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Plethora of records for Lara

By Rajneesh Gupta
November 22, 2006 13:27 IST
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On the third day of the Multan Test, Brian Lara achieved the rare feat of scoring a hundred before lunch. Lara has now performed this feat on two separate occasions. The other such occasion for Lara was against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2003-04.

Lara is also only the sixth batsman to score a hundred in pre-lunch session after starting his innings in that session.

Hundred before Lunch on first day

Batsman Countries Venue Season Score at Lunch
VT Trumper Aus v Eng Manchester 1902 103*
CG Macartney Aus v Eng Leeds 1926 112*
DG Bradman Aus v Eng Leeds 1930 105*
Majid Khan Pak v NZ Karachi 1976-77 108*

Hundred before Lunch on other days

Day Score at Lunch
KS Ranjitsinhji Eng v Aus Manchester 1896 3 41* to 154*
C Hill Aus v SA Johannesberg 1902-03 3 22* to 138*
W Bardsley Aus v SA Lord's 1912 2 32* to 150*
CP Mead Eng v Aus The Oval 1921 2 19* to 128*
JB Hobbs Eng v SA Lord's 1924 2 12* to 114*
HG Owen-Smith SA v Eng Leeds 1929 3 27* to 129*
WR Hammond Eng v NZ Auckland 1932-33 2 41* to 152*
LEG Ames Eng v SA The Oval 1935 3 25* to 148*
SJ McCabe Aus v SA Johannesberg 1935-36 4 59* to 159*
GS Chappell Aus v NZ Christchurch 1981-82 2 76* to 176
MA Taylor Aus v Pak Peshawar 1998-99 2 112* to 215*
Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak v Zim Harare 2002-03 3 103*
BC Lara WI v Zim Bulawayo 2003-04 2 77* to 191*
IR Bell Eng v Ban Chester-le-Street 2005 2 57* to 162*
BC Lara WI v Pak Multan 2006-07 3 100*

Fastest 100s in Test cricket

Lara's 77-ball hundred is the joint seventh fastest hundred in Test cricket. It was also the fastest from Lara's bat (his previous fastest had come off 82 balls against Australia at St. John's in 1998-99).

The following table lists the fastest hundreds in Test cricket:

Balls Batsman (Score) Countries Venue Season
56 IVA Richards (110*) WI v Eng St.John's 1985-86
67 JM Gregory (119) Aus v SA Johannesburg 1921-22
69 S Chanderpaul (100) WI v SA Georgetown 2002-03
71 RC Fredericks (169) WI v Aus Perth 1975-76
74 Majid Khan (112) Pak v NZ Karachi 1976-77
74 Kapil Dev (163) Ind v SL Kanpur 1986-87
74 M Azharuddin (109) Ind v SA Calcutta 1996-97
76 GL Jessop (104) Eng v Aus The Oval 1902
77 BC Lara (196*) WI v Pak Multan 2006-07

Lara levels with Gavaskar

The hundred was 34th for Lara, which puts him ahead of Steve Waugh and at level with Sunil Gavaskar. Now only Sachin Tendulkar - with 35 hundreds - is ahead of Lara in Test cricket.

This is how Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Lara's career stats looked after reaching their 34th hundreds:

Tests Inns Runs Avg Tests/100
Gavaskar 119 206 9748 51.31 3.50
Tendulkar 119 192 9843 57.56 3.50
Lara 130 230 11884 53.29 3.82

Note: The stats are updated upto the completed innings in which the 34th hundred was scored (Lara's figures are completed upto the end of third day's play of Multan Test).

Country-wise break-up of Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Lara's performances
Gavaskar Tendulkar Lara
Opponent Tests 100s Tests/100 Tests 100s Tests/100 Tests 100s Tests/100
Australia 20 8 2.50 21 7 3.00 31 9 3.44
Bangladesh - - - 3 1 3.00 2 1 2.00
England 38 4 9.50 19 6 3.17 30 7 4.29
India - - - - - - 17 2 8.50
New Zealand 9 2 4.50 16 3 5.33 11 1 11.00
Pakistan 24 5 4.80 16 2 8.00 11 4 2.75
South Africa - - - 16 3 5.33 18 4 4.50
Sri Lanka 7 2 3.50 16 7 2.29 8 5 1.60
West Indies 27 13 2.08 16 3 5.33 - - -
Zimbabwe - - - 9 3 3.00 2 1 2.00
Overall 125 34 3.68 132 35 3.77 130 34 3.82

The following table gives a break-up of scoring-pattern of the three batsmen. It is pretty clear that Lara has a distinct quality of scoring big hundreds. Of the 34 times he reached the three-figure mark, Lara managed to cross 150 on as many as 19 occasions. Tendulkar has a tally of 15 such scores, while Gavaskar managed only 12.

While Lara has two triple hundreds to his credit (including a world record 400*), Gavaskar and Tendulkar never even touched 250-mark.

Score Gavasakar Tendulkar Lara
100-149 22 20 15
150-199 8 11 11
200-299 4 4 6
300-399 0 0 1
400 or more 0 0 1

The following table lists the performances of three master batsmen in each segment of 25 Tests. It will be observed that Gavaskar was an early starter -- scoring most runs and hundreds in first 50 Tests (4,947 runs and 20 hundreds as against Tendulkar's 3,438 and 11 and Lara's 4,205 and 10).

Tendulkar was in peak of his form from 51st to 100th Test (aggregating 4,947 runs and 19 hundreds in this period). Lara, however, has been in mind-boggling form from 76th Test onwards.

He aggregated 5,179 runs and hit 16 hundreds from Test # 76 to 125 -- much more than Gavaskar and Tendulkar -- and has been carrying his splendid form even further. Gavaskar did not go beyond 125 Tests and Tendulkar is at a decline after his 125th Test.

Gavaskar Tendulkar Lara
Matches Runs 100s Runs 100s Runs 100s
1-25 2256 9 1522 5 2283 4
26-50 2691 11 1916 6 1922 6
51-75 1771 4 2557 11 1928 5
76-100 1761 6 2410 8 2783 8
101-125 1634 4 1876 5 2396 8
126-132 - - 188 0 572 3
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Rajneesh Gupta

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