Dec-1979
Sri Lanka
Mahela Jayawardene
23y, 09m, 17d
15-Mar-2001
South Africa
Graeme Smith
23y, 01m, 26d
27-Mar-2004
West Indies
Sir Garfield Sobers
22y, 05m, 24d
28-Mar-1968
Zimbabwe
Alistair Campbell
28y, 01m, 27d
18-Nov-2000

The youngest New Zealand batsman to complete 2000 Test runs, Kane Williamson, took 57 innings to reach the landmark. But seven Kiwi cricketers completed 2000 Test runs in fewer innings than Williamson. Below is the list showing the fewest number of innings played to score 2000 Test runs by New Zealand batsman.

Fewest innings to score 2000 Test runs by New Zealand batsman
Innings
Batsman
Match Date
44
Andrew Jones
01-Nov-1992
44
Mark Richardson
16-Oct-2003
46
Bert Sutcliffe
06-Jan-1956
47
Glenn Turner
08-Mar-1974
48
Ross Taylor
12-Nov-2010
52
Craig McMillan
27-Mar-2001
56
Martin Crowe
27-Feb-1987
57
Kane Williamson
08-Jun-2014
60
Stephen Fleming
27-May-1998
60
Nathan Astle
26-Dec-1999


All figures are updated till June 8, 2014