Test Hundreds: A fresh look

Our expert analyses which batsmen convert to big centuries after crossing the 100-run mark.

A couple of years ago, I had done a short analysis on Test hundreds. That covered the average value of 100s and the frequency of hundreds. Don Bradman came on top quite comfortably on both measures.

Now I will be taking a fresh look at the Test hundreds.

Let me raise the bar to 150s and work out the average score. This will give us an idea of the batsmen who, after crossing the hundred mark, went on to convert these into really big innings. I have taken a minimum of five 150+ innings for consideration.

Ah! What do we have here? A rare table in which Bradman is not at the top. Chris Gayle tops the table with an average value of 231.8 when he crossed 150. Readers might remember that he, along with Bradman, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag, is the only batsman to have crossed 300 twice. That he has managed to go above Bradman is a testament to his high-scoring ability, a trait he shares with his more illustrious country-man, Lara.

Bradman is second with 225.9 and is almost upstaged by another modern batsman with a penchant for attacking batting, Sanath Jayasuriya.

At the other end of the table we have three players who have not crossed 175. Steve Waugh’s is a peculiar case since his highest Test score is 200. That means he has 14 scores between 150 and 200.

Now let me look at the rate of conversion from 50s to 100s. The criterion is ten hundreds.

Bradman converted 29 of his fifties into hundreds, giving him a conversion rate of 69%. However, this is not as much distant from others as his other batting measures are. There are 9 others who have converted 50% or more of their fifties into hundreds. Ashwell Prince and Matthew Hayden are the modern batsmen who fall into this category.

At the other end, we have VVS Laxman who has converted below one-in-four of his fifties into hundreds. He is joined in this by Alec Stewart and Michael Atherton.