Test #1828 Records : Boucher's record sidelines as Gibbs' racial slur grabs headlines

Test #1828 Pakistan in South Africa 2006-07 (1^st Test) at Centurion Park.

In a test match where Herchell Gibbs took center stage not because of his resolute batting in first innings but for his so called “racial slur”, which meted out with a 2-test ban from the match referee Chris Broad, South Africa’s convincing victory was not what the Media focused on but the issues that surrounded those remarks. Enough has been already written about the incident and almost all the followers have made up their mind and took opposing sides of the issue surrounding racism in sports. The issues got so much press that Mark Boucher’s record for most number of catches in the history of test cricket in his 100^th test appearance did not get the importance it really deserved.

Let us look at some of the statistical highlights of this test match:

One of the most low profiled and yet a very high performer in test cricket, Mark Verdon Boucher, while playing his hundredth test match has taken his 367^th catch behind the stumps when he caught Faisal Iqbal off the bowling of Jacques Kallis. He thus eclipses Ian Healy’s record of 366 catches for the most by a wicket keeper in test cricket. Boucher’s three dismissals in the test match now put him in the second place in the list of wicket keepers with most dismissals in a test career. Only twelve dismissals separate him from the leader of this pack Ian Healy. Following is the list of wicket keepers with 300 or more dismissals behind the wickets. Interesting to note here is they have all aggregated 3000 or more runs in tests thus registering the wicket keeper’s double of 300 dismissals and 3000 runs in test cricket. Both Adam Gilchrist, who is running neck and neck with Boucher in terms of dismissals have a very good chance of stretching this record to 400 dismissals and 4000 runs very soon.

Player	Country	Career	Tests	Runs	Avg	Dismissals
						Ca	St	Total
Gilchrist, A C*	Australia	1999-	90	5353	48.66	344	37	381
Healy, I A	Australia	1988-1999	119	4356	27.40	366	29	395
Boucher, M V*	South Africa	1997-	100	3723	29.78	368	15	383
Marsh, R W	Australia	1970-1984	96	3633	26.52	343	12	355

Boucher with his century of tests becomes only the 43^rd player and 4^th South African in test history to have played 100 or more tests in a career. However he will be playing his 100^th test for South Africa when he takes the field against Pakistan in the second test of the current series as one of the tests that he appeared in his career was for ICC World XI.

Following is the list of all cricketers along with their batting and bowling figures, who have appeared in 100 or more tests in history.

Player	Country	Career	Tests	Batting		Bowling
				Runs	Avg	Wkts	Avg
Waugh, S R	Australia	1985-2004	168	10927	51.06	92	37.45
Border, A R	Australia	1978-1994	156	11174	50.56	39	39.10
Warne, S K*	Australia	1992-	145	3154	17.33	708	25.42
Tendulkar, S R*	India	1989-	135	10668	54.71	38	50.68
Stewart, A J	England	1990-2003	133	8463	39.55	0
Walsh, C A	West Indies	1984-2001	132	936	7.55	519	24.44
Kapil Dev	India	1978-1994	131	5248	31.05	434	29.65
Lara, B C*	West Indies	1990-	131	11953	52.89	0
Waugh, M E	Australia	1991-2002	128	8029	41.82	59	41.17
Gavaskar, S M	India	1971-1987	125	10122	51.12	1	206.00
Javed Miandad	Pakistan	1976-1993	124	8832	52.57	17	40.12
McGrath, G D*	Australia	1993-	124	641	7.37	563	21.64
Richards, I V A	West Indies	1974-1991	121	8540	50.24	32	61.38
Healy, I A	Australia	1988-1999	119	4356	27.40	0
Gooch, G A	England	1975-1995	118	8900	42.58	23	46.48
Gower, D I	England	1978-1992	117	8231	44.25	1	20.00
Inzamam-Ul-Haq*	Pakistan	1992-	117	8692	50.24	0
Haynes, D L	West Indies	1978-1994	116	7487	42.30	1	8.00
Vengsarkar, D B	India	1976-1992	116	6868	42.13	0
Atherton, M A	England	1989-2001	115	7728	37.70	2	151.00
Cowdrey, M C	England	1954-1975	114	7624	44.07	0
Kumble, A *	India	1990-	113	2049	17.22	547	28.66
Lloyd, C H	West Indies	1966-1984	110	7515	46.68	10	62.20
Muralitharan, M*	Sri Lanka	1992-	110	1117	11.76	674	21.73
Ponting, R T*	Australia	1995-	110	9368	59.29	5	46.20
Boycott, G	England	1964-1982	108	8114	47.73	7	54.57
Greenidge, C G	West Indies	1974-1991	108	7558	44.72	0
Boon, D C	Australia	1984-1996	107	7422	43.66	0
Dravid, R *	India	1996-	107	9174	57.34	1	39.00
Jayasuriya, S T*	Sri Lanka	1991-	107	6791	40.42	96	34.18
Pollock, S M*	South Africa	1995-	106	3741	32.53	412	23.20
Kallis, J H*	South Africa	1995-	105	8236	55.28	206	32.06
Langer, J L*	Australia	1993-	105	7696	45.27	0
Fleming, S P*	New Zealand	1994-	104	6620	39.64	0
Taylor, M A	Australia	1989-1999	104	7525	43.50	1	26.00
Wasim Akram	Pakistan	1985-2002	104	2898	22.64	414	23.62
Salim Malik	Pakistan	1982-1999	103	5768	43.70	5	82.80
Botham, I T	England	1977-1992	102	5200	33.55	383	28.40
Hooper, C L	West Indies	1987-2002	102	5762	36.47	114	49.43
Chanderpaul, S*	West Indies	1994-	101	6736	44.61	8	100.25
Kirsten, G	South Africa	1993-2004	101	7289	45.27	2	71.00
Boucher, M V*	South Africa	1997-	100	3723	29.78	1	6.00
Thorpe, G P	England	1993-2005	100	6744	44.66	0

For the record : Boucher holds the record for playing most number of tests (75) consecutively than any other South African. Boucher also holds the record for hitting two centuries after coming into bat as a night watchman. Boucher also figures in the highest ninth wicket partnership in all test cricket, 195 with Pat Symcox against Pakistan at Johannesburg, 1997/98.

Though Gibbs attracted more attention for his remarks rather than his batting in the first innings, he did join a select band of players who got dismissed in nervous nineties on 6 or more occasions. Michael Slater with 9 such dismissals holds the record for losing his wicket in nineties more times than any other cricketer whereas his long time teammate Steve Waugh registered a score 90 or more on no less than 10 occasions, two of them being remaining unbeaten. Following is the list of batsmen who have all recorded 6 or more nervous nineties during their career.

Player	Country	Tests	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	100s	50s	Avg	90s
										Out	NO
Slater, M J	Australia	74	131	7	5312	219	14	21	42.84	9	0
Dravid, R *	India	107	182	22	9174	270	23	46	57.34	8	1
Waugh, S R	Australia	168	260	46	10927	200	32	50	51.06	8	2
Hayden, M L*	Australia	89	159	13	7739	380	27	27	53.01	7	0
Kallicharran, A I	West Indies	66	109	10	4399	187	12	21	44.43	7	1
Tendulkar, S R*	India	135	217	22	10668	*248	35	43	54.71	6	0
Lara, B C*	West Indies	131	232	6	11953	*400	34	48	52.89	6	0
Inzamam-Ul-Haq*	Pakistan	117	194	21	8692	329	25	45	50.24	6	1
Kanhai, R B	West Indies	79	137	6	6227	256	15	28	47.53	6	0
Greenidge, C G	West Indies	108	185	16	7558	226	19	34	44.72	6	0
Gibbs, H H*	South Africa	83	142	7	5901	228	14	24	43.71	6	0

Pakistan, in spite of topping the 300 run mark in both innings lost the test match by 7 wickets margin. This ignominy of suffering a defeat even after making 300plus scores in both innings of a test match has occurred twenty one times in test cricket including the latest occurrence at Centurion Park. Following is the list of all such instances.

For	1st Inns		2nd Inns	Vs	Venue	Series	Margin of defeat	Test Seq
Aus	465	&	339	SA	Adelaide	1910-11	by 38 runs	t0113
Eng	447	&	370	Aus	Adelaide	1920-21	by 119 runs	t0137
Eng	365	&	363	Aus	Adelaide	1924-25	by 11 runs	t0160
Aus	397	&	351	Eng	Melbourne(3rd)	1928-29	by 3 wickets	t0178
Aus	369	&	336	Eng	Adelaide	1928-29	by 12 runs	t0179
Eng	425	&	375	Aus	Lord's	1930	by 7 wickets	t0195
Eng	496	&	365/8d	Aus	Leeds	1948	by 7 wickets	t0302
WI	357	&	379	Aus	Kingston(5th)	1954-55	by an Inns & 82 runs	t0408
NZ	348	&	328	Pak	Lahore	1955-56	by 4 wickets	t0414
Pak	408	&	318	WI	Georgetown	1957-58	by 8 wickets	t0452
Aus	345	&	331	SA	Adelaide	1963-64	by 10 wickets	t0553
SA	353	&	367	Aus	Cape Town	1966-67	by 6 wickets (Follow On)	t0613
Ind	402	&	330/9d	Aus	Perth	1977-78	by 2 wickets	t0811
Ind	344	&	300	Pak	Karachi	1978-79	by 8 wickets	t0833
Aus	331	&	324	Eng	Leeds	1985	by 5 wickets	t1017
SL	306	&	306	SA	Cape Town	1997-98	by 70 runs	t1410
WI	301	&	348	SA	Centurion Park	2003-04	by 10 wickets (Follow On)	t1682
NZ	386	&	336	Eng	Lord's	2004	by 7 wickets	t1700
Pak	304	&	325	Aus	Sydney	2004-05	by 9 wickets	t1731
SA	361	&	311	SL	Colombo(PSS)	2006	by 1 wicket	t1812
Pak	313	&	302	SA	Centurion Park	2006-07	by 7 wickets	t1828

Note: In 1928/29, Australia lost two test matches in a row in two tight finishes even though their lowest total in four consecutive innings was 336. A feat never paralleled in history.