The greatest triple

[pasag]

In light of recent events - which triple century (score past 300), was the greatest, in your opinion?

Sandham 325 vs West Indies 1929/30

Bradman 334 vs England 1930

Hammond 336* vs New Zealand 1932/33

Bradman 304 vs England 1934

Hutton 364 vs Australia 1938

Mohammad 337 vs West Indies 1957/58

Sobers 365* vs Pakistan 1957/58

Simpson 311 vs England 1964

Edrich 310* vs New Zealand 1965

Cowper 307 vs England 1965/66

Rowe 302 vs England 1973/74

Gooch 333 vs India 1990

Lara 375 vs England 1993/94

Jayasuriya 340 vs India 1997

Taylor 334* vs Pakistan 1998/99

Inzamam-ul-Haq 329 vs New Zealand 2002

Hayden 380 vs Zimbabwe 2003/04

Sehwag 309 vs Pakistan 2003/04

Lara 400* vs England 2004

Gayle 317 vs South Africa 2004/05

Jayawardene 374 vs South Africa 2006

Sehwag 319 vs South Africa 2007/08

Please note that the poll is for the greatest triple in Test history, in your opinion, not just the best you've seen .

 

[Richard]

Such a difficult question. For me, I'd always lean toward the efforts of Hanif for remarkable match-saving efforts, almost beyond question the greatest rearguard in Test history.

Lara's 375 and 400* were both excellent of course (wouldn't hesitate to place the 1994 effort above the 2004 one incidentally).

And obviously the two Bradman ones there's a decent chance they were better than that which mere mortals could achieve.

I'd have to go for the Hanif one based on what I know right now. A decent chance that I'll change my mind regularly throughout my life, though.

FTR, there's 3 in there that came in matches I'd not hesitate to say don't deserve Test status, plus another (the very first) which came in a match not remotely considered to be a Test at the time. Plus 3 which I know undoubtedly contained an early(ish) dropped catch.

The amount I know about the innings' of Simpson, Edrich, Cowper and Rowe can be counted on the back of a stamp.

It goes without saying that a pitch on which a triple-century is scored will be a flat one, but a few of these were pitches I'd describe as "silly": both the Lara ones, the Hutton one (fortunately it was a timeless Test), the Jayasuruya, the Taylor and the Gayle (not that that matters as he was dropped on 80). This doesn't invalidate the innings, but I'd go so far as to discount them from averages at least.

 

[ret]

I have gone for the latest one by Sehwag at Chennai for the sheer dominance displayed in that inning .... an innings that changed the course of the game and set his team up [but unfortunately the rest were not up to it] .... remove that innings and who knows Ind could have followed on

on paper Bradman's fast triple looks good too. Moreover ppl of that era would have voted for it, i guess, so it got its fair share to fame .... in fact i will leave such old generation triples for the cricketing nerds to vote for

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I don't expect it to receive any more votes along side his more illustrious counterparts but the best innings of the lot was Lawrence Rowe.

ps Lara scored 375 not 357

 

[GIMH]

Only one thing came to mind when I saw the thread title

 

[biased indian]

Lara 357 vs England 1993/94

i never saw this game

 

[GIMH]

Gonna shoot with Mohammad here, as Richard said, awesome rearguard. Hard to make a call really, very interesting thread, potentially.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Going with Gooch's 333 for purely personal reasons as it's my first memory of cricket and set me off on a path of unrequited devotion to this stupid game that has barely repaid me for the last 18 years.

 

[ret]

Lara 357 vs England 1993/94

i never saw this game

yeah, it should be 375

 

[_Ed_]

I've heard so many great things about Hammond's 336*, I'll give that one my vote.

Of course, the bowling attack he was facing was fairly ordinary to say the least. But still, immense innings.

 

[cpr]

I don't expect it to receive any more votes along side his more illustrious counterparts but the best innings of the lot was Lawrence Rowe.

Hate to say, but if were going on scorecards alone, thats the one that catches my eye the most. Some were against poor opposition, or weakened bowling attacks. Some were on clear flatbeds (how many are there scored at Antigua?), that one seems to have been in a decent and open match. First innings looks fair, few decent batsmen failed, some suceeded, WI innings pinned up by 2 good scores and Rowe's huge one. Not the worst bowling line up either.

Go with that, running Hanif into a close second

 

[Goughy]

Without thinking about it too much, Im going with Rowe

EDIT- Amazed to see him in the lead.

Ill have a deeper look in a bit an see if my answer is still the same.

 

[Richard]

Yeah was somewhat surprised to see Rowe taking an early lead. Now I think about it actually, I have read one thing about it: it was apparently "an innings of unruffled technical excellence".

Looks like I'm going to be needing to do some more looking-up if that many people think it such a good knock. Rather surprised to see cpr making a rare visit to CC for this, BTW.

My guess for the winner, incidentally, would be Bradman's 334, and it'd be hard to argue much with that.

 

[Goughy]

I just set criteria on how Id judge it and not 1 innings met with all aspects. That was diappointing

I was expecting at least 1 to stand out, as of yet they haven't.

 

[Richard]

BTW, for my money Martin Crowe's 299 should really be considered amongst these. 1 run out of 300 FFS. His innings must be the most gutting in Test history, except maybe Fred Tate's.

 

[GIMH]

Not a triple though!

 

[Goughy]

BTW, for my money Martin Crowe's 299 should really be considered amongst these. 1 run out of 300 FFS. His innings must be the most gutting in Test history, except maybe Fred Tate's.

Im sure its a minor annoyance to him. 300 isnt that big a deal though. His 299 runout isnt as heartbreaking as what these poor guys have to deal with

 

[Engle]

Some of Hanif's feats have yet to be broken. Namely, highest score on foreign soil. Highest 2nd innings score. Longest innings. Four 100run+ partnerships.

A very worthy innings as opposed to the many ones that were either against weak opposition or on batting tracks.

 

[Jamee999]

D.G. Bradman 334.

 

[Fusion]

I grew up hearing tales about Hanif's triple from my grandfather. It's one of my earliest cricket memories. Every time there's a recollection about it on TV, I get mesmerized just hearing someone describe it. I'll go with the Little Master.