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.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Thanks Sheek. Michael Clarke need not worry about his falling 76 runs short from his 100 in his 100th Test yesterday. Allan Border, the first Australian to play 100 Tests (v. WI at MCG in December 1988), was bowled by Curtly Ambrose for a duck in the first innings. The Sydney Morning Herald headlined the story: "Border's Day is Curtly curtailed"!
sheek
Roar Guru
Great stuff Kersi, Well done on Frankie alerting to the other fact that both scored centuries on debut as well. I reckon Clarke will be Stewart & Cook will be Atherton (result wise, not necessarily individual wise).
The Bush
Roar Guru
Amazing that that many not outs and fewer innings can amend an average so much.
Sideline Comm.
Guest
Cricket's a numbers game mate. Endlessly reciting obscure statistics is what sets us apart. _ Comment from my armchair with cricinfo on the other browser.
Frankie Hughes
Guest
Pup has 17 not outs from 168 innings Cook has 10 not outs from 177 innings
The Bush
Roar Guru
What interests me is that they have the same number of tests and almost runs too, but such different averages. I suppose Clarke has far more not outs batting 5?
Gunner
Guest
Wow, statistics rule-where do you guys dredge them up from? You should get out and about more, don't forget there's a test starting today! -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Frankie Hughes
Guest
Cheers mate!
Atawhai Drive
Roar Guru
Good to see this 100-Test coincidence described as such. Inevitably, some callow youth on television incorrectly used the sport journo's favourite, 'ironically'.
Matt
Roar Rookie
Their names both start with a C!!!
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Frankie Hughes, You got it! Well done. Salada, Very interesting. It will go in my "Quirky Interesting" folder. Thanks. Also thank you for the compliment.
Frankie Hughes
Guest
Both Clarke(Bangalore 2004) and Cook(Nagpur 2006) debuted against India. Clarke scored 151 on debut Cook got 60 and 104* on debut.
Salada
Guest
KERSI - So good to have a fine writer on the Roar. Looking forward to your comments on the coming test. As to your question, this is no doubt not the answer you're looking for but a coincidence anyway. Clarke, as a name, turns out to be first recorded when William conquered Britain in 1066. And his cook, which was then spelled cooke, baked a giant wedding cake for William's marriage feast. Who did he marry? Another coincidence. He married Matilda of Flanders. Did they waltz at the wedding? Nope. Too early for a dance like that.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
bigbaz, Before their 100th Test, Sunil Gavaskar (India) had scored 8394 runs and Tendulkar (India) 8351 runs. So Michael Clarke (7940) and Alastair Cook (7883) come at nos. 3 and 4 by my calculation. Australia's Allan Border is at no.5 with 7650 runs. But I am waiting for the BIG coincidence involving Clarke and Cook.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
bigbaz, That is one minor coincidence; Clarke 7940 runs at 52.58 with 26 centuries, Cook 7883 runs at 47.20 with 25 centuries. BUT THERE IS ANOTHER MAJOR COINCIDENCE. Come on Roarers, come on!
bigbaz
Roar Guru
Both are close to 8,000 runs Kersi, were do they stand in comparison to other centurions for agrivates at 100 tests?