Test #1821,#1822 & #1823 : Three tests that followed the same pattern

Shane Warne’s retirement announcement has overshadowed all cricketing news of the past week. A Predictable Aussie win at Perth, an incredible and first Indian Victory in South Africa and another Muralitharan orchestrated Sri Lankan win at Wellington which squared their mini test series against New Zealand have all shifted their occupation from being headlines, not surprisingly, to the back pages once arguably the greatest spinners of all time let the Cricketing World know that the final test of the current Ashes series to be played at Sydney will be his last international appearance for Australia.

The Ashes Victory for which the Preparations started on the last day of the final test of last years Ashes debacle, yielded the results that were widely anticipated, but nobody anticipated that Shane Warne too started his preparations for quitting the game while still being at the top of his art. As Shane Warne wielded his magic hand one more time, Ricky Ponting’s ageing Aussies did reclaim the Ashes which were kept away from their kitty for less than 16 months. England took more than 18 years to regain the Ashes whereas Australia took fewer than 18 months. Though Eng fought bravely and took the match to its fifth day, in the end Aus completed the ritual of going up with an unbeatable lead of 3-0 in the series quite convincingly and with a clinical precision. Their marvelous surgeon Shane Warne for umpteenth time responded to his team’s call on the final morning when Flintoff was blazing away and gave a glimmer of hope to England’s declining fortunes. Warne completed his mastery over the English batsmen and set a stage for himself to claim his 700th test victim in front of his home crowd at Melbourne during the Boxing Day Test.

The other two test matches , SL against NZ at Basin Reserve, Wellington and India against SA at Wanderers, Johannesburg, both of which started the day after the Perth test too followed the same pattern of the Ashes test as the team that batted first could not make big total but bowled out the opposition for even lesser totals. Then they piled on more runs to set the team batting last a difficult target and finally went on to win with more than 100 runs margin , though in all three tests the second innings performances of the teams that lost were far better than the previous innings.

Following are some of the highlights of these three test matches which had some memorable performances by all six teams involved.

Test #1821 England in Australia Ashes 2006-07(3rd Test) at W.A.C.A, Perth.

The most memorable one in my opinion is Adam Gilchrist’s unbelievable 57 ball century, which very narrowly missed erasing Sir Vivian Richards’ name from record books for the fastest century in test cricket in terms of number of balls taken.

During his fast and furious knock Gilchrist also scored his 1000th run against England and became the 100th cricketer to do so. He is the 48th Australian to aggregate 1000 career runs against England along with 10 Indians, 4 New Zealanders, 7 Pakistanis, 12 South Africans, 18 West Indians and One Sri Lankan. Gilchrist came into bat after tea on day three at the end of 92nd over of Aussie innings. He was at the crease for just 103 minutes and 20 overs and completed his century in a single session providing 14th instance of a batsman scoring a hundred between tea and close of play. In all there are 43 occassions during which a batsman scored 100 or more runs in a single session (4 times before lunch on first day of a test match, 12 times before lunch on any other day of a test match, 13 times between lunch and tea).

Gilchrist’s 102* in the second innings was preceded by a duck in the first thus providing 125th instance of a batsman making a duck and a century in the same test. His century in the second innings makes him 53rd cricketer to have followed a first innings duck with a second innings century.

Michael Hussey with his second innings century (103) recorded his sixth consecutive fifty in test cricket and joins 18 other cricketers to have done so. Andy Flower of Zimbabwe and Everton Weeks of West Indies are the only cricketers to have done it in seven successive innings. Jack Ryder, Doug Walters, Greg Chappell, Alan Border and Mark Taylor are the only Aussies to have recorder this feat before him. If Hussey continues his phenomenal run which fetched him 1554 runs from 14 tests at an incredible average of 86.33 since his debut, he might set up a new record by the end of this series for most consecutive fifties.

Thanks to Gilchrist’s quick fire innings and also centuries from Mike Hussey and Michael Clarke’s Australia amassed more than 400 runs on the fourth day of the test providing 47th such instance of a team compiling 400 or more runs in a single innings on a single day.

England’s Geraint Jones got dismissed for a duck for the first time in his career when he failed to keep the ball down and spooned a catch to gully in the first innings. He made it a pair in the second innings when he got confused over an lbw appeal and did not put his foot back into the crease after missing a slog sweep and the Aussie skipper fielding at silly point gleefully hit the stumps to run him out. He thus loses his record of having a test career without ducks. He hands back the record he took from Australia’s Jim Burke earlier this year as the batsman to have played most innings in an entire career without registering a duck. His pair is 443 in test cricket, 78th by an Englishman and 76th in Ashes.

Australia’s Matthew Hayden recorded his 7th score in nervous nineties. Steve Waugh with 10 (twice not out), Rahul Dravid with 9 (once not out), Michael Slater with 9, Alvin Kallicharan with 8 (once not out) and Inzamam ul Haq with 7 are the only other players to have registered 7 or more scores in nineties.

Monty Panesar recorded a 5-for in his first test innings of an Ashes test on a ground which traditionally helped pace bowlers. Panesar’s 5-for is only the 6th occasion a spinner has claimed 5 or more wickets on WACA in its 33 year old history. The best that Shane Warne has managed is 4 for 83 against New Zealand in 1997-98.

In England’s first innings all the wickets have fallen to the same type of dismissal, they were all caught. This provides 50th such instance and 11th by England.

Shane Warne also took his tally of wickets to 500 in the test matches won by Australia. It’s a remarkable performance that more than 70% (71.67) of his victims were claimed in the test matches won by his country, which goes on to show what a match-winning bowler he is.

Test #1822 Sri Lanka in New Zealand 2006/07 (2nd Test) at Basin Reserve, Wellington.

For the fifth time in his last six test appearances, Muralitharan accounted for ten or more wickets in a test match and ended the current year as the highest wicket taker with 90 wickets. His 57th 5-for and 19th 10-for hauls resulted in a series squaring victory for Sri Lanka.

Following are some of the other statistical highlights of this test match:

Kumara Sangakkara during his first innings knock of 156* completed 5000 runs in test cricket and becomes 47th cricketer in test history and 6th Sri Lankan to aggregate 5000 runs in a test career.

Sangakkara also made his 156* out of a Sri Lankan total of 269 , thus making 58.21% of his side’s score. Having made 58.82% his side’s total in his previous test innings he now becomes the first batsman in test history to account for more than 50% of his team’s total in two consecutive innings . Only three batsmen before Sangakkara scored more than 50% of their side’s total two consecutive test matches but none in two consecutive innings.

Sangakkara also climbs up in batting averages and after 4 ½ years he again took his batting avearge hovering aaround 50.He now has 5064 runs from 64 tests @ 50.64 with 12 hundreds and 22 fifties.

Chamra Silva who started his test career with a pair in the first test hit 61 & 152* in his second test thus becoming the first cricketer to have made his debut with a pair and followed it up with a fity in the next innings. He went one step ahead by scoring a century in the second innings. As such there are only six cricketers GS Ramchand of India, Graham Gooch of england, Ken Rutherford and James Franklin of New Zeland, Marvin Atapattu of Sri Lanka, Saeed Anwar of Pakistan who could register a century at some point of their career after registering a pair on ther debut, but none of them could do it as early as the second test of their career.

Chamira Silva’s century in this test preceded by a pair is only 14th occasion of a batsman hitting a century after recording a pair in his previous test match. Following is the list of batsmen who have scored a century and were dismissed for a 'pair' in successive Test matches:

Dilip Vengsarkar and CA Roach are the only players in test history to have preceded and succeeded a pair with a test match century. There are 10 other occasions of a batsman registering a pair after hitting a century in the previous test.

Muralitharan with his first 10-for against New Zealand now holds the record being the only bowler in test history to have taken a 10-for every test playing nation. This is his 19th ten wicket haul in a match and his second innings 6 for 87 is his 57th 5-wkt haul in an innings.

Though he took 10 wickets in the match Muralitharan could not open his account while batting in either of the innings that achieving a dubious distinction of getting dismissed for a pair and taking a 10-for in the same match. Here is a list of Test matches in which a bowler took at least 10 wickets and was dismissed for a 'pair'.

***Valentine was making his Test debut.

Daniel Vettori of New Zealand too has taken a 10-for in this match, but unlike Muralitharan, he also hit the top score for his side. Both Vettori and Murali provide the 19th occasion of bowlers from each side claiming 10 or more wickets in the same test. Here is a list of all instances where the bowling from each side took ten wickets in the Test match.

Daniel Vettori also joined Ian Botham of England as the second all-rounder in test history to have made the only 50 of the match for his side and have also claimed 10 wickets in the same match. Obviously he was the top scorer for his side and there are only two more occasions when the same player made the top score of the match for his side and took a 10-for in the same test.

Botham’s record is unique as he was the only batsman in that match to have crossed the 50-run mark.

Test #1823 India in South Africa 2006/07 (1st Test) at New Wanderers, Johannesburg.

Though Sreesanth’s bat and hip swinging antics after hoisting Andre Nel’s delivery over long on for a six in response Nel’s sledging will be the most remembered moment of this test match for quite a while, in the long run India’s memorable first ever test victory in South Africa after 14years and in their 10th attempt will be the one that will be going into the record books. Including the 1st test at Johannesburg India played 10 tests losing four and drawing one.

Following are some of the other statistical highlights of this test match:

When Shaun Pollock dismissed Rahul Dravid for 1 in India’s second innings, he took his test wickets tally to 400. He thus becomes the 10th bowler and first Soutin African in cricket history to have taken 400 or more test wickets.

Having already scored 3000+ runs in his career, Shaun Pollock also becomes only the fourth player in test history to have scored 3000 or more runs and have claimed 400 or more wickets.

Herchell Gibbs registered his first pair in test cricket in his 80th test. He provided 36th instance of South African batsman losing his wicket for a duck in each innings.

Sreesanth’s 5 for 40 in South Africa’s first innings is his first 5-wkt haul in an innings in test cricket. It is India’s 12th against South Africa and 7th in South Africa.

South Africa’s first innings collapse for 84 runs represents their new lowest total in innings against India eclipsing their previous lowest of 105 in the second innings of the first test of 1996/97 series played at Ahmedabad(GS).

South Africa’s Innings which lasted for just 25.1 overs and 131 minutes is now the new record for Indian bowling attack in terms of both number of balls and minutes taken to bowl out the opposition.

Though South Africa recorded the highest total of the test match in fourth innings of this test, they still lost the test thus providing only 9th such occasion. Incidentally the previous instance was India’s last test match in West Indies when West Indies in spite of registering the highest total of the test match in their fourth innings they still lost the test by 49 runs.

India provides the first instance of a team inflicting a defeat on their opponents in two consecutive tests even though they did not make the highest total of the test match.

Thanks for DreamCricket.Com Ashes Quiz response

Thanks to the overwhelming response to the dreamcricket.com Ashes Countdown Quiz, I have received loads of replies from cricket lovers form all over the world . It is taking more time than I originally thought to go through all the mails. Currently I am tabulating all the replies to find out the top three entries. I will be posting both the answers and results by 25th December.

Test #1820 Records: Controversial run-out mars Kiwi Victory

Test #1820 Sri Lanka in New Zealand 2006/07 (1st Test) at Jade Stadium, Christchurch.

The first test match at Christchurch between Sri Lanka and New Zealand ended predictably with a win for New Zealand, but not before another controversial run out took place that involved New Zealand wicket keeper Brendon McCullum. The controversial run out occurred on the third day of the test match, which ultimately proved out to be the last day of the test. As Muralitharan walked out of his crease after completing a single that fetched Sangakkara his hundred to congratulate him for completing a well deserved hundred, though Muralitharan did not show any intention of going for a run, McCullum whipped of the bails after receiving a throw from Martin leaving the batsman shocked and run-out. McCullum did exactly what he did last year against the hapless Zimbabweans in the 2nd test at Bulawayo when he ran out their number eleven batsman Chris Mpofu when he stepped out to congratulate his team mate Blessing Mahwire for completing a fifty, thus completing a 46 run innings victory for New Zealand in a bizarre fashion. Mahwire in that test smashed Chris Martin in for 21 runs in the previous over with 2 sixes and 2 fours and duly completed his half century with a single of Vettori’s first ball.

Though McCullum did not do anything wrong as per the laws of cricket it goes to show that the modern cricketers are more concerned about winning the game than the spirit of the game. Incidentally, last year when McCullum ran Mpofu out New Zealand team was the holder of ICC Cricket’s Spirit of the Game title. When I hear about such dismissals, I always remember two incidents one involving Gundappa Viswanath who recalled Bob Taylor in 1979/80 Golden Jubilee Test after he was given out by umpire which in turn cost the match for India and another involving Courtney Walsh in a group match at Lahore during 1987 Reliance World Cup when he warned Abdul Qadir for backing up too far at non-striker’s end instead of running him out. Qadir went on to hit a big six to bring a 1 wicket victory with the final ball of the match. West Indies lost that match and a chance to reach the semi finals. Both Viswanath and Walsh did receive some flak for their actions but after these many years though people do not remember the results of those games but they certainly do remember their actions for upholding the spirit and honor of the game.

In the end the result of the Christchurch test match would not have been different had McCullum chosen to let the spirit of the game take precedence over the laws of cricket. But the win-at-any-cost modern cricketing battles that are taking place nowadays do not give a choice to cricketers to play the game in its true spirit and incidents like this let us make wonder whether the game is should still carry the tag Gentlemen’s Game or not.

Keeping the controversial run-out aside aside lets get to the statistical trivia of this test match. In a stark contrast to prevailing pattern of putting the opposition into bat after winning the toss at this Venue, Sri Lanka’s Captain Mahela Jayewardene opted to bat first and suffered the consequences as his team was bowled out for a paltry total of 157 and went on to lose the test match by five wickets. Only one captain, New Zealand’s Dion Nash in the 2nd test of 1998/99 series against South Africa chose to bat first in the last eleven tests including the recently concluded test played on this ground.

Here are some of the other statistical highlights of this test match that finished in three days:

Kumara Sangakkara while completing his 11th test hundred of his test career has also completed 1000 runs for the calendar year 2006. He becomes the 7th batsman to do so this year. See the list below.

Sangakkara also became one of the twelve cricketers to have registered a test hundred in a team’s completed innings total of less than 200.Here is a list of batsmen who scored a hundred in a completed innings totalling less than 200 runs.

For the sake of record, Charles Bannerman’s 67.35% (165* out of 245 in the first test match ever) is the highest percentage of runs scored in a completed test innings, though strictly speaking , only nine wickets fell in that innings as Bannerman was retired hurt. In Kiwi great Glen Turner holds the record for recording highest percentage of runs in first class cricket. Turner carried his bat through out the innings for scoring 141* in his team‘s total of 169 playing for Worcestershire against Glamargon in 1977. A staggering 83.43% of the innings total. The next highest scored in that innings was Norman Gifford with 7. Truly amazing knock.

Chris Martin after waiting for seven months with a 99 wickets test career aggregate, finally took his hundredth test wicket when he dismissed Prasanna Jayawardene. He now joins Bruce Reid of Australia ( 113 wickets and 93 runs from 27 tests) as the only other player in test history to have gathered fewer than hundred runs (48) and more than hundred wickets (101) in 32 tests. Incidentally, India’s Bhagwat Chandrasekhar ( 82 runs) , Australia’s Glen McGrath ( 67 runs) and Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria (81 runs) have all had fewer than hundred runs when they took their hundredth wicket, Subsequently all of them crossed hundred run mark in their career with only Chandrasekhar not being able to cross the number of wickets mark in his career. Chandrasekhar ended his career with 167 runs and 242 wickets from 58 tests.

Sri Lanka’s Chamara Silva started his test career with a pair and becomes the 35th member of the Pair-on-Test-Debut Club and 4th Sri Lankan to suffer the ill-fate.. But Silva can take solace to the fact that one of the leading run scorers for Sri Lanka, Marvan Atapattu, too started his test career with a pair. But he went on to hit six double centuries which puts him in the fourth in the list of batsmen. Atapattu got out for 0 & 1 in his second test when he got a test recall two years later and after thrown into wilderness for two more years he returned to test cricket and registered another pair in his third test and spent three more years without a test appearance before returning back to test cricket in 1996/97 and putting up consistent performances.

Trivial Facts about Pairs:

Tommy Ward’s Pair was achieved on a single day and is a king pair. He was also the third victim of TJ Matthews’ hat-trick in both the innings of the test match.

For CS Wimble, PS Twentyman-Jones, PT Lewis , CD Dixon, CG Rowe, LA Butterfield, RGM Patel and GM Hamilton it was their only test match appearance.

JJ Kotze also holds the record for registering a pair both his first and final test appearances excluding the One Test wonders mentioned above.

Test #1819 Records: Australia's Amazing Victory at Adelaide

Test #1819 England in Australia 2006/07 Ashes 2nd Test at Adelaide Oval.

For a while, the second test match at Adelaide looked as if it’s following the same course as did the 2nd test at Edgbaston of 2005 Ashes. But the main difference was the time that England took to compile their first innings total of 551 for 6 decl. At Edgbaston England scored 407 on the first day of the test match itself whereas at Adelaide they took almost 5 ½ sessions to reach 551 runs and Australia always had a chance to escape with a draw. But when Australia lost 3 wickets without putting 100 runs on the board, it seemed as if the Ashes ghost of Edgbaston might be resurfacing all over again.

But Ricky Ponting must have been thinking about India’s victory at the same venue in 2003/04 when they won the test match after conceding 556 in Australia’s first innings with Ponting himself leading the charge with a magnificent knock of 242. Rahul Dravid (233) and VVS Laxman (148) helped India reply strongly with a total of 523. Australia in that test bundled out for 196 in their second innings and India cruised towards victory target with Dravid again providing the backbone of their chase.

Though the scoring rate in the second Ashes test was extremely slow when compared to the India vs. Australia test of 2004/05 test, it followed the same pattern. It shows how determined is Ricky Ponting to bring the Ashes back to Australia ‘If there's something there to chase we'll have a go’ , he said at the end of 3rd day’s play during which he added 192 crucial runs with Michael Hussey on his way to his second hundred of the series and 7th of the year. It sounded cocky at that time . But rather than waiting for Flintoff to set a target to chase when Ponting marshaled his bowlers meticulously and applied pressure on English batsmen all through their 2nd innings, it was evident he was walking the talk. All his bowlers responded to his call and helped Australia bowl England out for a paltry 129.

That England dig its own grave by batting painfully slow and in such a style which might have made Geoff Boycott feel like as if he is the fastest scorer around and made Australia get right back into the game doesn’t take away the credit from Shane Warne, who was in his elements in the 2nd innings striking four crucial blows. A 50 runs more in their second innings would have given them a chance of drawing the match. In the end the target of 168 runs in 36 overs was never going to be a difficult task for Australia. Ponting again provided the backbone with an innings of 49 and Mr. Cricket saw it through for a 6 wicket win for Australia. Adelaide lived up to its reputation of providing a result as last 9 test matches played here since 1997/98 drawn encounter against South Africa ended in a victory for Australia with the only exception being their loss to India in 2003/04.

Here are some of the statistical highlights of on of the greatest test match victories of Australia in recent times.

Paul Collingwood’s 206 is only the 11th double hundred by an Englishman in Ashes. Four of them were scored by Walter Hammond. Collingwood also breaks a 70 year old jinx of an Englishman not being able to record a double hundred in Australia. Following is the list of all double hundreds scored for England in chronological order.

During his knock of 206 Collingwood completed 1000 runs for the Calendar year. He is the 6th cricketer to have done so for this calendar as shown in the list below.

It is very rare that a team batting first registers a total of 500 or more and then goes on to lose the test match. England suffered the ignominy in this test . In fact England's 551 for 6 at Adelaide is the third highest score in the first innings of a Test that resulted in a loss. The record belongs to Australia who after making 586 in their first innings at Sydney in 1894 against England and also enforced a follow-on, still ended up losing the test match. Australia also made 556 against India in the first innings at Adelaide in 2003/04 and lost the test match. Many of the current members of the Australian team who played in that test match may have fathomed their chances of winning in spite of England’s mammoth first innings total in the recently concluded Adelaide test, especially the captain, Ricky Ponting who was at the receiving earlier.

England, also achieved the dubious distinction of suffering a defeat after declaring with a 500-plus total in the first innings of a Test. The only other occasion when this happened was England came out victors.. Gary Sobers sportive declaration in West Indies’ second innings at 92 for 2 after closing the first innings at 526/7 at Port-of-Spain in 1967/68 set England 215 runs for a victory in 165 minutes and England romped home by seven wickets.

Paul Collingwood with his 206 provides only 10th instance of a batsman hitting a double hundred in a defeat with Ricky Ponting leading the way with the highest score among those instances.

The record partnership of 310 runs for England against Australia between Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen also finds a place in the records books as the second 300+ partnership in a test defeat. Last time it happened both Collingwood and Pietersen were on the other side of the table. Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf added as many as 363 runs for the third wicket against England at Headingley this year but still ended on the losing side.

Shane Warne, who with his amazing spell of 4 for 49 in the second innings tightened the screws on England was quite a different bowler in the first innings. He conceded most number of runs in an innings ( 1 for 167) in test . In 2001 , he conceded 165 runs in an England’s total of 432 at The Oval in 2001. However, unlike in Adelaide his efforts did not go waste at that time as he took 7 wickets in that innings and added 4 more in the second to win the Man of the Match award in an Australian victory by an innings and 25 runs.

On the positive side, during his first innings knock of 43 , Shane Warne, completed 3000 runs in test cricket. He now joins the ranks of six of the greatest All-Rounders of all-time that have all taken 300 wickets and scored 3000 runs in their test career. Interestingly Warne, is the only cricketer in test history to aggregate 3000 runs in a career without ever registering a century.

During his second innings knock of 49 Ponting completed 1000 runs at Adelaide venue and became the fourth batsman to do so after Alan Border, Steve Waugh and Justin Langer. Following list provides the record of each of these batsmen at this venue.

Just for the record , Paul Collingwood played one of the slowest innings of recent times 22* of 119 balls and 198 mts but it did not quiet make it into the record books as Martin Crowe spent more minutes (217) and faced more deliveries(157) to score fewer (19) runs against Sri Lanka at Colombo(SSC) in 1983/84.

Michael Hussey, while anchoring the innings during Australia’s chase completed his 3rd consecutive half century of the series and with his unbeaten 61 in the 2nd innings of the Adelaide he now scored 1377 runs in 13 tests at a bradmanesque average of 81.00 including 4 centuries and 7 fifties. It remains to be seen how long Mr. Cricket will carry on his batting average in stratosphere.

For Damien Martyn who announced his retirement on Friday from both domestic and international cricket, this test match will go down in the history books as his last test . Martyn’s 15 years of international career was never been a smooth one , but he always seized the opportunity to prove himself and compiled 4406 runs in 67 tests at an healthy avg of 46.37. He scored 13 hundreds with 165 against New Zealand at Wellington in 2004/05 being his highest test score.

Of all the reactions about his retirement, perhaps his captain Ricky Ponting’s words seem to best describe Martyn’s character and contribution to Australian cricket. Ponting said : "He is one of the world's most unsung players in both forms of the game and I don't think it is really understood how good a player he actually is." – No one will argue about that statement about Damien Martyn, undoubtedly one of the most stylish and elegant batsmen Australia ever produced.

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Test #1818 Records: Mohammad Yousuf , New King of a Calendar Year

Test #1818 West Indies in Pakistan 2006/07 (3rd Test) at National Stadium, Karachi.

Pakistan continued their dominance against West Indies at home with a test series win by 2-0 margin and kept intact their 26 year old record of not losing a rubber to the Carribeans The last time when the West Indians won a test series in Pakistan was way back in 1980/81 season when Clive Lloyd led West Indians beat them by a 1-0 margin in a four test series.

West Indies gave a much better fight this time than they did in their previous tourwhich they were whitewashed 3-0 by Pakistan. Courtney Walsh led the West Indians in that 1997/98 test series . West Indies lost first two tests of that series by an innings and the final test by 10 wickets. In the 2001/02 test series that was played on a neutral venues for security reasons was also won by Pakistan by 2-0 margin.

The Karachi test match once again witnessed a tremendous batting display by Mohammad Yousuf, who capped his spectacular run feast of 2006 by hitting a century in each innings for the first time in his test career. In the process he also surpassed much publicized feat of Sir Issac Vivian Alexander Richards’ 1976 record tally of 1710 test runs for a calendar year.

Here are some of the statistical highlights of the series-clinching victory of Pakistan.

With his twin hundreds of the Karachi test, Mohammad Yousuf now becomes the sixth Pakistani and 30th player in test cricket to hit a century in each innings of a test match providing 42nd such instance. Following is the list of six pakistanis who hit a century in each innings of a test match.

Sunil Gavaskar of India and Ricky Ponting of Australia achieved the feat of scoring a century in both innings of a test match on a record three times in their career whereas Alan Border , Greg Chappell and Matthew Hayden of Australia, Herbert Sutcliffe of England, George Headley and Clyde Walcott of West Indies, Aravinda De Silva of Sri Lanka and Rahul Dravid of India have done it twice in their test career. Clyde Walcott’s feat of doing it twice in the same series is unparalleled in the history of cricket so is Alan Border's two 150+ scores in the same test match.

Also noteworthy are the feats of Yasir Hameed of Pakistan and Lawrence Rowe of West Indies who hit a century in each innings on their test debut and Rowe’s being in its own way as he went on to score a double hundred and hundred in the same test . Doug Walters and Greg Chappell of Australia, Sunil Gavaskar of India, Brian Lara of West Indies and Graham Gooch of England have all hit a century and a double century in the same test. Graham Gooch of England provides the only instance in test history of registering a triple hundred and hundred in the same test.

Following list provides the list of all those instances.

Yousuf also becomes only the third cricketer in test history to hit a century in five consecutive tests. Don Badman of Australia did it in six consecutive tests and Jacques Kallis of South Africa in five. Yousuf in fact did hit 6 centuries in 5 consecutive tests with his twin centuries at Karachi whereas Bradman's six hundreds came in six tests in a row.

Yousuf's nine hundreds along with his 1788 runs in the calendar year 2006 are now new records for most number of hundreds and runs in a calendar year, thus making him the new king of a calendar year in test cricket. In one of the most eagerly anticipated cricketing achievements for the last couple of weeks, Yousuf did finally overtake King Richards’ long standing record of 1710 runs in a calendar year which he had set in 1976. Richards hit a record seven hundreds during that year which was later equaled by Sri Lanka’s Aravinda De Silva in 1997. With his 142 in the 2nd test of the ongoing Ashes series Ricky Ponting too has registered his seventh ton for the year. With a probable five more innings to go in the current year and the kind of form he is in, Ponting has a very good chance of equaling, if not surpassing Yousuf’s record for most test hundreds in a calendar year.

With his fourth hundred of the test series, Yousuf also joins a select band of cricketers who have scored four or more hundreds in a test series. Mohammad Yousuf being the only player to do so in a three-test series. Clyde Walcott holds the record for hitting most number of hundreds, five, in a test series. Following list provides all instances wherein a batsman four or more hundreds in a test series.

During his second innings knock of 124 Yousuf has not only completed 1000 runs against West Indies but also set a new record for highest career aggregate from either side. Yousuf now has 1214 runs @ 101.17 against the carribeans. Brian Lara’s career aggregate of 1173 runs against Pakistan is highest for West Indies. Inzamam Ul Haq with 1124 runs @ 53.52 and Vivian Richards with 1091 runs @ 41.96 are the only other players to have amassed 1000 or more runs in Pakistan and West Indies Tests.

By compiling 665 runs in the series Mohammad Yousuf provides a unique instance of aggregating 600+ runs back to back in a test series consisting of four or fewer tests. In the previous test series against England in 2006 summer Mohammad Yousuf aggregated 631 runs in four tests including three centuries, the first of them being a glorious double hundred at Lord’s. Just for the record Yousuf’s 665 runs is third highest aggregate in a three-test series as shown in the following table.

Note: As in many other batting records, Sir Donald Bradman ‘s name figures prominently in this category too. He in fact aggregated more than 750 runs in back to back test series which consisted of five tests: 758 runs in 1934 & 810 runs in 1936-37 both times against England. Ten years later he again scored more than 650 runs in two consecutive 5-test series 680 against England in 1946-47 and 715 against India in 1947-48.

By claiming his 100th test wicket in his career in the form of Corey Collymore, which sealed the victory for Pakistan by 200 runs Pakistan’s Abdul Razaaq completes the All-Rounder’s double of 100 wickets and 1000 runs in a test career. He thus becomes only the 48th cricketer in test history and seventh Pakistani to do so. At the end of the series Abdul Razaaq has exactly 100 test wickets @36.96 from 46 tests and 1946 runs @28.61 with three hundreds.

The 1000 runs and 100 wickets All-Rounder club consists of 11 Aussies, 10 Englishmen, 5 Indians, 4 Kiwis, 4 springboks, 2 Sri Lankans, 4 carribeans , 1 Zimbabwean and 7 Pakistanis.

Following list provides the names of all Pakistanis who have completed the All-Rounder’s double in their test career.

Yousuf’s second innings century is also his sixth consecutive score of 50 or more in a test innings and he now joins eleven other cricketers who have achieved this hallmark of consistency. Andy Flower of Zimbabwe and Everton Weeks of West Indies have scored 7 consecutive fifties whereas Alan Border and Greg Chappell of Australia, Ken Barrington, Ted Dexter, Patsy Hendren of England, Jacques Kallis and Alan Melville of South Africa , George Headley of West indies and Rahul Dravid of India are other cricketers who have all scored six consecutive half centuries in test cricket. Even though Sir Vivian Richards doesn’t figure in this record, he holds an altogether unique record of hitting fifty in 11 consecutive tests.