Great Test Innings <100

There must be far too many to mention, much less to claim one as the greatest.

But they often go overlooked, due to the mystique attached to the magic three figures.

A few suggestions, not in any order.

Gavaskar's 90 against the West Indies, Third Test, 1983-84.

Harvey's 92* against England in 1954-55.

Two innings by Dexter, 76 against Australia in 1961 and 70 against the West Indies in 1963.

Trumper's 74 out of 122 all out on a diabolical Melbourne sticky in 1903-04.

What others come to mind?

Two contrasting English innings at Brisbane come to mind.

Hutton's 62* in 50/51 on a shocking sticky is often talked of as one of the greatest ever. Going in at 6-30 he took England to 122 but ran out of partners. In hindsight Freddie Brown should have sent him in to open.

Paynter getting out of his sickbed to score 83 in 1933 is also one of the more famous efforts.

Gavaskar scored 96 or so against Pak in 87 on an absolute minefield, didn't he?

Steve Waugh's 63* in Australia's 1st innings (of 128) of the 3rd Test v Windies at Port of Spain in 1995. The wicket was so green (the Windies were one-down in the 4 Test series) that the players said it was hard to distinguish the wicket from the rest of the field. Price Waterhouse Coopers rated it the equivalent of a 200 under normal circumstances.

Ian Chappell's 97 in the Windies in 73 with a busted finger must be up there.

AB's 66 at Headingley in 89 going in at 2-57 set the tone for an entire series and beyond.

JL's debut 54 in Adelaide in Jan 93, Richie Richardson's second innings 72 out of 146 in the same match.

Steve Waugh's pair of 90s v the Windies in the first two Tests of 88-89, esp the first one

Greg Chappell's 61 with broken hand in Adel Jan 82, again v Windies, coming out of his horror patch and with Aust 4-30-something

Rod Marsh's 'last great act of defiance' 91 at Old Trafford in 1972

Viv's pair of 70s in Adelaide and 97 in Melb 79-80

Graeme Hick's 98 not out at the SCG Jan 95

Colin Milburn's 83 against Australia at Lords in 1968

Geoff Boycott's 99 against W.I. in 1974 at P-o-S

Steve Waughs 60 odd in the second dig in Delhi in 1996 always floats Roebuck's boat.


As far as JAMODIs are concerned - Bevan's 78* v Windies on New Years Day in 1996.

If Kim Hughes had scored one run less on Boxing Day 1981, that would have been the winner.

Lara 74 v Sri Lanka @Kandy, 21 Nov 2001

JGK wrote:If Kim Hughes had scored one run less on Boxing Day 1981, that would have been the winner.

Aye, probably Clag's greatest Test knock.

Andrew Flintoff's second innings 73 at Edgbaston in 05. England would have been well and truly doomed without it, and the Ashes would have all but been Australia's again.

As much as I hate him, i'll always remember Mark Nicholas' commentary of the huge six Freddie hit in that innings that went out of the ground- "Oooh hello! Massive! Massive!" accompanied by Boycs' cackling in the background.

That or the Lords Centenary Test.

His best non-ton was prob the 99 he made in Perth in Dec 79 - 99 was a popular score in that series.

That innings practically won the Ashes. I remember getting exasperated at Freddie edging sixes in that innings.

Some fantastic knocks listed there.

Tugga Waugh had a few over the years. Jack Hobbs was another who played some outstanding knocks in appalling conditions. Allan Border against the Windies in the early 80s.

Brian Close made a legendary 80 against Wes Hall in 1963 (from memory) that probably deserves a mention.

Slasher Mackay's match-saving (and series winning) knock against the Windies in 1961 was outstanding by all accounts.

I thought of Graham Thorpe and Stephen Fleming as players who made many many 50s, but none of their innings really stand out in the memory, with the possible exception of Thorpe's cracking back-to-the-wall 82* against us in the deciding test of the 1997 series.

Chanderpaul made a superb 73 against us on Day 5 in Sydney in 1996.

Ramps 64* against Ambrose & Walsh on a horror pitch in 1998 came to my mind (though probably not to anyone else's )

Some outstanding tail-end knocks did come to mind (though they probably belong on their own thread):

Tim May's 42* v West Indies in 1992/3.

Warney's 90 at Old Trafford in the 2005 Ashes.

Gough's 51 at Sydney in 1994/5.

Chanderpaul made a superb 73 against us on Day 5 in Sydney in 1996.

Ended by one of TGM's finest.

I always liked Pontings 96 v SL in Kandy 1999.

PearlJ wrote:I always liked Pontings 96 v SL in Kandy 1999.

Are you sure you're ot confusing that with his test debut? I think Ponting made a century at Kandy in that 99 series, and it was a very good knock. It actually managed to give people the impression that he was excellent against spin bowling.

Henry wrote:

PearlJ wrote:I always liked Pontings 96 v SL in Kandy 1999.

Are you sure you're ot confusing that with his test debut? I think Ponting made a century at Kandy in that 99 series, and it was a very good knock. It actually managed to give people the impression that he was excellent against spin bowling.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/match/63845.html

And Ponting is a good player of spin.

Erm no, Ponting did make 96 in his first ever innings in Sri Lanka - 96 out of 188 in this match

McCosker, 1977.

So get farked twice Trev.

lardbucket wrote:McCosker, 1977.

He was spitting chips...













...of teeth. Ouch.

And Ponting is a good player of spin.

No he's not. Compared to the likes of Lara and Tendulkar he's rubbish against spin.

Yebbut compared to you Trev rubbish is the Hope Diamond.

Henry wrote:

And Ponting is a good player of spin.

No he's not. Compared to the likes of Lara and Tendulkar he's rubbish against spin.

Fine, we will just have to agree to disagree on that one.