LINK
1. 99.94
Don Bradman strode to the wicket at the Oval in 1948 for his last Test innings needing four runs to leave him with a career average of 100. That he fell so tantalisingly short – bowled second ball for a duck – was instantly the stuff of legend, but it failed to stop his average becoming a totemic figure in Australian sport.
Charles Moses, general manager of the ABC for three decades, enshrined the figure in the Australian psyche with his suggestion to include it in the national broadcaster's postal address, which became P.O. Box 9994 in every state capital.
2. 334
Bradman's highest Test score, recognisable to the most casual Australian cricket follower, was compiled at Headingley during his phenomenal Ashes tour in 1930. A few weeks short of his 22nd birthday, Bradman came to the wicket in the second over of the match. By the end of the opening day, he was on 309. His dismissal the next morning heralded a record that would be unthreatened for almost seven decades.
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In 1998, at Peshawar in Pakistan, Mark Taylor declared the Australian innings when he was on 334 because he was unwilling to outshine the Don.
3. 501
Brian Lara compiled his unbeaten 501 during a purple patch that only Bradman has matched. Just weeks after posting the then highest Test score, with 375 against England at Antigua, Lara flayed the Durham attack while playing for Warwickshire at Edgbaston. His innings surpassed the 499 that Hanif Mohammad had made for Karachi in 1958 before being run out – attempting a two from the penultimate delivery before stumps. (A mix-up by the scoreboard operators meant that Mohammed thought he was on 496, instead of 498: "I decided to take a couple of twos if a boundary wasn't possible. Had the correct score been shown, I would have planned differently ... I was very upset.")
4. 87
The superstition about Australia' unlucky number supposedly began with Keith Miller, who – aged 10 – went to the MCG to watch Bradman bat for NSW against Victoria during the 1929-30 season. The young Miller's hopes that Bradman would score a ton were dashed when Harry "Bull" Alexander bowled him; in Miller's memory, the Don was on 87, an unlucky 13 runs short of a century.
When Miller began playing district cricket with South Melbourne, he was fielding alongside Ian Johnson in the slips when he commented that many batsmen seemed to be dismissed on 87. In years to come, while playing for Victoria and Australia, Miller and Johnson would nudge each other when a batsman or the team reached that figure.
Richie Benaud later picked up on it and the myth grew. The fact that, all those years ago, the Don had been bowled by the Bull for 89 seemed to make no impact. England's unlucky number, 111, was inspired by Admiral Lord Nelson, an English military hero who, when he died in 1805, was said to have had one eye, one arm and one leg. Umpire David Shepherd acknowledges scores of 111 with a low hop on one leg.
5. 45
Cricket's reputation as the ultimate game for figures received a glorious fillip in 1977 when Australia won the Centenary Test against England at the MCG by 45 runs, the precise margin by which the Australians had won the first Test a century earlier.
For fans prone to poring over exercise books, the 1977 celebratory Test was a colossus, yielding some of the most cherished figures in the game. Besides the winning margin, Derek Randall made 174 on debut and David Hookes struck five consecutive fours off Tony Greig.
6. 16
The West Indies' record of 11 consecutive Test victories, compiled under Clive Lloyd before coming to end in 1984, was eclipsed by the Australians under Steve Waugh. From October 1999 in Harare to March 2001 in Kolkata, the Australians pushed the record out to 16 before V.V.S. Laxman inspired India to victory with an innings of 281, a figure that itself has become totemic.
7. 43
On the flipside of batting excellence, Courtney Walsh's 43 Test ducks is a record that should take some beating. Immediately below him is Shane Warne, on 30, and Glenn McGrath, whose swashbuckling half-century against the Kiwis last weekend was an entertaining distraction from the fact that he has scored a doughnut on 29 occasions.
8. 229
Until January 2003, the lowest individual score never made in Test cricket was 228. That changed when South African opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs made 228 during a Test against Pakistan in Cape Town. Now, the lowest score never achieved in Test cricket is 229.
9. 356
Michael Slater was so happy with receiving Australia's Test cap No.356 that he got a tattoo of the number, as well as a personalised number plate (MS356) for his new red Ferrari. His pride later turned to horror when he learned that Brendon Julian, who made his debut in the same Test at Old Trafford in 1993, should have been ahead of him on account of alphabetical precedence (as opposed to batting order).
Australian authorities let Slater keep his cap – and tattoo – but ruled that, in future, if more than one player were to make their debuts in the same Test, alphabetical precedence would determine the order of caps.
10. 36
According to James Grant in The Longest Game, Melbourne University batsman Ian Dunne was annoyed at losing his wicket to a rash stroke on 36 during a district cricket match in the 1970s. His response was to hurl his bat against the dressing-room wall and declare: "That was a scum shot."
Before long, not only had Dunne earned the nickname Scum, but mathematicians in the team had begun referring to scores of 36 as "scum". At 18, a batsman was on half-scum. On 72, his score was twoscum, and so on.
The practice circulated throughout Melbourne district ranks, with fractions and multiples of 36 earning much comment. During the 1977-78 Ashes series, which featured two former Melbourne University players in Jim Higgs and Ian Botham, the "Scum phenomenon" achieved new heights when Australia was six for 36 in the first innings before recovering to make 116, thanks to Rodney Hogg's top score of 36. Of course, there were 36 extras. During the next Test, Hogg made 18 and Bob Willis took one for 36. Scum fractions and multiples kept popping up until late in the series, by when 48 was beginning to make its presence felt
1. 99.94
Don Bradman strode to the wicket at the Oval in 1948 for his last Test innings needing four runs to leave him with a career average of 100. That he fell so tantalisingly short – bowled second ball for a duck – was instantly the stuff of legend, but it failed to stop his average becoming a totemic figure in Australian sport.
Charles Moses, general manager of the ABC for three decades, enshrined the figure in the Australian psyche with his suggestion to include it in the national broadcaster's postal address, which became P.O. Box 9994 in every state capital.
2. 334
Bradman's highest Test score, recognisable to the most casual Australian cricket follower, was compiled at Headingley during his phenomenal Ashes tour in 1930. A few weeks short of his 22nd birthday, Bradman came to the wicket in the second over of the match. By the end of the opening day, he was on 309. His dismissal the next morning heralded a record that would be unthreatened for almost seven decades.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
In 1998, at Peshawar in Pakistan, Mark Taylor declared the Australian innings when he was on 334 because he was unwilling to outshine the Don.
3. 501
Brian Lara compiled his unbeaten 501 during a purple patch that only Bradman has matched. Just weeks after posting the then highest Test score, with 375 against England at Antigua, Lara flayed the Durham attack while playing for Warwickshire at Edgbaston. His innings surpassed the 499 that Hanif Mohammad had made for Karachi in 1958 before being run out – attempting a two from the penultimate delivery before stumps. (A mix-up by the scoreboard operators meant that Mohammed thought he was on 496, instead of 498: "I decided to take a couple of twos if a boundary wasn't possible. Had the correct score been shown, I would have planned differently ... I was very upset.")
4. 87
The superstition about Australia' unlucky number supposedly began with Keith Miller, who – aged 10 – went to the MCG to watch Bradman bat for NSW against Victoria during the 1929-30 season. The young Miller's hopes that Bradman would score a ton were dashed when Harry "Bull" Alexander bowled him; in Miller's memory, the Don was on 87, an unlucky 13 runs short of a century.
When Miller began playing district cricket with South Melbourne, he was fielding alongside Ian Johnson in the slips when he commented that many batsmen seemed to be dismissed on 87. In years to come, while playing for Victoria and Australia, Miller and Johnson would nudge each other when a batsman or the team reached that figure.
Richie Benaud later picked up on it and the myth grew. The fact that, all those years ago, the Don had been bowled by the Bull for 89 seemed to make no impact. England's unlucky number, 111, was inspired by Admiral Lord Nelson, an English military hero who, when he died in 1805, was said to have had one eye, one arm and one leg. Umpire David Shepherd acknowledges scores of 111 with a low hop on one leg.
5. 45
Cricket's reputation as the ultimate game for figures received a glorious fillip in 1977 when Australia won the Centenary Test against England at the MCG by 45 runs, the precise margin by which the Australians had won the first Test a century earlier.
For fans prone to poring over exercise books, the 1977 celebratory Test was a colossus, yielding some of the most cherished figures in the game. Besides the winning margin, Derek Randall made 174 on debut and David Hookes struck five consecutive fours off Tony Greig.
6. 16
The West Indies' record of 11 consecutive Test victories, compiled under Clive Lloyd before coming to end in 1984, was eclipsed by the Australians under Steve Waugh. From October 1999 in Harare to March 2001 in Kolkata, the Australians pushed the record out to 16 before V.V.S. Laxman inspired India to victory with an innings of 281, a figure that itself has become totemic.
7. 43
On the flipside of batting excellence, Courtney Walsh's 43 Test ducks is a record that should take some beating. Immediately below him is Shane Warne, on 30, and Glenn McGrath, whose swashbuckling half-century against the Kiwis last weekend was an entertaining distraction from the fact that he has scored a doughnut on 29 occasions.
8. 229
Until January 2003, the lowest individual score never made in Test cricket was 228. That changed when South African opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs made 228 during a Test against Pakistan in Cape Town. Now, the lowest score never achieved in Test cricket is 229.
9. 356
Michael Slater was so happy with receiving Australia's Test cap No.356 that he got a tattoo of the number, as well as a personalised number plate (MS356) for his new red Ferrari. His pride later turned to horror when he learned that Brendon Julian, who made his debut in the same Test at Old Trafford in 1993, should have been ahead of him on account of alphabetical precedence (as opposed to batting order).
Australian authorities let Slater keep his cap – and tattoo – but ruled that, in future, if more than one player were to make their debuts in the same Test, alphabetical precedence would determine the order of caps.
10. 36
According to James Grant in The Longest Game, Melbourne University batsman Ian Dunne was annoyed at losing his wicket to a rash stroke on 36 during a district cricket match in the 1970s. His response was to hurl his bat against the dressing-room wall and declare: "That was a scum shot."
Before long, not only had Dunne earned the nickname Scum, but mathematicians in the team had begun referring to scores of 36 as "scum". At 18, a batsman was on half-scum. On 72, his score was twoscum, and so on.
The practice circulated throughout Melbourne district ranks, with fractions and multiples of 36 earning much comment. During the 1977-78 Ashes series, which featured two former Melbourne University players in Jim Higgs and Ian Botham, the "Scum phenomenon" achieved new heights when Australia was six for 36 in the first innings before recovering to make 116, thanks to Rodney Hogg's top score of 36. Of course, there were 36 extras. During the next Test, Hogg made 18 and Bob Willis took one for 36. Scum fractions and multiples kept popping up until late in the series, by when 48 was beginning to make its presence felt
