Best test innings ever in order of merit by a genuine allrounder facing express pace bowling?

[Harsh Thakor]

This is my choice in order of merit of the best innings by a genuine all-rounder against express pace bowling.The bowling attacks should at least consist of 2express pace bowlers.I have considered the circumstances and strength of bowling attacks to rank the performances and not mere merit of innings.

 

 

1=.Ben Stokes 135 n.o in 2019 and Ian Botham's 149 n.o in 1981 both at Leeds v Australia

 

 

Two of the greatest innings executed in modern times to ressurect a team from the grave to reach the pinnacle of glory.Ian Botham tackled a more difficult wicket and thus had to execute more injudicious strokes while Ben Stoke single handedly steered his team home with a flurry of exuberant hitting at the end.Stokes virtually played 2 innings  After the fall of the last wicket he launched a continuous barrage of explosive hitting.,turning the game 360 degree,after earlier laying the base with rearguard resistance.Botham from word go scored at an electrifying base and unlike Stokes faced the situation of an inglorious innings defeat.

 

 

 

3.Mushtaq Mohammad 121 at Trinidad in 1977

Considering the circumstances a classic performances.With Majid Khan did a painstaking stitching job to sow the seeds of famous win.Grit at it's zenith with great skill.

4.Tony Greig at Melbourne in 1974-75


Inspite of Lillee and Thomosn at their fastest Tony Greig in cavalier style launched a counter attack.Simply David taking on the Goliath

 

 

 

 

 

5.Azhar Mahmood 132 at Durban in 1997-98


With a blistering onslaught ressurected Pakistan from the depths of despair who were tottering at 89-5 and then 153-8.Simply took the like s of Donald and Devilliers by the scruff of the neck,with an exhibiting of calculated hitting with the tail.One of the best repair jobs ever by an all-rounder,which above all won the game for Pakistan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.Vinoo Mankad 116 at Melbourne in 1987-48

 

 

Tore Lindwall and Miller to the shreds in a manner few ever did with imperious strokes executed with surgical and clinical precision.

7.Imran Khan 123 at Lahore v West Indies in 1980

With the aid of Wasim Raja revealing death defying courgae Imran ressurected Pakistan from the grave at 95-5 ,blending attack and defence like a truly great batsman.Discipline at a crescendo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.Kapil Dev in 1992 v South Africa


Although India lost Kapil Dev salvaged respect for India to avert humiliation, with an exhibition off glorious hitting which was a rarity.India were tottering a3 31-7 and 88-7 before Kapil Dev ressurected India from the grave with a blistering 129.

 

 

 

 

9.Kapil Dev 100 not out at Trinidad in 1983


Although Jimmy Amarnath did the spade work to pave the path for India to come out of the Woods being 219 run sin the arrears . it was a swashbuckling century that set the seal for India to save the game.






10.Ian Botham 81 at Lords in 1984

Rarely has the great quartet been ever taken to the sword to such a degree as Botham did that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

11Hardik Pandya in 2018 v South Africa

 

 

A Swashbuckling or cavalier knock that ressurected India from the doldrums .Even if flashy posessed elements of brilliance in counter attacking pace.

 

 

12.Richard Hadlee 103 v West Indies at Christchurch in 1980

Played a major role in shaping New Zealand's first test series win over West Indies with some classical strokeplay.Ironically no team ever beat West Indies in a test series till 1995.

 

 

 

 

 

13.Andrew Flintoff 73 v Australia at Edgbaston in 2005

 

Revived a sinking ship to win the test for England after a dramatic middle order collapse.Most scientific explosive hitting in perfect tune with the situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.Ben Stokes 120 at Port Elizabeth v South Africa in 2020

 

 

Took the Proteas pace demons by the sword taking batting domination to it's zenith.On testing South African pitches perhaps the best innings ever by an all-rounder against genuine pace.
 

 

15..Kapil Dev 98 at Antigua


A dead rubber but Kapil at his very best putting taking the best bowling attack ever by the scruff of the neck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I apologize to viewers but Ironically I found no great innings of either Sobers or Kallis against express pace attacks.Sobers scored some centuries against Fred Trueman,Alan Davidson or John Snow at their fastest ,but no genuinely fast bowler constituted the bowling attack to accompany them.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Harsh Thakor

[punjabi_khota]

How about Flintoff in 2005 ?

[Harsh Thakor]

28 minutes ago, punjabi_khota said:

How about Flintoff in 2005 ?

almost there but bowling not at it's fastest.Good choice,anyway.

[punjabi_khota]

1 hour ago, Harsh Thakor said:

almost there but bowling not at it's fastest.Good choice,anyway.

Lee and Tait..what is a pair faster than that ?

Edited November 9, 2020 by punjabi_khota

[MechEng]

13 hours ago, punjabi_khota said:

Lee and Tait..what is a pair faster than that ?

 

Lee and Tait didn't bowl at their fastest because Flintoff was not a Pakistani

[zen]

From the ones listed in poll, I hv only seen Kapil’s knock in SA 

 

Voted for Hadlee as a knock to beat WI in a test series in 1980 sounds interesting esp. if it was the last time WI was beaten in a series till Aus did that in 1995 

Edited November 10, 2020 by zen

[neel roy]

Dont forget our own Hardik Pandyas masterful knock against South Africa 2 yrs back against 4 genuine fast bowlers. He scored 90 odd and with some support India would have won the first test..

[Sooda]

Vinoo Mankad opening the batting vs Lindwall and Miller and scoring a ton. Ok they werent EXPRESS tbf

 

Tony Grieg has some good innings vs Lillee and Thomson, from memory.

[putrevus]

Most grounds on this list negate fast bowlers.OP your list is horrible. 

 

Trinidad was always spinner firendly pitch and Antigua (ARC) pitch is/was one of the flattest pitches and was a batting paradise.

 

How is scoring on dead Lahore pitch by Imran  better than Kapil Dev's knock in SA against a rampaging Allan Donald coming to wicket at 31/6.

 

I would put Azar Mahmood innings at the top of the list, followed by Kapil Dev's knock. Kapil Dev literally was batting with one hand in that innings.Pity he did not have Bob Willis to give that knock the credit it deserves.I would rate that knock better Botham's Headingley.

 

Rest of them are not even worth mentioning.Even Kapil twin 90s against WI are not that great.As someone mentioned Pandya's knock, I would put that ahead of most of these knocks.

 

Hadlee 100 was a gift given by WI to Hadlee, they were not even trying to get him out then.

 

Flintoff couple of knocks in Ashes 2005 are far better than most of knocks here.

Edited November 11, 2020 by putrevus

[Ankit_sharma03]

1. @maniac n @Khota fav knock of Pandya , against 4 fast bowlers of Sa
2. If its about geniune pace- irfan pathan 100 against pakistan in Banglore as opposition had Akthar, Sami and arafat(he was also around 140k)

[Rightarmfast]

What about Majid Khan? why is his name not in the list?

[Harsh Thakor]

9 hours ago, Sooda said:

Vinoo Mankad opening the batting vs Lindwall and Miller and scoring a ton. Ok they werent EXPRESS tbf

 

Tony Grieg has some good innings vs Lillee and Thomson, from memory.

Congratulations.Sorry for error.Placing that in 3rd or 4th spot.

[Harsh Thakor]

Viewers please see my changes and give assessment.After lot of thinking I have altered positions and added performances.

[zen]

With 90 odd v SA added to the poll, change my vote to SDP   .... one of the most fearless innings! 

[maniac]

14 hours ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

1. @maniac n @Khota fav knock of Pandya , against 4 fast bowlers of Sa
2. If its about geniune pace- irfan pathan 100 against pakistan in Banglore as opposition had Akthar, Sami and arafat(he was also around 140k)

here is my honest analysis of that Pandya innings 

 

Pandya no doubt is a natural batting talent and a great striker of the ball but sorry there wasn’t anything great about the knock.
 

You have to be in great control and also have game awareness which the knock lacked. May be match awareness I will give him benefit of the doubt because of the situation but it was just a typical Pandya throwing his bat around kind of a knock.

 

Out of the list I have seen Azhar Mahmood’s knock which was outstanding and genuinely deserves praise and I have seen Ben Stokes and Flintoff knocks and the quality of those knocks were way higher than Pandya’s. Not putting Pandya down though but sorry it wasn’t a high quality knock. I rate Binny’s knock in England higher actually quality wise. Also Binny was also playing against Anderson/Broad in English conditions.

 

Credit where due it was great striking by Pandya but he never looked in control. Doesn’t give the same assurance a Stokes or some other allrounders in the list give or have given.

[putrevus]

1 hour ago, maniac said:

here is my honest analysis of that Pandya innings 

 

Pandya no doubt is a natural batting talent and a great striker of the ball but sorry there wasn’t anything great about the knock.
 

You have to be in great control and also have game awareness which the knock lacked. May be match awareness I will give him benefit of the doubt because of the situation but it was just a typical Pandya throwing his bat around kind of a knock.

 

Out of the list I have seen Azhar Mahmood’s knock which was outstanding and genuinely deserves praise and I have seen Ben Stokes and Flintoff knocks and the quality of those knocks were way higher than Pandya’s. Not putting Pandya down though but sorry it wasn’t a high quality knock. I rate Binny’s knock in England higher actually quality wise. Also Binny was also playing against Anderson/Broad in English conditions.

 

Credit where due it was great striking by Pandya but he never looked in control. Doesn’t give the same assurance a Stokes or some other allrounders in the list give or have given.

That is completely wrong.You don't have to be in control to call it great knock. Botham's Headingley knock is legendary but he was simply swinging for fences and it came off. Pandya deserves credit for knock but if people starting puting him as an allrounder based on that flukey knock then they are nuts.It is completely wrong to classify him as an allrounder especially in test cricket.

 

Pandya is not an allrounder nor he is good batsman , he is simply a bits and pieces player still.

Edited November 12, 2020 by putrevus

[maniac]

23 minutes ago, putrevus said:

That is completely wrong.You don't have to be in control to call it great knock. Botham's Headingley knock is legendary but he was simply swinging for fences and it came off. Pandya deserves credit for knock but if people starting puting him as an allrounder based on that flukey knock then they are nuts.It is completely wrong to classify him as an allrounder especially in test cricket.

 

Pandya is not an allrounder nor he is good batsman , he is simply a bits and pieces player still.

if that is the case then I don’t rate Botham’s innings either. I have not seen it so can’t judge.

 

The only 3 knocks I saw from the list are Azhar Mahmood, Stokes and Flintoff and they were the right mix of control, match awareness and attacking cricket and calculated cricket through the attack. That’s why I rate those 3 knocks.

 

Even Shami,Anderson etc have 50’s against good sides but you can’t call them quality knocks. Once in a while it happens.

 

I am sure Pandya has the ability to play great knocks even though I pick on him I think he is a fine talent. However that 90 seems to be the Pandya fans equivalence of how back in the day I used to showcase the cycle

agarbatti award 

[putrevus]

5 hours ago, maniac said:

if that is the case then I don’t rate Botham’s innings either. I have not seen it so can’t judge.

 

The only 3 knocks I saw from the list are Azhar Mahmood, Stokes and Flintoff and they were the right mix of control, match awareness and attacking cricket and calculated cricket through the attack. That’s why I rate those 3 knocks.

 

Even Shami,Anderson etc have 50’s against good sides but you can’t call them quality knocks. Once in a while it happens.

 

I am sure Pandya has the ability to play great knocks even though I pick on him I think he is a fine talent. However that 90 seems to be the Pandya fans equivalence of how back in the day I used to showcase the cycle

agarbatti award 

Botham's knock is legendary but not classical knock.England were losing after following on and he chanced his arm and he got away with it.Bob Willis defended that small total in 4th innings by taking 8 wickets .Botham's other 100 in that series was a wonderful 100 which any top order batsman would have been proud. That was a great knock.

 

Laxman's 281 gets lot more importance due to 8 wickets which Bhajji took to win the match. Kapil's 129  gave SA a score of 170 plus to chase in 4th innings but India had no bowlers to back his batting performance.

 

In terms of match situation Kapil's knock should be one of the best innings played against a fast bowling unit by an allrounder.Azhar Mahmood's knock I would term more as flukey and it was played in first innings.31/6 staring at innings defeat he prolonged that match with help of tailenders and scored 129 out 215 .He could have scored more but he had Raju at the other hand when he was last man out.

 

Imran was nowhere near the class of either Botham or Kapil as a batsman period.It is ridiculous that some morons think he was great allrounder.He was a bowler who could bat.Botham had ability to bat like Stokes but he was far better bowler than Stokes. After Gary Sobers , Botham should be ranked as the best allrounder in history of cricket.There was nothing that guy could not do on the cricketing foeld.

Edited November 12, 2020 by putrevus

[neel roy]

19 hours ago, maniac said:

here is my honest analysis of that Pandya innings 

 

Pandya no doubt is a natural batting talent and a great striker of the ball but sorry there wasn’t anything great about the knock.
 

You have to be in great control and also have game awareness which the knock lacked. May be match awareness I will give him benefit of the doubt because of the situation but it was just a typical Pandya throwing his bat around kind of a knock.

 

Out of the list I have seen Azhar Mahmood’s knock which was outstanding and genuinely deserves praise and I have seen Ben Stokes and Flintoff knocks and the quality of those knocks were way higher than Pandya’s. Not putting Pandya down though but sorry it wasn’t a high quality knock. I rate Binny’s knock in England higher actually quality wise. Also Binny was also playing against Anderson/Broad in English conditions.

 

Credit where due it was great striking by Pandya but he never looked in control. Doesn’t give the same assurance a Stokes or some other allrounders in the list give or have given.

Binny!! In the flattest of pitches in which even Anderson scored his test best of 86 as no 11. If you see the innings Pandya played the situation and his control it’s remarkable.. 

 

also there were few innings played by our long forgotten Mr Prabhakar. His 95 against Hadlee in Napier in seaming conditions ( the match where Tendulkar scored 88 and failed to become youngest test centurian) opening the innings was absolutely mindblowing. Facing Hadlee Snedden in early morning in Napier is not easy ( Bangars knock against Headingley should also be mentioned). Also its absolutely amazing that Prabhakar s average Away from home was 36 ( he scored 1000 plus runs away). He scored two half centuries in Australia as well..and old Trafford.. begs a question for why havent we recognised his contribution more.. 

Edited November 13, 2020 by neel roy