Test Records - Week Ending 2nd July 2006

Test #1808 India in West Indies 2006 (4thTest) at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

Finally , a test series win for India in West Indies, as mentioned in my last post, it took India more than 35 years to register it. Infact none of the current team members except Anil Kumble (who was just a six months old baby) , the chief architect of Indian victory at Kingston, Jamaica were even born when India won their last test series in West Indies back in 1970/71.

Here are some of the statistical highlights of this historic win for India :

With his twin half centuries, Dravid not only completed 9000 test runs and became the sixth cricketer to do so, but also climbed to the sixth position in the list of batting averages who played atleast 20 tests. It is a testimony to his consistency that he is the only cricketer to figure among the top six cricketers in both the number of runs accumulated and at the average they are gathered.

Dravid during his 2nd innings knock of 68 reached the 1000 run milestone for the calendar year 2006. In 10 tests this year Dravid has scored 1046 runs at an average of 74.71 with 3 hundreds and 7 fifties. This is the 2nd time Dravid has scored 1000+ runs in a calendar year. In 2002 he aggregated 1357 runs in 16 tests @59.00 with 5 centuries and 5 half centuries. Brian Lara of West Indies and Matthew Hayden of Australia holds the record for scoring 1000+ test runs in a calendar year most number of times in a career.They both recorded the feat five times in their career. Hayden's feat is unique that he has done it in five consecutive years starting from 2001. For India , little masters Gavaskar and Tendulakar holds the record with 4 times.

Dravid also achieved an unique record of registering two top scores in both the innings of a test match in which all 40 wickets fell, from either team while captaining his side. His scores of 81 & 68 were the highest in both the innings either for India or West Indies. There are eight occassions in test cricket in which the same player top scored in both the innings of a test match in which all 40 dismissals have occured. Inzamam-ul-Haq done it twice and Dravid is the only cricketer to have done it while captaining his side.

The three tables below lists (1) the top six cricketers of all time in terms of number of runs scored (2) the top six cricketers of all time in terms of batting averages and (3) list of players who top scored in both the innings of a test match in which all 40 wickets fell.

List of highest run scorers in test cricket:

Player	Country	Tests	Inns	no	Runs	HS	100s	50s	Avg
Lara, B C*	West Indies	128	227	6	11505	400*	32	47	52.06
Border, A R	Australia	156	265	44	11174	205	27	63	50.56
Waugh, S R	Australia	168	260	46	10927	200	32	50	51.06
Tendulkar, S R*	India	132	211	22	10469	248*	35	41	55.39
Gavaskar, S M	India	125	214	16	10122	236*	34	45	51.12
Dravid, R *	India	104	176	22	9049	270	23	46	58.76

List of batsmen who played 20+ tests with highest batting averages:

Player	Country	Tests	Runs	NO	Runs	HS	100s	50s	Avg
Bradman, D G	Australia	52	80	10	6996	334	29	13	99.94
Pollock, R G	South Africa	23	41	4	2256	274	7	11	60.97
Headley, G A	West indies	22	40	4	2190	270*	10	5	60.83
Sutcliffe, H	England	54	84	9	4555	194	16	23	60.73
Paynter, E	England	20	31	5	1540	243	4	7	59.23
Dravid, R *	India	104	176	22	9049	270	23	46	58.76

List of all instances when a player has top scored in both the innings of a test in which all 40 wickets fell:

Chris Gayle was dismissed for a duck in both the innings, thus achieving a pair in test cricket for the 2nd time in his career. He now becomes the 66th player to have dismissed for a pair in a test match on more than one occassion. Courtney Walsh, Merv Dillon of West Indies, BS Chandrasekhar of India and Marvin Atapattu of Sri Lanka shares the record with 4 pairs where as there ar 14 other players who were dismissed for a pair in test cricket 3 times.

Anil Kumble, during his first innings knock of 45 added an invaluable 91 runs with Rahul Dravid, which proved out to be a macth winning partnership. During this knock he also completed 2000 runs in test cricket and having already taken 200+ wickets he now becomes the 14th member of the elite all rounder's club who have all taken 2000 runs and 200 wickets.

Following is the list of all rounders with 2000 runs & 200 wickets:

*indicates that the players are still active in test cricket.

Player	Country	Tests	Runs	HS	100s	Avg	Wkts	Avg	Cts
Kallis, J H*	South Africa	102	8033	189*	24	55.78	200	31.71	98
Sobers, G S A	West Indies	93	8032	365*	26	57.78	235	34.04	109
Kapil Dev	India	131	5248	163	8	31.05	434	29.65	64
Botham, I T	England	102	5200	208	14	33.55	383	28.40	120
Imran Khan	Pakistan	88	3807	136	6	37.69	362	22.81	29
Pollock, S M*	South Africa	101	3444	111	2	31.60	394	23.20	68
Cairns, C L	New Zealand	62	3320	158	5	33.54	218	29.40	14
Hadlee, R J	New Zealand	86	3124	151*	2	27.17	431	22.30	39
Warne, S K*	Australia	140	2958	99	0	16.62	685	25.25	120
Wasim Akram	Pakistan	104	2898	257*	3	22.64	414	23.62	44
Vaas, W P U*	Sri Lanka	93	2435	74*	0	22.55	306	29.13	28
Benaud, R	Australia	63	2201	122	3	24.46	248	27.03	65
Vettori, D L*	New Zealand	71	2136	137*	2	24.84	219	34.95	35
Kumble, A *	India	110	2025	88	0	17.92	533	28.76	50