Test hundreds: an analysis

Let’s take a break from the T20 action from the IPL as our expert delves into ways to analyse Test hundreds by the greats of the game.

Since 99% of articles, reports and analysis are on IPL, I decided to interject an article on a totally different format, viz., Test cricket. This article looks at a couple of different ways of looking at Test hundreds, a fascinating subject for many.

Everyone is aware that Sachin Tendulkar is fast approaching 50 Test hundreds and 100 international hundreds and it is only a matter of time before he reaches these magical numbers. However, these are achieved through years of top level consistent batting and are primarily longevity measures. Here I will look at performance related measures.

First measure is the “Average of hundreds”. All of us talk about how Virender Sehwag makes big hundreds and 8 of his last 9 hundreds are 150+. This measure translates these statements into numbers. It is simple. Sum the 100+ innings and divide by the number of hundreds and rank by this value.

Let us look at the tables. The criterion is a minimum of 10 Test hundreds.

Don Bradman, as expected, is on top with an average hundred value of 186.0. Sehwag is in second place with an average hundred value of 183.5. In fact, readers would be interested to know that Sehwag was on top of this table until just before the South Africa Test series when his innings of 109 and 165 brought him down into second place. He needs to score 232 or more in his next hundred to overtake Bradman.

Zaheer Abbas is in third place with 179.8 runs. Lara’s penchant for high scoring is displayed with his average hundreds value of 173.2 runs. The top-5 is rounded off with the England opener, Amiss with 170.8 runs. Tendulkar, with 47 hundreds, averages 143.8 runs. This is understandable since the sheer number of centuries will mean that quite a few might be in the 100-150 range.

The second table is ordered on the frequency of Test hundreds. This is determined by dividing the number of Tests by the number of Test centuries.

Bradman is on top by a wide margin. He has scored a century every 1.8 tests, an amazing achievement unlikely ever to be bettered. The Bradman of the darker shade, Headley, follows next with a hundred every 2.2 tests. A couple of great West Indian batsmen of the 50s, Weekes and Walcott, follow with frequency figures of 2.9 and 3.2 respectively.

The doyen amongst English openers, Sutcliffe, follows next with 3.4. Hayden has a similar figure. Tendulkar does well in this measure with a 100 every 3.5 tests.

It is possible to do other analysis on hundreds such as % of career runs, hundreds scored in winning matches etc., but these are the two basic measures.