Ducks, 99s and India's long 'holiday'
When the Indian team goes out to play the first of five One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka in Hambantota on July 21, the team would have come to the end of its second-longest break in the last ten years. India's last international assignment was the avoidable one-off Twenty20 International in Johannesburg on March 30.
- Mohandas Menon
- Updated: July 18, 2012 02:31 PM IST
When the Indian team goes out to play the first of five One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka in Hambantota on July 21, the team would have come to the end of its second-longest break in the last ten years. India's last international assignment was the avoidable one-off Twenty20 International in Johannesburg on March 30. However, it should be noted that during this break, the 50-day Indian Premier League was held, which kept all the Indian team regulars busy.
The only time in the last ten years that the Indian team got a longer break was in 2003 when the team went without any international cricket for 169 days from April 22 to October 7. The 'holiday' began at the end of the rain-affected TVS Cup final at Dhaka and ended with the start of Test match against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
Interestingly, the busiest year for Team India in the intervening period was 2002. The year witnessed either a Test or an ODI in every month of the year. The longest break was for just 22 days between March 20 and April 10.
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Longest breaks for India in last 10 years
Days | From | To |
169
|
April 22, 2003
|
October 7, 2003
|
112
|
March 31, 2012
|
July 20, 2012
|
103
|
April 18, 2005
|
July 29, 2005
|
90
|
April 17, 2004
|
July 15, 2004
|
70
|
December 28, 2004
|
March 7, 2005
|
67
|
July 6, 2009
|
September 10, 2009
|
62
|
February 28, 2010
|
April 30, 2010
|
62
|
April 3, 2011
|
June 3, 2011
|
Nothing is more unfortunate for any player, in any sport, than to miss a career landmark by a whisker, more so when he or she is aware that there will never be an opportunity ever to get it again.
Mark Boucher's forced retirement meant that he had to finish his international career with 999 dismissals (998 as a keeper and one as an outfielder). Although some would say that if his only Test wicket as a bowler were added to this tally, he should be happy with the overall 1000 dismissals!
In international cricket there have been several such near finishes during a cricketer's career, especially in Test cricket. The most famous and often mentioned is Don Bradman's batting average of 99.94. The Don, needing four runs in his final Test knock in 1948, was dismissed for a duck thus ending his Test career average just 0.06 short of 100.
Three Test players - England's Tom Hayward with 1999 runs (1896 to 1909) and Australians Arthur Mailey, who picked 99 wickets (1920 to 1926) and David Boon, who pouched 99 catches (1984 to 1996) are the ones to miss a respective career milestone by just one. Mohammad Azharuddin played 99 Test matches (1984 to 2000), while Nayan Mongia (1994 to 2001) and Junior Murray (1993 to 2002), the West Indies wicketkeeper, ended their careers with 99 catches against their names. In ODIs, New Zealand's Nathan Astle ended his career with 99 wickets (1995 to 2007), while Hansie Cronje had to terminate his career, under strange and memorable circumstances, with 99 ODI victories (1994 to 2000) as South Africa's skipper.
In first-class cricket, there are several instances of players missing out a milestone by one, but the easiest to remember of the lot is the one-time first-class record of 499 scored by Hanif Mohammad, the Pakistani legend. Hanif was run out going for his 500th run for Karachi against Bahawalpur in January 1959. His effort remained the highest score in first-class cricket for more than 35 years until Brian Lara surpassed it with an unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire in June 1994.
Jack Hobbs, the English opening great, interestingly, passed away not knowing whether he had scored 197 first-class centuries or 199. The record books show the number as 199, making him miss the 200-mark by one. But two of his hundreds, made during a tour of India/Ceylon in 1930-31, were scored in matches that are yet to be ratified as first-class games.
In Test cricket, a few unfortunate batsmen have missed their highest career Test scores just one short of a significant landmark as well.
Batsman
|
Score
|
For
|
Against
|
Venue
|
Season
|
Martin Crowe
|
299
|
New Zealand
|
Sri Lanka
|
Wellington
|
1990-91
|
Mohd Azharuddin
|
199
|
India
|
Sri Lanka
|
Kanpur
|
1986-87
|
Matthew Elliott
|
199
|
Australia
|
England
|
Leeds
|
1997
|
Norman Yardley
|
99
|
England
|
South Africa
|
Nottingham
|
1947
|
John Beck
|
99
|
New Zealand
|
South Africa
|
Cape Town
|
1953-54
|
Maqsood Ahmed
|
99
|
Pakistan
|
India
|
Lahore
|
1954-55
|
Rusi Surti
|
99
|
India
|
New Zealand
|
Auckland
|
1967-68
|
Martyn Moxon
|
99
|
England
|
New Zealand
|
Auckland
|
1987-88
|
Dipak Patel
|
99
|
New Zealand
|
England
|
Christchurch
|
1991-92
|
Alex Tudor
|
99*
|
England
|
New Zealand
|
Birmingham
|
1999
|
SK Warne
|
99
|
Australia
|
New Zealand
|
Perth
|
2001-02
|
Asim Kamal
|
99
|
Pakistan
|
South Africa
|
Lahore
|
2003-04
|
The superb partnership of 108 runs in just 41 balls between West Indians Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard against New Zealand in Launderhill (USA) was by far the quickest century stand in T20 International history. The pair comfortably displaced the previous quickest stand of 104 runs in 45 balls between Sri Lankans Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jeevan Mendis against Australia in Pallekele last August.
Table 1 below lists the quickest 100+ stands in T20Is (with the scoring rate exceeding 10 per over)
Table 2 below also lists some of the quickest partnerships of less than 100 runs in T20Is
Batsmen
|
RPO
|
Runs
|
Balls
|
Wicket
|
For
|
Opposition
|
Venue
|
CH Gayle/KA Pollard
|
15.80
|
108*
|
41
|
3rd
|
WI
|
NZ
|
Lauderhill, Jun 30, 2012
|
TM Dilshan/BMAJ Mendis
|
13.86
|
104*
|
45
|
4th
|
SL
|
Aus
|
Pallekele, Aug 6, 2011
|
LE Bosman/GC Smith
|
12.91
|
170
|
79
|
1st
|
SA
|
Eng
|
Centurion, Nov 15, 2009
|
HH Gibbs/JM Kemp
|
12.63
|
120*
|
57
|
3rd
|
SA
|
WI
|
Johannesburg, Sep 11, 2007
|
ADS Fletcher/CH Gayle
|
11.56
|
133
|
69
|
1st
|
WI
|
Aus
|
The Oval, Jun 6, 2009
|
LE Bosman/GC Smith
|
11.47
|
132*
|
69
|
1st
|
SA
|
Pak
|
Johannesburg, Feb 2, 2007
|
WTS Porterfield/PR Stirling
|
11.47
|
109*
|
57
|
1st
|
Ire
|
Can
|
Dubai, Mar 22, 2012
|
AB de Villiers/RE Levi
|
11.40
|
133*
|
70
|
3rd
|
SA
|
NZ
|
Hamilton, Feb 19, 2012
|
MEK Hussey/CL White
|
11.22
|
101*
|
54
|
6th
|
Aus
|
SL
|
Bridgetown, May 9, 2010
|
BB McCullum/JD Ryder
|
11.14
|
130
|
70
|
1st
|
NZ
|
WI
|
Hamilton, Dec 28, 2008
|
PD Collingwood/KP Pietersen
|
11.11
|
100
|
54
|
4th
|
Eng
|
Zim
|
Cape Town, Sep 13, 2007
|
Shoaib Malik/Younis Khan
|
11.01
|
101
|
55
|
4th
|
Pak
|
SL
|
Johannesburg, Sep 17, 2007
|
MJ Guptill/BB McCullum
|
10.74
|
120
|
67
|
1st
|
NZ
|
Zim
|
Harare, Oct 17, 2011
|
CH Gayle/DS Smith
|
10.74
|
145
|
81
|
1st
|
WI
|
SA
|
Johannesburg, Sep 11, 2007
|
HH Gibbs/GC Smith
|
10.57
|
111
|
63
|
2nd
|
SA
|
Aus
|
Johannesburg, Feb 24, 2006
|
Aftab Ahmed/Mohd Ashraful
|
10.54
|
109
|
62
|
3rd
|
Ban
|
WI
|
Johannesburg, Sep 13, 2007
|
JEC Franklin/RJ Nicol
|
10.13
|
103
|
61
|
1st
|
NZ
|
Zim
|
Hamilton, Feb 14, 2012
|
M Jayawardene/KC Sangakkara
|
10.06
|
166
|
99
|
2nd
|
SL
|
WI
|
Bridgetown, May 7, 2010
|
Batsmen
|
RPO
|
Runs
|
Balls
|
Wicket
|
For
|
Opposition
|
Venue
|
J Mubarak/G Wijekoon
|
22.50
|
45*
|
12
|
7th
|
SL
|
Ken
|
Johannesburg, Sep 14, 2007
|
MEK Hussey/MG Johnson
|
19.87
|
53*
|
16
|
8th
|
Aus
|
Pak
|
Gros Islet, May 14, 2010
|
MS Dhoni/Yuvraj Singh
|
19.26
|
61
|
19
|
4th
|
Ind
|
Eng
|
Durban, Sep 19, 2007
|
ST Jayasuriya/M Jayawardene
|
18.00
|
87
|
29
|
3rd
|
SL
|
Ken
|
Johannesburg
|
Younis Khan of Pakistan has a Test average of 51.69, but what is often forgotten is that Younis has a great ability to be involved in century stands with his teammates. He has been so far involved in 44 century stands in 138 Test innings, which means he gets involved a 100+ stand every 3.14 innings.
Younis' 100 partnership/innings average of 3.14 puts him very high in the list of Test batsmen. Only Australian Don Bradman (2.29) and Englishman Herbert Sutcliffe (2.55) exceed Younis' average among batsman with at least 25+ century stands to their credit.
Batsman | Inns/100+ Stand | 100+ Stands | Innings | Tests | For |
Don Bradman | 2.29 | 35 | 80 | 52 | Aus |
Herbert Sutcliffe | 2.55 | 33 | 84 | 54 | Eng |
Younis Khan | 3.14 | 44 | 138 | 79 | Pak |
Jack Hobbs | 3.19 | 32 | 102 | 61 | Eng |
Alistair Cook | 3.18 | 44 | 140 | 80 | Eng |
Rahul Dravid | 3.25 | 88 | 286 | 164 | Ind/ICC |
Ricky Ponting | 3.32 | 85 | 282 | 165 | Aus |
Len Hutton | 3.37 | 41 | 138 | 79 | Eng |
Ian Bell | 3.39 | 38 | 129 | 77 | Eng |
Mahela Jayawardene | 3.43 | 65 | 223 | 133 | SL |
Greg Chappell | 3.43 | 44 | 151 | 87 | Aus |
Sachin Tendulkar | 3.66 | 85 | 311 | 188 | Ind |
Kevin Pietersen | 3.68 | 40 | 147 | 86 | Eng |
Matthew Hayden | 3.68 | 50 | 184 | 103 | Aus |
Sunil Gavaskar | 3.69 | 58 | 214 | 125 | Ind |
Justin Langer | 3.71 | 49 | 182 | 105 | Aus |
Garry Sobers | 3.72 | 43 | 160 | 93 | WI |
Brian Lara | 3.74 | 62 | 232 | 131 | WI |
Ken Barrington | 3.74 | 35 | 131 | 82 | Eng |
Javed Miandad | 3.78 | 41 | 156 | 90 | Pak |
The second day of the Galle Test match last month saw seven ducks made in a single day - four by Sri Lankan batsmen and three by the Pakistanis. It was the ninth occasion in Test cricket history when seven or more ducks were recorded in a single day's play.
The first time this happened was on August 31, 1888 at Old Trafford when eight Australian batsmen were dismissed for ducks - in two innings - on the second and final day of the Test. Incidentally, seven or more ducks in a single day has occurred on two other occasions in Tests in the subcontinent. The first time came on the fourth and final day in Ahmedabad on November 23, 1996 when India made one duck, while South Africa managed six. The next time came at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on the third and final day of the Test on March 17, 2001, when eight ducks were registered - five by England and three by Sri Lanka.
Date
|
Ducks
|
Team1
|
Team2
|
Venue
|
Day
|
Result
|
August 31, 1888
|
8
|
Eng (0)
|
Aus (8)
|
Manchester
|
2
|
England won by innings & 21 runs
|
March 26, 1889
|
7
|
Eng (0)
|
SA (7)
|
Cape Town
|
2
|
England won by innings & 202 runs
|
January 1, 1902
|
8
|
Aus (3+1)
|
Eng (4)
|
Melbourne
|
1
|
Australia won by 229 runs
|
March 22, 1974
|
7
|
Aus (4)
|
NZ (3)
|
Auckland
|
1
|
Australia won by 297 runs
|
November 23, 1996
|
7
|
Ind (1)
|
SA (6)
|
Ahmedabad
|
4
|
India won by 64 runs
|
July 2, 1999
|
7
|
Eng (2+1)
|
NZ (4)
|
Birmingham
|
2
|
England won by 7 wickets
|
March 17, 2001
|
8
|
Eng (3+2)
|
SL (3)
|
ColomboSSC
|
3
|
England won by 4 wickets
|
August 8, 2005
|
8
|
NZ (0)
|
Zim (5+3)
|
Harare
|
2
|
New Zealand won by innings & 294 runs
|
June 23, 2012
|
7
|
SL (4)
|
Pak (3)
|
Galle
|
2
|
Sri Lanka won by 209 runs
|