This article I wrote was published in Feb 12, 1994 in 'The Sportsworld' magazine. At that time it was the top Sports magazine in India along with 'The Sportstar'. It had the great Tiger Pataudi as its editor.
I was paid the princely sum of Rs 400 for its publication. There was no internet at that time and hence I had to do all the research for this article from 'Wisden' which I could get from British Council Library in Ranchi.
A copy of the magazine (with my article in it) is still there in our house in Ranchi.
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Cricket is a game of records, A 50 or a 100 by a batsman or a 5 or a 10 wicket haul by a bowler is considered an achievement worth highlighting in the career stats of the player.
Perhaps more than any other sport, records and statistics have a huge significance in Cricket.They are compiled and are reported with great passion.
Let's look at some of the most remarkable and amazing records in Test Cricket, which may never get broken.
1. Jim Laker's 19 Wickets in a Test Match (19-90, England Vs Australia, Manchester, 1956)
It is said that even more remarkable than Laker's 19 wickets was the fact that the other half of the 'Surrey Spin Twins' Tony Lock could take only 1 wicket on a spinning track. The next best is 17 in a match (no one has ever taken 18). To break this record a bowler will have to take all 20 wickets which is practically impossible.One can safely say that this one would never be broken.
2. Hanif Mohammad batting for a marathon 16 and half hours in his innings of 337 Vs West Indies in 1957-58.
This means he batted continuously for nearly 3 days. quite a feat of concentration and stamina !
This record too appears unbreakable as a team batting for 3 days will make a farce of a 5 day Test. Plus, with the shorter formats gaining prominence, batsmen don't really fancy batting too long.
3. Over to the great Don Bradman. His whole career stats are quite unbelievable. In no other sport a single person's stats are so much better than anyone else.
I was paid the princely sum of Rs 400 for its publication. There was no internet at that time and hence I had to do all the research for this article from 'Wisden' which I could get from British Council Library in Ranchi.
A copy of the magazine (with my article in it) is still there in our house in Ranchi.
********************************************************************************
Cricket is a game of records, A 50 or a 100 by a batsman or a 5 or a 10 wicket haul by a bowler is considered an achievement worth highlighting in the career stats of the player.
Perhaps more than any other sport, records and statistics have a huge significance in Cricket.They are compiled and are reported with great passion.
Let's look at some of the most remarkable and amazing records in Test Cricket, which may never get broken.
1. Jim Laker's 19 Wickets in a Test Match (19-90, England Vs Australia, Manchester, 1956)
It is said that even more remarkable than Laker's 19 wickets was the fact that the other half of the 'Surrey Spin Twins' Tony Lock could take only 1 wicket on a spinning track. The next best is 17 in a match (no one has ever taken 18). To break this record a bowler will have to take all 20 wickets which is practically impossible.One can safely say that this one would never be broken.
2. Hanif Mohammad batting for a marathon 16 and half hours in his innings of 337 Vs West Indies in 1957-58.
This means he batted continuously for nearly 3 days. quite a feat of concentration and stamina !
This record too appears unbreakable as a team batting for 3 days will make a farce of a 5 day Test. Plus, with the shorter formats gaining prominence, batsmen don't really fancy batting too long.
3. Over to the great Don Bradman. His whole career stats are quite unbelievable. In no other sport a single person's stats are so much better than anyone else.
- Career average of 99.94 over 52 Tests. Most players with 50 plus averages over long careers are considered great. What should The Don be called then !
- He hit a century every 2.72 innings or every 1.8 Test.
- He has 12 double hundreds including 2 triple hundreds and once remained unbeaten on 299.
- His record of hitting 309 runs in a days' play off his own bat looks unbreakable. I think Sehwag may have scored more than 200 but didn't really come close.
- Series aggregate of 974 in 5 Tests against Eng in 1930. This one too looks unbreakable.
- Never getting out in the 90's, 190's or 290's.
4, Mohammad Azharuddin's record of scoring 3 hundreds in each of his first 3 Tests Vs England in 1984-85.
I think 2 batsmen have scored 2 hundreds in their first 2 Tests (Alvin Kallicharan & Sourav Ganguly).
To break this one someone will have to score in 4 hundreds in their first 4 Tests which seems well nigh impossible.
5. West Indies winning 11 Tests on the trot in 1984-85.
With slow overrates, tailor made pitches and even weak teams hard to beat at home, this will take some beating.
Postscript - This record was broken by Australians twice in 1999-2001 and in 2005-2006 when they won 16 Tests on the trot.Remarkable indeed !
6. Graham Gooch scoring a triple and a single century in the same Test Match. Vs India 1992.
333 and 123 with a record match aggregate of 456. Seems invincible.
7. Ian Botham's feat of scoring a Hundred and taking a 5 wicket haul in the same Test five times. Even Imran Khan, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee never came close to this. Let's see if Ravi Ashwin comes close.
103 & 5/73 vs NZ 1977-78
108 & 8/34 vs Pakistan 1978
114 & 6/58 & 7/48 vs India 1979-80
149* & 6/95 vs Australia 1981
138 & 5/59 vs Australia 1984-85
8. Kapil Dev never missed a Test during his career spanning 131 Tests and 15 years due to injury. The only Test he missed was against England in 1984-85 when he was dropped on disciplinary grounds !
This is a remarkable achievement by a fast medium bowler and all rounder who had to carry a heavy workload.
9. Brothers Ian & Greg Chappell, both hit century in both innings of the same Test. Even the Waugh brothers could not match this one.
10. Mansur Ali Khan (Tiger) Pataudi became the youngest Test Captain at 21 years and 77 days just 6 months after losing an eye in a car accident. He captained on debut and he was the youngest member of the team he captained! Even Tendulkar could not break this one.
11. Sunil Gavaskar's 774 runs in his debut series in West Indian in 1970-71. Hard to beat really !
12. Sarfaraz Nawaz taking 7 wickets for 1 run in 33 balls to bring about a highly unlikely win for Pakistan against Australia in Melbourne in 1979.
13. Five members of the famous Mohammad family played for Pakistan in Tests. Brothers Wazir, Hanif, Sadiq & Mushtaq and later on Hanif's son Shoaib Mohammad all represented Pakistan with distinction.
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