Expert Blog

Batting domination in Tests

Let’s take a look at some commendable batting efforts that have formed the bulk of the team’s scores.

The bowlers bowl at alternate ends in Test matches. If one bowler bowls 40 overs, the other bowlers bowl at least an equal number of overs. However, there is nothing to prevent a bowler from making a clean sweep of all the wickets that fall. In a complete innings, this feat of capturing 10 wickets has been done twice, once by Jim Laker playing for England against Australia during 1956 and the other by Anil Kumble against Pakistan 43 years later. And it may be of interest to note that 15 other bowlers have captured 9 wickets in an innings.

Batting is different. The batsmen bat at both ends, but unlike bowlers, it is impossible to achieve the type of domination achieved by bowlers during an entire innings. This article looks at such domination in completed innings. The only criterion is that the team should be all out since in an incomplete innings it is quite possible to achieve over 80% domination.

The highest % in a completed innings was in the very first test, by Charles Bannerman who scored 165 out of a completed innings of 245, the share of score being 67.3%. The fact that this figure has not been exceeded in 1963 tests is an indication that 70% is probably the highest one can aspire to reach. The summarized scorecard is given below. The next highest score is also shown to give an idea of support provided.

Test # 1: 1887. Australia won by 45 runs.
Australia: 245 (C Bannerman 165, Garrett 18).
England:   196.
Australia: 104.
England:   108.

The next highest % was achieved by Michael Slater who scored 123 out of an Australian innings of 184. This was a match-winning innings as evidenced by the scores. The share was a close 66.8%.

Test # 1439. 1999. Australia won by 98 runs.
Australia: 322.
England:   220.
Australia: 184 (Slater 123, M Waugh 24).
England:   188.

The third was a losing innings. In 1999, India, after a disastrous tour of Australia, played the last test at Sydney. India were 402 runs in arrears and scored 261. Laxman scored a brave 167 which works out to 64.0%. It is my firm conviction that this innings was the spark which has resulted in an Indian revival against Australia. In the 19 tests played since this one, India has won 7 and Australia, 6.

Test # 1481. 2000. Australia won by an innings and 141 runs.
India:     150.
Australia: 552 for 5.
India:     261 (Laxman 167, Ganguly 25).

The fourth is by Greenidge who scored 134 out of 211 for West Indies against England, resulting in a % value of 63.5.

Test # 779. 1976. West Indies won by 425 runs.
West Indies: 211 (Greenidge 134, King 32).
England:      71.
West Indies: 411 for 5.
England:     126.

I have to make an honorary mention of two other innings.

One was by Seymour Nurse who scored 258 out of 417 which works out to 61.9%. To score such a high proportion of runs out of a high score is indeed amazing.

Test # 652. 1969. Match drawn.
West Indies: 417 (Nurse 258, Carew 91).
New Zealand: 217.
New Zealand: 367 for 6.

The other noteworthy innings is of recent vintage. Couple of years back, at Galle, Sehwag scored 201 out of 329, which was a truly match-winning innings. This innings had a high innings share value of 61.1%.

Test # 1884: 2008. India won by 170 runs.
India:     329 (Sehwag 201, Laxman 39).
Sri Lanka: 292.
India:     269.
Sri Lanka: 136.

Just as a matter of interest, Mohsin Khan scored 101 out of a Pakistan innings of 135 for 1 against India during 1982, a share of 74.8%. This is the highest % in incomplete innings, with the minimum criteria of 100 runs being scored.