Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Test #1836 Records : Chanderpaul remains the lone man standing among the falling West Indians

Test #1836 West Indies in England 2007 (4th Test) at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

The latest test series between West Indies and England resulted in the same manner as did the every series in the new millennium. After winning the first test of the new millennium played at Edgbaston from June 15th to 17 th inside three days by a huge margin of an innings and 93 runs, they are yet to register a test victory against England. West Indies went on to surrender The John Wisden Trophy in 2000 series by losing three of the next four tests with the rain ruined third test played at Old Trafford ending in a draw. Thus they ended their supremacy of last 27 years of 20th century during which they never lost a test series to England.

Odds were never in their favor to regain the John Wisden Trophy even before they started the 2007 series. Yes, not even before Brian Lara announced his retirement from the international Cricket immediately after the World Cup debacle. However they did put up a good show in the first test at Lord’s though weather ruined the proceedings and helped West Indies in escaping the test match with a draw. If Chanderpaul’s absence in the 2nd test was itself a major blow for the West Indies, they took another crushing blow when their captain Ramnaresh Sarwan suffered a series ending injury in the second test before even taking a batting stance. There after things went from bad to worse with Chris Gayle not being able to take off at all and their stop-gap skipper Daren Ganga having a horrible existence at the crease since taking over the captaincy with scores of 5 & 9, 5 & 0 , 0 & 6. The Brilliance of Bravo and Resilience of Chanderpaul could not stop West Indies from losing last three tests even though it looked as if West Indies might avoid a defeat while Chanderpaul and Bravo were batting in last two tests. So England extends their streak of not losing a test match to West Indies to sixteen and West Indies requires a tremendous amount of reversal in their cricketing fortunes even to dream of regaining the John Wisden trophy when they host England in 2009.

Following are some of the statistical highlights of the fourth test of the 2007 series:

Though England dominated the test series from every imaginable angle, one batsman they could not corner was Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Chanderpaul topped the batting averages for both sides but ended up on the losing side as he did in 2004 notching up plethora of test records in the process. He batted for more than 1000 minutes without getting dismissed while making 116* in the 2nd innings of the 3rd test at Old Trafford and 136* & 70 in the 4th test at Chester-le-Street. This is the third time he recorded this feat in his test career. Only five other batsmen achieved this record in test history and none of them had done it more than once. Following is the list of all such occasions.


Player

Vs

Venue

Series

Inns

Score

C.Runs

Mts

T.Mts

B/F

T. B/F

TEST#

Shoaib Mohammad

NZ

Karachi

1990/91

1st

*203

203

656

656

411

411

1151


NZ

Lahore

1990/91

1st

105

308

351

1007

223

634

1152













Nasser Hussain

SA

Port Elizabeth

1999/00

2nd

*70

70

303

303

211

211

1475


SA

Durban

1999/00

1st

*146

216

635

938

463

674

1480


SA

Cape Town

1999/00

1st

15

231

85

1023

70

744

1482













Rahul Dravid

BD

Dhaka

2000/01

2nd

*41

41

50

50

49

49

1512


Zim

New Delhi

2000/01

1st

*200

241

551

601

350

399

1515





2nd

*70

311

152

753

91

490



Zim

Nagpur

2000/01

1st

162

473

408

1161

301

791

1517













Jacques Kallis

Zim

Harare

2001/02

1st

*157

157

381

381

272

272

1562





2nd

*42

199

65

446

54

326



Zim

Bulawayo

2001/02

1st

*189

388

581

1027

443

769

1563


Ind

Bloemfontein

2001/02

1st

68

456

219

1246

138

907

1564













Shivnarine ChanderPaul

Ind

Port of Spain

2001/02

2nd

*67

67

260

260

162

162

1599


Ind

Bridgetown

2001/02

1st

*101

168

365

625

231

393

1601


Ind

St. John's

2001/02

1st

*136

304

675

1300

510

903

1602


Ind

Kingston

2001/02

1st

58

362

213

1513

148

1051

1604













Sachin Tendulkar

Aus

Sydney

2003/04

1st

*241

241

613

613

436

436

1680





2nd

*60

301

108

721

89

525



Pak

Multan

2003/04

1st

*194

495

493

1214

348

873

1693


Pak

Lahore

2003/04

1st

2

497

10

1224

6

879

1695













Shivnarine ChanderPaul

BD

Kingston

2003/04

1st

*101

101

271

271

190

190

1703


Eng

Lord's

2004

1st

*128

229

383

654

270

460

1707





2nd

*97

306

231

885

152

612



Eng

Edgbaston

2004

1st

45

351

146

1031

86

698

1708













Shivnarine ChanderPaul

Eng

Old Trafford

2007

2nd

*116

116

413

413

257

257

1835


Eng

Chester-le-Street

2007

1st

*136

252

406

819

257

514

1836





2nd

70

322

255

1074

163

677



Just for the record : Hanif Mohammad of Pakistan holds the record for batting for longest period in a single test match with his marathon knock of 337 in 970 minutes against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1957/58 whereas Aussie Opener Mark Taylor with 334* (720 mts) & 92 (218 mts) against Pakistan at Peshawar 1998/99 is close second with 938 mts of batting before getting dismissed. However Stephen Fleming of New Zealand holds the record for batting longest period of 956 minutes without getting dismissed in a single test with the scores of 274* (653) & 69* (303) against Sri Lanka at Colombo (PSS) in 2003. Fleming however was dismissed for a duck in the next match after batting for just 5 mts thus missing the 1000 mts mark.

Chanderpaul’s latest 1000+ minutes batting between dismissals also makes him the owner of another interesting record. For the second time in his career he now has witnessed 20 or more wickets falling consecutively at the other end while he himself remained not out. In the third test at Old Trafford he came into bat at 88 for 3 and remained unbeaten at the close of West Indian innings, thus seeing seven of his teammates losing their wickets. In the fourth test at Chester-le-Street , Chanderpaul came into bat at 34 for 3 and remained not out again for 136 witnessing seven more wickets falling at the other end. In the second innings of the same test he stepped in at 38 for 3 and saw six wickets falling at the other end before becoming the last batsman out in the innings for 70.

However Chanderpaul's unbeaten tenure at the crease which made him saw 20 of his side’s dismissals is still one dismissal short of his record 21 dismissals he witnessed during his record 1513 minutes of unbeaten batting against India in 2001-02 as he saw 6 wickets falling during his 2nd innings knock of 67* at Port of Spain, 6 wickets during 101* at Bridgetown, 6 wickets during 136* at St. John’s and 3 wickets during his 1st innings knock of 58 at Kingston. No other batsmen in the history of test cricket batted with such patience and perseverance to endure so many wickets falling at the opposite end. The closest to Chanderpaul’s record is 18 dismissals shared by Jacques Rudolph of South Africa and Kumara Sangakkara of Sri Lanka. Rudolph made 154* at Auckalnd and 93* & 0 at Wellington in 2003-04 series against New Zealand whereas Sangakkara made 100* at Christchurch and 156* & 8 at Wellington against the same opposition in 2006-07. They both came at the fall of first wicket in their unbeaten innings.

When the West Indian skipper Daren Ganga was out lbw to the first ball of the test match bowled by Ryan Sidebottom, he not only became the 26th player to be dismissed by the first ball of a Test Match but also just the third captain to have suffered the ignominy. At Headingley in 1926, acting as a stop-gap captain in the absence of the appointed captain Herbie Collins just like Darren Ganga, Warren Bardsley of Australia became the first captain to have suffered the fate of getting out to the first ball of a test match.. Seventy three years later Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya fell to the first ball of the match, bowled by Australia's Glenn McGrath at Galle in 1999-00. For the entire list of batsmen who were out to the first legitimate delivery of a test match refer to the table in my posting on Test #1832 which saw India’s opener Wasim Jaffer shouldering his arms to an incoming delivery from Bangladesh’s Mashrafe Mortaza to lose his stumps to the first ball of a test match and provide 25th such instance.

For the Trivia buffs : When AC MacLaren of Australia was out to the first ball of the Melbourne test in 1894/95 of the bowling of Arthur Conningham, he provided first such instance. It was also Arthur Conningham’s first delivery in his test career . Mohsin Khan’s dismissal with the first ball of 1983/84 test at Jalandhar by Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar’s first ball dismissal by Imran Khan at Jaipur provides the only two instances in test cricket a wicket falling to the first ever ball bowled at a particular venue.

Sunil Gavaskar of India and Hannan Sarkar of Bangladesh are the only batsmen to have suffered fate of losing their wicket to the first ball of a test match on three separate occasions whereas Geoff Arnold of England (2), Richard Hadlee of New Zealand (2) , Kapil Dev of India (2) and Pedro Collins of West Indies (3) are the only bowlers to have taken a wicket with the first delivery bowled in a test match on more than one occasion. Hannan Sarkar also holds the record for getting out to the first delivery of a test match in three consecutive tests, which as of today are his last three matches of his test career.

Keith Stackpole of Australia in 1973/74 at Auckland against New Zealand and Wasim Jaffer against Bangladesh at Chittagong followed up their first ball dismissal of a test match with another duck in their second innings. SJ Cook of South Africa and LV Garrick of New Zealand were out to the first ball of a test match while making their test debut. Except Zimbabwe batsmen of all test playing nations have at least one batsmen or bowler involved in a first ball dismissal in a test match.

During his first innings knock of 136* Chanderpaul crossed the ’s 7000 test runs milestone and became the 7th West Indian and 30th test cricketer to have done so. Following is the list of all players with 7000 or more test runs.


Player

Country

Tests

Inns

NO

Runs

HS

100s

50s

Avg

S/R

Lara, B C

West Indies

131

232

6

11953

*400

34

48

52.89

60.52

Border, A R

Australia

156

265

44

11174

205

27

63

50.56

40.98

Waugh, S R

Australia

168

260

46

10927

200

32

50

51.06

48.65

Tendulkar, S R*

India

137

220

23

10922

*248

37

43

55.44


Gavaskar, S M

India

125

214

16

10122

*236

34

45

51.12


Ponting, R T*

Australia

110

183

25

9368

257

33

36

59.29

58.95

Dravid, R *

India

109

185

22

9366

270

24

47

57.46

42.50

Gooch, G A

England

118

215

6

8900

333

20

46

42.58

49.20

Javed Miandad

Pakistan

124

189

21

8832

*280

23

43

52.57


Inzamam-ul-Haq*

Pakistan

119

198

22

8813

329

25

46

50.07

54.04

Richards, I V A

West Indies

121

182

12

8540

291

24

45

50.24


Stewart, A J

England

133

235

21

8463

190

15

45

39.55

48.67

Kallis, J H*

South Africa

107

182

29

8430

*189

24

44

55.10

42.76

Gower, D I

England

117

204

18

8231

215

18

39

44.25

50.60

Boycott, G

England

108

193

23

8114

*246

22

42

47.73


Sobers, G S A

West Indies

93

160

21

8032

*365

26

30

57.78


Waugh, M E

Australia

128

209

17

8029

*153

20

47

41.82

52.27

Hayden, M L*

Australia

89

159

13

7739

380

27

27

53.01

60.08

Atherton, M A

England

115

212

7

7728

*185

16

46

37.70

37.32

Langer, J L

Australia

105

182

12

7696

250

23

30

45.27

54.23

Cowdrey, M C

England

114

188

15

7624

182

22

38

44.07


Greenidge, C G

West Indies

108

185

16

7558

226

19

34

44.72


Taylor, M A

Australia

104

186

13

7525

*334

19

40

43.50

41.61

Lloyd, C H

West Indies

110

175

14

7515

*242

19

39

46.68


Haynes, D L

West Indies

116

202

25

7487

184

18

39

42.30


Boon, D C

Australia

107

190

20

7422

200

21

32

43.66

40.97

Kirsten, G

South Africa

101

176

15

7289

275

21

34

45.27

43.35

Hammond, W R

England

85

140

16

7249

*336

22

24

58.46


Chanderpaul, S*

West Indies

104

178

24

7182

*203

16

43

46.64

43.32

Chappell, G S

Australia

87

151

19

7110

*247

24

31

53.86



Finally England’s Andrew Strauss stuck some batting form and made a fine 77 in the first innings. In the second innings he completed 3000 runs in Test Cricket and became the 143 cricketer to do so and 34th from England. Following is the list of all English cricketers who aggregated 3000 or more runs in a test career:


Player

Country

Tests

Inns

NO

Runs

HS

100s

50s

Avg

S/R

Gooch, G A

England

118

215

6

8900

333

20

46

42.58

49.20

Stewart, A J

England

133

235

21

8463

190

15

45

39.55

48.67

Gower, D I

England

117

204

18

8231

215

18

39

44.25

50.60

Boycott, G

England

108

193

23

8114

*246

22

42

47.73


Atherton, M A

England

115

212

7

7728

*185

16

46

37.70

37.32

Cowdrey, M C

England

114

188

15

7624

182

22

38

44.07


Hammond, W R

England

85

140

16

7249

*336

22

24

58.46


Hutton, L

England

79

138

15

6971

364

19

33

56.67


Barrington, K F

England

82

131

15

6806

256

20

35

58.67


Thorpe, G P

England

100

179

28

6744

*200

16

39

44.66

45.90

Trescothick, M E*

England

76

143

10

5825

219

14

29

43.80

54.52

Compton, D C S

England

78

131

15

5807

278

17

28

50.06


Hussain, N

England

96

171

16

5764

207

14

33

37.19

40.39

Hobbs, J B

England

61

102

7

5410

211

15

28

56.95


Botham, I T

England

102

161

6

5200

208

14

22

33.55

60.71

Edrich, J H

England

77

127

9

5138

*310

12

24

43.54


Graveney, T W

England

79

123

13

4882

258

11

20

44.38


Vaughan, M P*

England

67

120

9

4846

197

16

14

43.66

52.47

Lamb, A J

England

79

139

10

4656

142

14

18

36.09

51.40

Sutcliffe, H

England

54

84

9

4555

194

16

23

60.73


May, P B H

England

66

106

9

4537

*285

13

22

46.77


Dexter, E R

England

62

102

8

4502

205

9

27

47.89


Gatting, M W

England

79

138

14

4409

207

10

21

35.56

45.16

Knott, A P E

England

95

149

15

4389

135

5

30

32.75


Butcher, M A

England

71

131

7

4288

*173

8

23

34.58

42.02

Smith, R A

England

62

112

15

4236

175

9

28

43.67

45.65

Amiss, D L

England

50

88

10

3612

*262

11

11

46.31


Greig, A W

England

58

93

4

3599

148

8

20

40.44


Hendren, E H

England

51

83

9

3525

*205

7

21

47.64


Hick, G A

England

65

114

6

3383

178

6

18

31.32

48.89

Flintoff, A*

England

67

110

6

3381

167

5

24

32.51

64.17

Woolley, F E

England

64

98

7

3283

154

5

23

36.08


Fletcher, K W R

England

59

96

14

3272

216

7

19

39.90


Strauss, A J*

England

40

75

2

3012

147

10

9

41.26

51.02

Final Statistical Tidbit: Matt Prior’s 324 runs from 6 innings he came into bat in this series is the new record for a wicket keeper’s debut test series eclipsing the previous best of 264 by Adam Gilchrist in his maiden test series against Pakistan in 1999/00.