Michael Clarke and Alastair Cook heading out for the Perth Test’s toss will see, for the first time in Test history, rival captains playing their 100th Test together when.
Only once before have two cricketers played their hundredth Test simultaneously; England’s Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart in the Manchester Test against the West Indies in August 2000.
Atherton scored 1 and 28 while Stewart hit a century (105).
So who will be Stewart and who’ll be Atherton in Perth in the next five days?
So far 56 cricketers have played 100 or more Tests, India’s Sachin Tendulkar being the only one to chalk up 200 appearances.
Australia’s Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting coming next with 164 Tests each.
England’s classy batsman Colin Cowdrey was the first one to play 100 Tests and he celebrated the occasion by scoring a century, in the Birmingham Ashes Test in July 1968.
Captaining his country (as Clarke and Cook are doing today), he stoked 104 in the only innings of the Test.
He remained on 99 for 19 deliveries and when he got a single off Australia’s fast bowler Graham McKenzie to touch an unscaled peak, the Everest of Test arena, he was cheered to the echo by the home crowd.
In the next 45 years only seven batsmen have climbed this Everest of registering a century in their 100th Test.
The only one to do so in both innings of his hundredth Test appearance is our own Ponting; 120 and 146 not out against South Africa in the January 2006 Sydney Test.
As I had predicted Ponting’s feat on the opening day of the Sydney Test in the SCG Press Box, I was nicknamed Nostradamus by the journos! The late Vinay Verma often referred to me as “Nostradamus”, bless his soul!
The ‘century centurions’ are:
Colin Cowdrey, 104 for England v. Australia, Birmingham, July 1968.
Javed Miandad, 145 for Pakistan v. India, Lahore, July 1989.
Gordon Greenidge, 149 for West Indies v. England, St John’s, April 1990.
Alec Stewart, 105 for England v. West Indies, Manchester, August 2000.
Inzamam-ul-Haq, 184 for Pakistan v. India, Bangalore, March 2005.
Ricky Ponting, 120 and 143* for Australia v. South Africa, Sydney, January 2006.
Graeme Smith, 131 for South Africa v. England, The Oval, July 2012.
So far no one has scored a double century in his 100th Test, Inzamam coming close with 184.
Will Clarke and/or Cook achieve this in Perth or at least join this elite century centurions club in the next few days?
As Clarke has hit hundreds in his 98th and 99th Tests (in Brisbane and Adelaide in the current series) against Cook’s aggregate of 82 runs at a poor average of 20.50, the Aussie skipper should feel more confident.
More important to Clarke is winning the Test and regain the Ashes early next week – so unleash the moustached Mitchell, Pup!
Here is a challenge for the knowledgeable Roarers. There is another remarkable coincidence involving Clarke and Cook at Test level.
I’ll wait till 10am today, when it shall be revealed.
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