Test #1833 & #1834 Records : Thumping Victories for India & England

A victory by an innings and 239 runs by India against Bangladesh at Mirpur and another thumping win by an innings and 283 runs by England against West Indies at Leeds with both matches concluding in less than nine sessions should give an indication of how vast a gulf that existed between the two sides in each of these two tests which started on the same day. Both these victories or defeats depending on from whose side are you looking at figure among the top sixteen test margins by which a result was decided.

Test #1833 India in Bangladesh 2007(2^nd Test) at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

It was clearly evident at Mirpur that Bangladesh is still miles behind to be able to put up a descent show in a test match on all five days and need to work a lot to become a really competitive and consistent test side. Their young talent can always come up on top of any side in the world on a day or two but to sustain the fight in a test match for a longer duration they certainly need a lot more than the youthful exuberance and flamboyance. No doubt they have good bowlers, excellent fielders and exciting batsmen, but they keep falling in packs quite frequently. Hardly can two or three of their batsmen bat longer than a couple of sessions and very rarely a batsman stays longer at the wicket to accumulate a century or let the batsman at the other end hit a century. Till such time at least two or three of their batsmen shows some consistency and staying power at the wicket, the brilliance of the likes of Ashrafuls, Rafiques and Mortazas will inevitably be wasted.

Just consider the fact that there have been just twelve centuries hit by their batmen in their seven years of test history during which they played 46 tests. In its 46 test match history only Habibul Bashar and Mohammad Ashraful with three centuries apiece have hit more than one century in a test career. Except for once never in an innings two batsmen could reach a hundred run mark. I strongly believe till two of their batsmen can hit a hundred in the same test innings more frequently, at least on flat batting tracks like the one at Mirpur, Bangladesh need not be considered as a worthy opponent by any team. Even though they put up a great show on one day of a test match any current test playing nation can come back and win from any situation like Australia did at Fatullah last year. The last time two of their batmen hit a hundred in the same innings they ended up claiming a first innings lead against a full fledged West Indian team that was captained by Lara and included Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Ridley Jacobs in their batting lineup. Bangladesh ended up setting up a target and forced West Indies to play out for a draw at Gros Islet in 2004.

It seems to me that Bangladesh will need to contend with some consolation victories and an occasional upset in ODIs against major teams till they change their psyche and realize that they need to approach different forms of the game in different ways to register a victory or for that matter even a creditable draw in the five day game against any test playing nation without having any intervention from rain gods.

Currently they look capable of beating a test side just from Zimbabwe and as if to prove that point their only test victory till date out of the 46 tests they played since attaining the test status in 2000, was achieved against a depleted Zimbabwe test side in 2004-05 at Chittagong. Of course, the fortunes of Zimbabwe cricket were just started to go downhill very fast at that time and within eight months they were stripped of their test status. In remaining 45 tests Bangladesh could draw just five tests including the first test of the current series. Rain played a major role on more than one occasion in all those matches.

With Whatmore leaving the Bangladesh’s national team, Captain Habibul Bashar’ position too being in jeopardy and their most experienced batsman Javed Omar registering a very rare King Pair, Bangladesh needs to find ways to achieve mental toughness to stay and fight with a strong will to succeed to keep up their test status, otherwise ICC might give them a break from test cricket like they did to Zimbabwe.

Their performance against their neighbors within a couple of months of being on top of the world with two remarkable wins in ICC World Cup was not only a very disappointing one for their home crowds but also a wake up call for the ICC while considering to grant test status to other teams like Ireland. The kind of pathetic displays they put up in both forms of the game against the same team that they embarrassed, humiliated and sent packing prior to the second round in the World Cup leaves more doubts in the minds of those who thought at last the Tigers have come out of their wilderness.

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

By hitting a century each Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in a mammoth India’s first innings total of 610/3 decl have provided the first instance of top four batsmen(no.1,no.2, no.3 & no.4) hitting a century in an innings of a test match. There are only five other instances of top three batsmen (no.1,no.2 & no.3) hitting a hundred in a test innings, the first of which occurred in 1924 in the 2^nd test between England and South Africa at Lord’s. Following is the list that provides the details of all those occasions along with the latest record.

Top Order Batsmen with Hundreds	Team Total	For	Vs	Venue	Series	Test Seq
JB Hobbs(211),H Sutcliffe(122) & FE Woolley(134*	531/2 decl	Eng	SA	Lord's	1924	T0154
CC McDonald(110),AR Morris(111) & RN Harvey(133)	600/9 decl	Aus	WI	Port of Spain	1954/55	T0404
WM Lawry(210),RB Simpson(201) & RM Cowper(102)	650/6 decl	Aus	WI	Bridgetown	1964/65	T0589
SM Gavaskar(172),K Srikkanth(116) & M Amarnath(138)	600/4 decl	Ind	Aus	Sydney	1985/86	T1034
MA Taylor(111),MJ Slater(152) & DC Boon(164*)	632/4 decl	Aus	Eng	Lord's	1993	T1224
HH Gibbs(147),G Kirsten(220) & JH Kallis(157*)	600/3 decl	SA	Zim	Harare	2001/02	T1562
MH Richardson(145),L Vincent(106) & SB Styris(119)	630/6 decl	NZ	Ind	Mohali	2003/04	T1662
KD Karthik(129),W Jaffer(138+), R Dravid(129) & SR Tendulkar(122*)	610/3 decl	Ind	BD	Mirpur	2007	T1833

Rahul Dravid with his 65th century stand in 109 tests eclipsed Steve Waugh’s record for most number of century stands in test cricket. Following is the list of all batsmen who have figured in at least 50 century stands in a test career

No of Century Stands	Batsman	For	Tests	Inns	Frequency of Partnership
65	R Dravid	Ind	109	232	1.67
64	SR Waugh	Aus	168	260	2.62
63	AR Border	Aus	156	265	2.47
62	BC Lara	WI	131	232	2.11
61	RT Ponting	Aus	110	183	1.8
60	SR Tendulkar	Ind	137	220	2.28
58	SM Gavaskar	Ind	125	214	2.15
50	Javed Miandad	Pak	124	189	2.48

Javed Omar with a first ball duck in both innings joined eleven other cricketers to have registered a ‘King Pair’. By all probabilities Zaheer Khan may have became the first bowler in test history to have claimed a wicket with the first ball he bowled in each innings of a test match. It will be really a painstaking exercise to research those details, but we can safely say that he definitely is the first bowler to have taken the wicket of the same batsman with the first delivery of each innings. Following is the list of all instances of a ‘King Pair’ achieved in Test cricket:

Player	For	Test Series	Venue	Season	Test Seq
W Attewell	Eng	Lord Sheffield's XI in Australia 1891/92 (2nd Test)	Sydney Cricket Ground	1891/92	t0036
EG Hayes	Eng	Marylebone Cricket Club in South Africa 1905/06 (4th Test)	Newlands, Cape Town	1905/06	t0091
AEE Vogler	SA	South Africa in Australia 1910/11 (1st Test)	Sydney Cricket Ground	1910/11	t0111
Tommy Ward	SA	South Africa v Australia Triangular Tournament 1912 (1st Match)	Old Trafford, Manchester	1912	t0121
RJ Crisp	SA	Australia in South Africa 1935/36 (5th Test)	Kingsmead, Durban	1935/36	t0251
Colin Wesley	SA	South Africa in England 1960 (3rd Test)	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	1960	t0494
Gary Troup	NZ	India in New Zealand 1980/81 (1st Test)	Basin Reserve, Wellington	1980/81	t0897
Dave Richardson	SA	Pakistan in South Africa 1994/95 (Only Test)	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	1994/95	t1283
Adam Huckle	Zim	Pakistan in Zimbabwe 1997/98 (2nd Test)	Harare Sports Club	1997/98	t1412
AB Agarkar	Ind	India in Australia 1999/00 (2nd Test)	Melbourne Cricket Ground	1999/00	t1479
AC Gilchrist	Aus	Australia in India 2000/01 (2nd Test)	Eden Gardens, Calcutta	2000/01	t1535
Javed Omar	BD	India in Bangladesh 2007 (2nd Test)	Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur	2007	T1833

Note: Agarkar had a first ball duck in the innings he played in the test matches that preceded and succeeded the King Pair where as RJ Crisp may have registered a King Pair in the previous test that he played. Crisp had a first ball duck in the first innings of the 3^rd test of the same series at Newlands, Cape town and the information about number of balls received in his second innings duck which lasted for just one minute is not available. Both Dave Richardson and Adam Gilchrist had hit a hundred in the test they played prior to registering the 'King Pair'.

During his second innings knock of 67 of 41 balls in 46 minutes Mohammad Ashraful raced to his fifty in just 27 minutes of 26 deliveries thus becoming the new record holder of scoring the fastest test fifty in terms of number of minutes taken in recorded history. However he missed an opportunity to eclipse the record for fastest fifty in terms of number of balls received by just 3 deliveries. Jacques Kallis’ 50 of 24 balls scored against Zimbabwe at Cape Town in 2004-05 still stands as the fastest fifty in test cricket for taking fewest deliveries.

It is to be noted that many test matches prior to record keeping of a batsman’s scores in terms of minutes and deliveries faced has become a norm may have had instances which might find a place among the list shown below. For example , Australia's Victor Trumper supposed to have taken just 22 mts for his fifty during his innings of 63 against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1902-03 which may have taken no less than 45 minutes but there is no substantial evidence for it and hence is not figured in the list of fastest fifties.

Fastest Fifties in terms of No. of Minutes batted
27 mts	Mohammad Ashraful	Bangladesh v India	Dhaka (SBNS)	2007
28 mts	JT Brown	England v Australia	Melbourne	1894-95
29 mts	SA Durani	India v England	Kanpur	1963-64
30 mts	EAV Williams	West Indies v England	Bridgetown	1947-48
30 mts	BR Taylor	New Zealand v West Indies	Auckland	1968-69
Fastest Fifties in terms of No. of balls faced
24 balls	JH Kallis	South Africa v Zimbabwe	Cape Town	2004-05
26 balls	IT Botham	England v India	Delhi	1981-82
26 balls	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan v India	Bangalore	2004-05
26 Balls	Mohammad Ashraful	Bangladesh v India	Dhaka (SBNS)	2007
27 balls	Yousuf Youhana	Pakistan v South Africa	Cape Town	2002-03
30 balls	Kapil Dev	India v Pakistan	Karachi	1982-83

NOTE : The number of deliveries that Ian Botham took for his has been has been now revised to 28. Wisden 2006 adds a note in the list of fastest 50s (p.223) - Botham was previously said to have reached his 50 v India in 26 balls but recent research suggests that this omits two no balls.

India's first-innings lead of 492 and its margin of victory by an innings and 239 runs are both their highest ever in Tests erasing the previous best of 400 run first innings lead and an innings and 219 run victory attained in the same test match, against Australia Kolkata in 1997-98.

Anil Kumble’s 549th victim was also his 138^th lbw victim. When he dismissed Mohammad Sharif in Bangladesh’s first innings, he equaled Shane Warne’s record for most number of lbw victims in a Test career. Kumble did not get another lbw victim in the match though he took 3 more wickets to take his tally of wickets in test cricket to 552 from 115 tests @ 28.58. He now becomes the fourth bowler in test history to reach the 550 wicket milestone.

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-	115	5973.2	1438	15779	552	28.59	10/74	33	8

Indian batsmen survived the first day of the test match without losing a single wicket though four of their batsmen came to the crease as both the openers Karthik and Jaffer retired ill. This provides the 16^th occasion of same side batting a completed day’s play without losing a wicket. And only 4^th time it happened on the first day of a test match.

Last year Virendra Sewhag and Rahul Dravid batted out entire fourth day against Pakistan at Lahore. They added 258runs on the fourth day in a 410-run opening stand on a day ended 15 overs short of allotted 90 overs because of bad light . So that can not strictly figure among the instances of same pair batting through out a completed day’s play like the one that Dravid shared in a partnership with VVS Laxman in that famous 2001-02 test at Kolkata, during which the pair batted out the entire on fourth day adding 335.

There are three more instances of an unrestricted day's play (except for couple of overs for bad light at the end of the day) end without a singe wicket falling that included more than two batsmen.

1. Against WI in 1978/79 series at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, Gavaskar and Vengsarkar have started the 4th day at 70/1 and took it to 361/1 before declaring the innings. Then SFA Bacchus & David Murray opened the batting for WI and ended the day at 15/0.

2. On the second against Australia in 1998/99 series at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica Brian Lara & Pedro Collins have started the day at 37/4(14.3 Overs). Pedro Collins was retired hurt when the score reached 56/4 (23.1Overs). JC Adams then came into bat and both he and Lara took the score to 377/4 (105 overs).

3. On the 5th and final day of 3rd test between India and Australia in 1986/87 series , Ravi Shastri & Dilip Vengsarkar started the day at 291/5 and took the score to 517/5 before India declared the innings closed. Australia started their innings with Geoff Marsh (2*) & David Boon (5*) and batted till the end of the day without losing a wicket (9/0).

Following is the list of all instances of same pair batting through an entire day’s play:

Player 1	Player 1	For	Vs	Venue	Series	Day	Score Progress	Test Seq#
JB Hobbs	H Sutcliffe	Eng	Aus	Melbourne	1924/25	3rd	283/0	t0159
*DS Atkinson	+CC Depeiaza	WI	Aus	Bridgetown	1954/55	4th	187/6 to 494/6	t0406
MH Mankad	P Roy	Ind	NZ	Madras	1955/56	1st	234/0	t0420
CC Hunte	GS Sobers	WI	Pak	Kingston	1957/58	3rd	147/1 to 504/1	t0450
GS Sobers	FMM Worrell	WI	Eng	Bridgetown	1959/60	5th	279/3 to 486/3	t0485
WM Lawry	*RB Simpson	Aus	WI	Bridgetown	1964/65	1st	263/0	t0589
GR Viswanath	Yashpal Sharma	Ind	Eng	Madras	1981/82	2nd	178/2 to 395/2	t0918
AP Gurusinha	A Ranatunga	SL	Pak	Colombo(PSS)	1985/86	5th	83/3 t 323/3	t1043
GR Marsh	MA Taylor	Aus	Eng	Trent Bridge	1989	1st	301/0	t1125
ST Jayasuriya	RS Mahanama	SL	Ind	Colombo(RPS)	1997	3rd	39/1 to 322/1	t1374
ST Jayasuriya	RS Mahanama	SL	Ind	Colnmbo(RPS)	1997	4th	322/1 to 587/1	t1374
VVS Laxman	RS Dravid	Ind	Aus	Calcutta	2000/01	4th	254/4 to 589/4	t1535
JA Rudolph	HH Dippenaar	SA	BD	Chittagong	2003	2nd	84/2 to 364/2	t1640
+KC Sangakkara	*DPMD Jayawardene	SL	SA	Colombo(SSC)	2006	2nd	128/2 to 485/2	t1810

Less than a week after West Indies saw England snatch the initiative by scoring 553/5 decl after put into to bat by Ramnaresh Sarwan, Habibul Bashar suffered even worse fate at the hands of Indian top order by inviting India to bat first after winning the toss. His bowlers could not even take a single wicket on the opening day as India lost just three wickets on their way to a mammoth total of 610/3 decl. This provides the ninth instance of a team piling up a total of 600 or more runs after being put into bat first by the Toss winning Captain. Following is the list of all such occasions.

Totals	Toss Winning Captain	For	Vs	Venue	Series	Result	Test Seq
735-6d	HH Streak	Zim	Aus	Perth	2003-04	Aus by Inns & 175 runs	T1661
653-4d	M Azharuddin	Ind	Eng	Lord's	1990	Eng by 247 runs	T1148
621-5d	DJ Nash	NZ	SA	Auckland	1998-99	Match Drawn	T1446
619	GS Sobers	WI	Aus	Sydney	1968-69	Aus by 382 runs	T0646
610/3 d	Habibul Bashar	BD	Ind	Mirpur	2007	Ind by Inns & 239 runs	T1833
605-9d	BC Lara	WI	Aus	Bridgetown	2002-03	Aus by 9 wkts	T1643
604-6d	BC Lara	WI	SA	Pretoria	2003-04	SA by 10 wkts	T1682
601-7d	DI Gower	Eng	Aus	Leeds	1989	Aus by 210 runs	T1121
601-8d	L Hutton	Eng	Aus	Brisbane	1954-55	Aus by Inns & 154 runs	T0391

Last but not least, though Sachin Tendulkar while reaching his 37^th hundred did not produce the flourish and flamboyance that fetched him most of his previous centuries, he did extend the record for most number of centuries in a test career and will continue to do so till Ricky Ponting catches him, which I reckon will not happen at least this year.

Test #1834 West Indies in England 2007 (2^nd Test) at Headingley, Leeds.

What a difference the absence of two of the side’s best and consistent batsmen makes? West Indies’ batting woes resurfaced within a week of salvaging a well earned draw at Lord’s in the first test. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had to miss the second test at Leeds and skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan suffered a tour ending injury after crashing to the fence and injuring his shoulder while fielding. Added to that Michael Vaughan playing his first test in eighteen months played a superb innings and announced his return to test cricket with a scintillating hundred. Both Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior resumed their batting form from where they left off in the first test. On top of those sterling batting deeds Ryan Sidebottom, recalled to the test side after a long gap of six years and missing 78 tests during the period delivered crushing blows in both innings to leave West Indies innings in an utter misery. And as a bonus Steve Harmison too recovered some of his lost confidence and bowling rhythm with a late burst of three wickets to mop up the West Indian tail in the second innings to finish the test match.

It was really an awful batting display by West Indies in both innings on a flat batting track on which England piled up a massive total of 570/7 decl during the first two days of the test match. Their batsmen all combined failed to reach Pietersen’s majestic 226 in either of the innings falling short of 80 runs in the first and 85 runs in the second. Their combined total of 287 in two innings (146 & 141) was still 42 runs in arrears of combined total of 329 by Michael Vaughan(103) and Kevin Pietersen(226) in just one innings. Barring Bravo who remained not out with the only fifty scored by a West Indian player none of the their batsmen could score more than 26 runs in either of the innings.

It puts into contest how big Pietersen’s double hundred was. It was one of the biggest and best aggressive innings played by an English batsman in recent times. At last he past his previous highest score of 158 in tests and has broken the hoodoo of getting dismissed on that score which he did thrice. Pietersen after 25 tests now has 2448 runs @ 54.40 with 8 hundreds. He has already aggregated more runs and hundreds than any of the illustrious batting triumvirate of Tendulkar, Lara and Ponting did at that stage of their career. Looking at the following table one thing is very clear that we need to predict only when he will be surpassing the records set by the three batting greats and need not worry about whether he will do it.

Name	Tests	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Avg	100s	50s	0s
Kevin Pietersen	25	47	2	2448	226	54.40	8	9	2
Ricky Ponting	25	40	3	1473	127	39.81	3	8	0
Sachin Tendulkar	25	37	3	1522	165	44.76	5	8	3
Brian Lara	25	41	1	2283	375	57.07	4	13	2

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

No wonder the absence of captain in both innings of a test match resulted in a heavy defeat for West Indies. Historically no side could win or draw a test match when a batsman was absent hurt/ absent ill in both the innings of a test match.

Batsman Absent	For	Vs	Venue	Series	Test Seq
WH Lockwood	Eng	Aus	Sydney(4th)	1894-95	t0045
GL Jessop	Eng	Aus	Leeds	1909	t0103
JW Hearne	Eng	Aus	Melbourne(2nd)	1920-21	t0136
JB Hobbs	Eng	Aus	Leeds	1921	t0142
JM Gregory	Aus	Eng	Brisbane	1928-29	t0176
EL Bartlett	WI	Aus	Sydney(2nd)	1930-31	t0201
DG Bradman	Aus	Eng	The Oval	1938	t0266
JWH Fingleton	Aus	Eng	The Oval	1938	t0266
JA Hayes	NZ	Ind	Madras	1955-56	t0420
JDC Goddard	WI	Eng	The Oval	1957	t0443
NC O'Neill	Aus	Ind	Bombay	1964-65	t0567
LG Rowe	WI	Aus	Port-of-Spain(3rd)	1972-73	t0718
D Ganga	WI	NZ	Wellington	1999-00	t1478
SP Jones	Eng	Aus	Brisbane	2002-03	t1623
RR Sarwan	WI	Eng	Leeds	2007	t1834

This statistic becomes far more worse when the captain himself fails to appear for batting in both the innings. The three tests that had the captains absent hurt resulted in thumping wins for the opposition. The 1938 Oval test which had the skipper Don Bradman along with another main batsman Jack Fingleton absent hurt resulted in the biggest victory margin in test cricket, innings and 579 runs for England. Jon Goddard’s absence in 1957 at the same venue resulted in an innings and 237 runs defeat for West Indies whereas Sarwan’s inability to bat in both the innings of the recently concluded Leeds test resulted in another crushing defeat for the Caribbeans by an innings and 283 runs. All three of these results figure among the top 34 innings defeats margins (200 runs or more) as shown in the list below.

Win	Margin	Los	Venue	Series	Inn1			Inn2		Inn3
Eng	Inn. & 579 runs	Aus	The Oval	1938	Eng	903	7	Aus	201	Aus	123
Aus	Inn. & 360 runs	SA	Wanderers	2001-02	Aus	652	7	SA	159	SA	133
WI	Inn. & 336 runs	Ind	Calcutta	1958-59	WI	614	5	Ind	124	Ind	154
Aus	Inn. & 332 runs	Eng	Brisbane	1946-47	Aus	645		Eng	141	Eng	172
Pak	Inn. & 324 runs	NZ	Lahore (Gaddafi)	2001-02	Pak	643		NZ	73	NZ	246
WI	Inn. & 322 runs	NZ	Wellington	1994-95	WI	660	5	NZ	216	NZ	122
WI	Inn. & 310 runs	Ban	Dhaka	2002-03	Ban	139		WI	536	Ban	87
NZ	Inn. & 294 runs	Zim	Harare	2005	NZ	452	9	Zim	59	Zim	99
Eng	Inn. & 285 runs	Ind	Lord's	1974	Eng	629		Ind	302	Ind	42
Eng	Inn. & 283 runs	WI	Headingley	2007	Eng	570	7	WI	146	WI	141
Pak	Inn. & 264 runs	Ban	Multan (CS)	2001-02	Ban	134		Pak	546	Ban	148
Eng	Inn. & 261 runs	Ban	Lord's	2005	Ban	108		Eng	528	Ban	159
Aus	Inn. & 259 runs	SA	Port Elizabeth	1949-50	Aus	549	7	SA	158	SA	132
SL	Inn. & 254 runs	Zim	Bulawayo (QSC)	2003-04	Zim	228		SL	713	Zim	231
SL	Inn. & 240 runs	Zim	Harare	2003-04	Zim	199		SL	541	Zim	102
Ind	Inn. & 239 runs	Ban	Mirpur	2007	Ind	610	3	Ban	118	Ban	253
Eng	Inn. & 237 runs	WI	The Oval	1957	Eng	412		WI	89	WI	86
Eng	Inn. & 230 runs	Aus	Adelaide	1891-92	Eng	499		Aus	100	Aus	169
SA	Inn. & 229 runs	SL	Cape Town	2000-01	SL	95		SA	504	SL	180
Aus	Inn. & 226 runs	Ind	Brisbane	1947-48	Aus	382	8	Ind	58	Ind	98
WI	Inn. & 226 runs	Eng	Lord's	1973	WI	652	8	Eng	233	Eng	193
Eng	Inn. & 225 runs	Aus	Melbourne	1911-12	Aus	191		Eng	589	Aus	173
Aus	Inn. & 222 runs	NZ	Hobart	1993-94	Aus	544	6	NZ	161	NZ	161
SA	Inn. & 219 runs	Zim	Harare	1999-00	Zim	102		SA	462	Zim	141
Ind	Inn. & 219 runs	Aus	Calcutta	1997-98	Aus	233		Ind	633	Aus	181
Aus	Inn. & 217 runs	WI	Brisbane (Ex)	1930-31	Aus	558		WI	193	WI	148
Eng	Inn. & 217 runs	Aus	The Oval	1886	Eng	434		Aus	68	Aus	149
SL	Inn. & 215 runs	Eng	Colombo (SSC)	2003-04	Eng	265		SL	628	Eng	148
Eng	Inn. & 215 runs	NZ	Auckland	1962-63	Eng	562	7	NZ	258	NZ	89
Eng	Inn. & 209 runs	Zim	Lord's	2000	Zim	83		Eng	415	Zim	123
SA	Inn. & 208 runs	SL	Colombo (SSC)	1993-94	SL	168		SA	495	SL	119
Eng	Inn. & 207 runs	Ind	Old Trafford	1952	Eng	347	9	Ind	58	Ind	82
Eng	Inn. & 202 runs	SA	Cape Town	1888-89	Eng	292		SA	47	SA	43
Aus	Inn. & 200 runs	Eng	Melbourne	1936-37	Aus	604		Eng	239	Eng	165

England’s Ryan Sidebottom after making his test debut against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2001 made his second test appearance thus moving out of the One Test Wonders Club after a gap of six years during which England played 78 tests. It is the third longest gap of a player appearing in a test after his maiden test appearance in terms of test matches missed. Brad Hogg of Australia too had similar kind of hiatus between his first two test appearances. Having made his debut against India at Delhi 1996-97, he waited for six long years before he could make his second appearance in tests against West Indies at Georgetown 2002-03.

The top two longest gaps between first and second test appearances belong to two players from England who ended their test careers with just two of those appearances. HL Jackson missed 96 tests in a twelve year gap between his debut at Manchester in 1949 against New Zealand and his final test at Leeds against Australia in 1961 whereas KV Andrew missed 79 tests between his first test at Brisbane in 1954-55 against Australia and his last test at Manchester in 1963 against West Indies.

West Indies now has more than ten days to recoup themselves and digest the fact that their captain is lost for the rest of the series. However they can expect Chanderpaul to return to the side in time for the 3rd test which will be starting at Manchester on June 7th. They also need to use their tour game against MCC at Durham in between or else the promise they have shown in the first test will not be materialized during this test series.