100 Hundreds

[marc71178]

I'll be very surprised if there isn't many more players like Ramps, Hick and Bicknell who don't make it into the Tests and ODIs regularly and play a bucket load of FC matches and reach those feats. Also what about some like RTD who wont miss many matches during the season as he has the option of missing Holland games for county matches. Players like that who can't play for England would have to be a chance as well.

I'd doubt it to be honest.

A maximum of 16 FC games a season means that a batsman would need to play far too many seasons to get close to it.

 

[wpdavid]

I'd doubt it to be honest.

A maximum of 16 FC games a season means that a batsman would need to play far too many seasons to get close to it.

I suppose that's not a lot different to the number of games Ramps & Hick played in a county season when they started out. The bigger problem is that nowadays they would hardly have played in the CC, whereas in the 1990's they'd have still played a fair few county games even if they played in every home international game.

If Cook's going to do it, I think he'll need to cash in over the next few years whilst test attacks are at a pretty low ebb. History suggest that these things are cyclical, so it may actually get tougher for him in 5 years time, or so.

 

[marc71178]

Hick's first 4 full seasons had 24, 25, 24, 24 games in.

Ramprakash caught the tail end of the 24 game seasons.

 

[wpdavid]

Hick's first 4 full seasons had 24, 25, 24, 24 games in.

Ramprakash caught the tail end of the 24 game seasons.

Now that surprised me - I thought the counties only played each other once by then. Wrongly, as it turned out

 

[marc71178]

We tend to forget how old those players are.

Sadly I can remember that time, makes me feel old!

 

[stumpski]

I'd doubt it to be honest.

A maximum of 16 FC games a season means that a batsman would need to play far too many seasons to get close to it.

Frank Woolley played in 978 first-class matches which is the equivalent of 60 seasons in the modern era. I don't know if anyone played more - Wisden lists the top run-scorers by innings, not matches played.

 

[Richard]

IIRR Hobbs and Woolley are near untouchable.

It's incredible to think, though, how many modern seasons it pertains to.

 

[stumpski]

Just to answer my own question ...


Just one player appeared in more matches than Woolley - I should have guessed who it was. My own thought was WG Quaife who played for Warwickshire until his mid-fifties.

 

[wpdavid]

Just to answer my own question ...


Just one player appeared in more matches than Woolley - I should have guessed who it was. My own thought was WG Quaife who played for Warwickshire until his mid-fifties.

Excuse me being too lazy to check, but did Woolley retire in 1938, or was the 1939 season lost due to WW2?

 

[stumpski]

No, they played in 1939 - the War didn't break out until September and only a few matches were cancelled. Woolley was 51 in 1938 so that would've been his lot.

 

[wpdavid]

No, they played in 1939 - the War didn't break out until September and only a few matches were cancelled. Woolley was 51 in 1938 so that would've been his lot.

Thanks. They must have played a heck of a lot of games per season pre-WW2, otherwise you'd expect soomeone who played entirely after 1945 to head the table, without interuptions from either WW.

 

[stumpski]

Until the early 1960s county players typically played around 30 three-day matches a season. It wasn't just Championship games - many counties played the tourists twice, as well as games against MCC, both universities and maybe Free Foresters or Combined Services. First-class cricket encompassed a lot more games then.

 

[TT Boy]

I'll be very surprised if there isn't many more players like Ramps, Hick and Bicknell who don't make it into the Tests and ODIs regularly and play a bucket load of FC matches and reach those feats. Also what about some like RTD who wont miss many matches during the season as he has the option of missing Holland games for county matches. Players like that who can't play for England would have to be a chance as well.

ten Doeschate hasn't even scored 10 first class tons and his 27 next month. Be hard enough for him to score 50 let alone 100.

 

[Swervy]

We tend to forget how old those players are.

Sadly I can remember that time, makes me feel old!

Its amazing for me that Hick was in Zimbabwes 1983 World Cup squad, I was just nearing my 11th birthday then, and 24 seasons later, he is still doing the business

 

[vic_orthdox]

Its amazing for me that Hick was in Zimbabwes 1983 World Cup squad, I was just nearing my 11th birthday then, and 24 seasons later, he is still doing the business

Haha, thought you said that he was "just near his 11th birthday", meaning Hick's - not your own. Nearly fell off my seat.

 

[Richard]

Hick was only 16 at the time of his selection, mind. But he was no Has(s)an Raza.

 

[roseboy64]

ten Doeschate hasn't even scored 10 first class tons and his 27 next month. Be hard enough for him to score 50 let alone 100.

He's not referring to the player specifically but someone with a similar situation only better able to cash in.

 

[Perm]

Justin Langer - 83
Stuart Law - 79
Matthew Hayden - 79
Ricky Ponting - 69
Sachin Tendulkar - 65

Do we still think Langer has a shot at doing it? Given that Hayden, Ponting and Tendulkar are still Test regulars I don't think they'll manage to do it, but Langer and Law will come close IMO.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Don't see Langer playing past next season in England, so he'll need 17 hundreds in (whatever is left) of the County season, then about 10 games for WA, then the County season again. I think he could do it, but I don't think he will.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

JL retired from WA, didn't he?