Saturday, January 27, 2007

Test # 1829 Records : Makhaya Ntini's 300th wicket in Test Cricket.

Test #1829 Pakistan in South Africa 2006-07 (2nd Test) at St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth.

A Test match which was mostly dominated by the bowlers with Makhaya Ntini reaching the 300 wicket milestone and celebrating it in a fashion that might set a precedence to future record breakers, Kamran Akmal played a gem of an innings to make amends for the poor show he put up behind the stumps. In the end his unbeaten knock of 57 ensured a series leveling victory for Pakistan. Pakistan was struggling at 92 for 5 when he came in to bat chasing a modest target of 191 with Pollock and Ntini firing on all cylinders. His innings stands next only to the counter attacking century he made against India last year when Pakistan were in shambles at 39 for 6 as one of the best innings ever played under pressure by the diminutive wicket keeper.

If Kamran gets the credit for taking Pakistan to victory, it was his captain Inzamam-ul-Haq who made it possible in the first innings with arguably a career best innings of 92* during which he added a valuable 74 for the 10th wicket with Mohammad Asif. Such was his domination and intelligence in rotating the strike that he took his score from 31 to 92 while shielding Asif from facing the bowlers. In 20 overs of batting Inzamam let Asif play just 29 deliveries. Inzamam's 61 run contribution to the partnership accounted for a whopping 82.43%.

Another highlight of this test match was return of Shoaib Akthar into the National side since his drug-ban. He along with Mohammad Asif ran through South Africa’s top order with a fiery spell and helped Pakistan skittle out South Africa for a paltry total of 124 in the first innings though he sat in the dressing room with his all too familiar hamstring injury that prevented him from bowling in the second innings.

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


When Makhaya Ntini had Mohammad Sami caught behind by Mark Boucher he took his test wickets tally to 300. He is only the 21st player in history to have done so and third South African behind Alan Donald and Shaun Pollock to have reached the 300 wicket milestone in test cricket. Following is the list of all bowlers who have taken 300 or more wickets in a test career as at the end of this 2nd test match between Pakistan and South Africa in the ongoing test series. One striking factor in the list is that only four spinners appear in it contrary to popular belief that spinners will have longer careers than the fast bowlers even though two of them find the place at the top.

Player

Country

Career

Tests

Overs

Mdns

Runs

Wkts

Avg

Best

5w

10w

Warne, S K

Australia

1992-2007

145

6784.1

1762

17995

708

25.42

8/71

37

10

Muralitharan, M*

Sri Lanka

1992-

110

6117.3

1585

14649

674

21.73

9/51

57

19

McGrath, G D

Australia

1993-2007

124

4874.4

1470

12186

563

21.64

8/24

29

3

Kumble, A *

India

1990-

113

5949.0

1434

15675

547

28.66

10/74

33

8

Walsh, C A

West Indies

1984-2001

132

5003.1

1144

12684

519

24.44

7/37

22

3

Kapil Dev

India

1978-1994

131

4623.2

1060

12867

434

29.65

9/83

23

2

Hadlee, R J

New Zealand

1973-1990

86

3460.4

809

9611

431

22.30

9/52

36

9

Pollock, S M*

South Africa

1995-

107

4030.5

1205

9648

416

23.19

7/87

16

1

Wasim Akram

Pakistan

1985-2002

104

3771.1

871

9779

414

23.62

7/119

25

5

Ambrose, C E L

West Indies

1988-2000

98

3683.5

1001

8502

405

20.99

8/45

22

3

Botham, I T

England

1977-1992

102

3549.3

788

10878

383

28.40

8/34

27

4

Marshall, M D

West Indies

1978-1991

81

2930.4

613

7876

376

20.95

7/22

22

4

Waqar Younis

Pakistan

1989-2003

87

2704.0

516

8788

373

23.56

7/76

22

5

Imran Khan

Pakistan

1971-1992

88

3106.0

727

8258

362

22.81

8/58

23

6

Lillee, D K

Australia

1971-1984

70

2834.1

652

8493

355

23.92

7/83

23

7

Donald, A A

South Africa

1992-2002

72

2586.3

661

7344

330

22.25

8/71

20

3

Willis, R G D

England

1971-1984

90

2699.1

554

8190

325

25.20

8/43

16

0

Vaas, W P U*

Sri Lanka

1994-

96

3447.4

786

9216

313

29.44

7/71

11

2

Gibbs, L R

West Indies

1958-1976

79

4205.7

1313

8989

309

29.09

8/38

18

2

Ntini, M*

South Africa

1998-

74

2614.3

574

8380

303

27.66

7/37

17

4

Trueman, F S

England

1952-1965

67

2447.4

522

6625

307

21.58

8/31

17

3


Rarely in a test match does the opening day’s play end with the team batting second clinching a first innings lead. Pakistan’s reply of 135 for 6 to South Africa’s first innings total of 124 provides 42nd such instance. As happened in 35 of those cases, the team batting first which conceded a first innings lead on the day one itself went on to lose the test match. Only thrice did the team that conceded the lead on opening day went on to register a win and four tests have ended in a draw. As many as twenty of these forty two test matches resulted in an innings defeat for the team batting first. Following is the list of all such instances.

Bat 1st

Score

Bat 2nd

Score

Venue

Series

Result

Test Seq

Aus

63

Eng

101

The Oval

1882

Won by 7 Runs

t0009

SA

84

Eng

148

Port Elizabeth

1888-89

Lost by 8 Wkts

t0031

Aus

92

Eng

100

The Oval

1890

Lost by 2 Wkts

t0034

Aus

53

Eng

286 for 8

Lord's

1896

Lost by 6 Wkts

t0050

SA

58

Eng

122 for 1

Lord's

1912

Lost by Inns and 62 Runs

t0122

SA

95

Eng

176

The Oval

1912

Lost by 10 Wkts

t0128

Eng

112

Aus

167 for 6

Nottingham

1921

Lost by 10 Wkts

t0140

Eng

187

Aus

191 for 3

Lord's

1921

Lost by 8 Wkts

t0141

SA

113

Eng

128 for 4

Cape Town

1922-23

Lost by 1 Wkts

t0149

NZ

112

Eng

147 for 4

Christchurch

1929-30

Lost by 8 Wkts

t0186

SA

126

Eng

167 for 5

Johannesburg(1st)

1930-31

Won by 28 Runs

t0200

WI

99

Aus

197 for 1

Melbourne

1930-31

Lost by Inns and 122 Runs

t0205

SA

157

Aus

168 for 3

Johannesburg(2nd)

1935-36

Match drawn

t0248

SA

157

Aus

185 for 3

Johannesburg(4th)

1935-36

Match drawn

t0250

NZ

42

Aus

149 for 3

Wellington

1945-46

Lost by Inns and 103 Runs

t0275

Eng

52

Aus

153 for 2

The Oval

1948

Lost by Inns and 149 Runs

t0303

Aus

82

WI

150

Adelaide

1951-52

Lost by 6 Wkts

t0343

Eng

133

SA

142 for 5

Lord's

1955

Won by 71 Runs

t0409

NZ

74

WI

234 for 3

Dunedin

1955-56

Lost by Inns and 71 Runs

t0421

WI

127

Eng

134 for 4

Lord's

1957

Lost by Inns and 36 Runs

t0440

Pak

100

Eng

174 for 4

Lord's

1962

Lost by 9 Wkts

t0531

Ind

75

WI

118 for 8

Delhi

1987-88

Lost by 5 Wkts

t1080

Aus

119

WI

135 for 1

Perth

1992-93

Lost by Inns and 25 Runs

t1212

SL

71

Pak

109 for 2

Kandy

1994-95

Lost by Inns and 52 Runs

t1267

WI

130

Aus

139 for 2

Adelaide

1996-97

Lost by Inns and 183 Runs

t1352

Aus

118

Eng

200 for 3

Birmingham

1997

Lost by 9 Wkts

t1368

WI

147

SL

157 for 3

St Vincent

1996-97

Match drawn

t1371

Eng

112

Aus

150 for 3

Perth

1998-99

Lost by 7 Wkts

t1431

Ind

83

NZ

119 for 3

Mohali

1999-00

Match drawn

t1462

Pak

155

Aus

171 for 4

Perth

1999-00

Lost by Inns and 20 Runs

t1472

WI

82

Aus

107 for 1

Brisbane

2000-01

Lost by Inns and 126 Runs

t1516

Pak

104

NZ

160 for 0

Hamilton

2000-01

Lost by Inns and 185 Runs

t1540

BD

134

Pak

219 for 2

Multan

2001-02

Lost by Inns and 264 Runs

t1560

BD

90

SL

246 for 1

Colombo

2001-02

Lost by Inns and 137 Runs

t1561

Pak

59

Aus

191 for 4

Sharjah(2nd)

2002-03

Lost by Inns and 20 Runs

t1617

Zim

54

SA

340 for 3

Cape Town

2004-05

Lost by Inns and 21 Runs

t1737

BD

108

Eng

188 for 1

Lord's

2005

Lost by Inns and 261 Runs

t1751

BD

104

Eng

269 for 3

Chester-le-Street

2005

Lost by Inns and 27 Runs

t1753

Zim

161

Ind

195 for 1

Harare

2005-06

Lost by 10 Wkts

t1767

NZ

119

SA

133 for 4

Johannesburg

2005-06

Lost by 4 Wkts

t1801

Pak

119

Eng

168 for 2

Manchester

2006

Lost by Inns and 120 Runs

t1811

SA

124

Pak

135 for 6

Port Elizabeth

2006-07

Lost by 5 Wkts

t1829


The top scorers in this test match from both sides were dismissed in nervous nineties. Inzamam hit an unbeaten 92 in Pakistan’s first innings whereas Jacques Kallis was dismissed for 91 in South Africa’s second. This is a rare occurance in test cricket which happened only thirteen times. Following is the list of all 13 instances in test cricket.

For

Player

Score

Vs

Player

Score

Venue

Series

Test Seq

SA

HW Taylor

93

Eng

JB Hobbs

97

Durban(4th)

1913-14

t0133

WI

RJ Christiani

99

Eng

J Hardstaff Jr

98

Bridgetown

1947-48

t0293

Pak

Shafqat Rana

95

NZ

BAG Murray

90

Lahore

1969-70

t0663

Pak

Majid Khan & Mushtaq Mohd

99

Eng

DL Amiss

99

Karachi

1972-73

t0719

Eng

DS Steele

92

Aus

RB McCosker

95*

Leeds

1975

t0762

Aus

GS Chappell

98*

Eng

DI Gower

98*

Sydney

1979-80

t0868

Ind

SM Gavaskar

90

WI

PJL Dujon

98

Ahmedabad

1983-84

t0967

Pak

Aamer Malik

98*

Eng

DJ Capel

98

Karachi

1987-88

t1086

Aus

PR Sleep

90

NZ

JG Wright

99

Melbourne

1987-88

t1087

NZ

SP Fleming

92

Ind

NS Sidhu

98

Hamilton

1993-94

t1255

Eng

RA Smith

90

WI

SL Campbell

93

Lord's

1995

t1299

BD

Habibul Bashar

94

Zim

T Taibu

92

Chittagong

2004-05

t1733

SA

JH Kallis

91

Pak

Inzamam-ul-Haq

92*

Port Elizabeth

2006-07

t1829


For the Record
: This is Jacques Kallis’ 4th dismissal in nervous nineties whereas Inzamam registered a 90 plus score eight times (twice not out) in test cricket. He now stands third in the list of players who have registered most 90s in test cricket along with Alvin Kallicharan of West Indies(once not out). Steve Waugh of Australia with 10 such scores (twice unbeaten), Rahul Dravid of India (once unbeaten) and Michael Slater of Australia with 9 such scores figures at the top of the nervous nineties list.