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.
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