Tests - A study of 200s scored

Is there any batsman in modern day Test cricket to rival Don Bradman’s double century exploits? Our expert thinks not.

When Kumar Sangakkara scored his monumental double century to save Sri Lanka at Abu Dhabi recently, it struck me that the double hundreds were a forgotten lot in Test analysis. So much hype is made of the 100s that the 200s, which are far more difficult to reach, are forgotten. A hundred can be reached with a little bit of luck. Agarkar, Mann, Johnson, Kumble, Saqlain Mushtaq et al are examples of unlikely scorers of hundreds. However, scoring a 200 requires concentration, even on flat batting tracks, of upwards of 8 hours. Hence, this article.

First the table in terms of number of double centuries scored.  All these tables are for batsmen who have scored 5 or more double centuries.


It does not need an Einstein to figure out who would top this table. Don Bradman, with 12 double centuries is on top, followed by the great left-hander from West Indies, Brian Lara, with 9. Sangakkara, with his recent effort moves into sole third place with 8 double centuries. Atapattu had a penchant for double centuries. Sri Lanka and India lead this table with 3 batsmen each.

Two each of Bradman’s, Lara’s and Sehwag’s efforts were triple-centuries. Bradman also had a score of 299 and Sehwag, 293. Gayle is the other double triple-centurion.

Now for the average value of the double-centuries.


Surprisingly Jayawardene’s average double century score has been 263, closely followed by Sehwag, with 262 and Lara with 260. This shows that these modern greats, once they reached 200, pushed on to make huge double-hundreds and triple-hundreds. Bradman has averaged 253. Tendulkar’s average double century is a fairly low 220. Not surprising since his highest score is only 248.

Now let us look at the frequency with which the batsmen scored their double centuries.


Bradman scored a double century every 4.3 Tests. This is the sort of record which one can say with certainty that would never be broken. Then comes Hammond with a double-century every 12 Tests and then Sangakkara achieving this every 12.7 Tests. The modern great troika of Tendulkar, Ponting and Dravid have reached a double-century only once every 30 Tests or so.

It is almost certain that Sangakkara would equal and probably cross Lara’s tally of 9. As per his own frequency, he would do that in the next year or two. Would he overtake Bradman’s tally? He needs to play another 50 Tests or so to do that. That would take him another 50 Tests. Seeing that he took 6 years to play his last 50 Tests, this seems very, very unlikely. He may reach 10.

Finally, spare a thought for Mohammad Azharuddin and Mathew Elliott who reached 199, but missed out on the 200th run.