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Best batting purple patches - going by centuries per tests(dont worry about averages)

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Just interested in century-to-test ratios here, nothing else. Batting average based patches have been analysed 1000 times here, this will hopefully bring some cool new light to the table.


Bradman's best two runs in this category were:

*His first 12 test centuries came within a 17 test span before Bodyline pulled this rampage back a bit

*Then in a period from 1937-1946 he hit 8 centuries in 9 tests - though this included a test where he DNB in both innings due to an injury in the field when England compiled 903, so you could almost say it was 8/8 if you were feeling generous


I'll only do this last little stat with Bradman because it's only interesting with Bradman, but for those wondering the longest period he had without a century was 6 tests from during the bodyline series to the opening tests of the subsequent England tour. Before his 304 in the 4th test at Leeds in that ashes series there must have been a bit of talk that he'd lost his mojo. 244 in the next test as well was surely the nail in the coffin for any of that talk.

Some interesting ones from some ATG and ATVG bats:


Steve Smith's best run so far was 6 tons in 8 matches from that breakout Indian summer to his maiden double ton in England in 2015

Ponting got 8 in 9 from late '05 to late '06

George Headley began his career with 10 in his first 17 tests

Brian Lara wasn't that great in this stat and I can't see anything worth bringing up in terms of ratios - though he was a different kind of player. His first 7 centuries came over 31 tests but 5 of them were 150+ scores. The other 2 were 145 and 147 lol. And of course 2 of the 7 were 277 and 365. So Lara was more someone who once he had his eye in wouldn't waste it during that particular innings moreso than a guy who would keep rattling them off over a few series on the trot.

Michael Slater hit 5 in 9 after his test recall in 1998 - and this only included the one dismissal in the 90s. Not bad for him considering the rest of his career.

Sachin never hit more than 2 in one series so again I can't find any really interesting runs of his for this.

Aravinda De Silva got 8 in 11 during 97-98, not too shabby

Viv - 7 in 10 all within 1976...

And Mo-Yo hit 10 in 11 in almost exactly 12 months from late Nov '05 to late Nov '06. Only 14 in his remaining 79 either side of this patch.

And lastly, Sanga hit 7 in 8 from 06-07: 6 were 150+ scores, 3 were 200+


Any more sneaky notable ones I've missed?

Obviously for lesser rated players the bar is lowered for what is considered notable (eg Slater's 5 in 9)
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Clarke doesn't even have a better ratio than Slater here, the smallest range where he hit 5 was 10 tests - though expanded out a bit he hit 9 in 19 around this time(2011-2013) which of course is pretty epic(but not over 50% caliber epic)

Clarke's coolest feature was 4/4 of his 2012 centuries were all over 200, and one was of course over 300
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Gambhir hit 8 in 10 from '08-'10. Good stuff and not really talked about as much for how good that is
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Gavaskar has two really cool little runs here

4 tons in his first 4 tests, but the even cooler feature is that in these opening 8 innings he actually had 3 other scores of 65, 67* and 64*. Only one score under 64 in his first 8 innings is crazy. That one score was a proper failure though, being 1.


After 4 tests he had a career average of 155 with 774 runs under his belt. Possibly a good indication we shouldn't rate Barry Richards so highly:ph34r:



and Sunny also got 6 tons in 6 tests in 78-79. Which is cool too of course haha.
 
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mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
And one last one before I take a rest - Gary Sobers famously took 17 tests before he scored his first ton, which ended up being 365*. This was the first of 6 tons in 6 matches - 4 of them unbeaten!


Expanded out a bit, well a lot actually, from this 365 he ended up hitting 13 in 26 tests.
 
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ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Gambhir hit 8 in 10 from '08-'10. Good stuff and not really talked about as much for how good that is
I try to talk about it every time there is an opportunity. And Gambhir wasn't just cashing in in home conditions. He got runs in places like SA and NZ too. Was ranked #1 test batsman for a while, and for 1-2 years he was the only batsman among contemporaries who was bossing all 3 formats (Tendulkar was not playing t20s, Sehwag/Kallis/Younis were not that good in limited overs, Ponting was on decline etc.)
 
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Dendarii

International Debutant
It looks like Kallis's best period was October and November 2007, where he got five centuries (two of them unbeaten) in four matches.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
A few more:


Kallis hit 5 in 4 in 2007... and then 10 in 15 from '09-11



Herb Sutcliffe started his test career with 5 in his first 9, like Slater's peak run. The coolest thing about this initial run was that across the 9 tests and 12 innings he also hit 4 fifties - giving him 5 tons, 4 fifties, 1015 runs and an average of 92 after 9 tests. People often talk about how he never averaged under 60 his entire test career, that launching off pad certainly very useful for that.


Neil Harvey got 6 in his first 9 and averaged 106.5 with 959 runs at the same point in his career as Sutcliffe - quite ridiculous he dropped down to under 50.



And the best the 3 W's produced:

Walcott: 5 in 4... expanded out to 11 in 16 from '52 to '55 - this has to be one of the most impressive(and hidden, i don't see this period talked about much) so far!

Weekes: Also 5 in 4, expanded out to 6 in 10, around 1948-49

Worrell: 3 in his first 7 tests - but this included some 50s, a 261, some not outs and so like Sutcliffe/Gavaskar/Harvey gave him an awesome start to a career, after 7 tests he averaged 104 with 833 runs
 
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Line and Length

Cricketer Of The Year
In the 1954-55 against Australia Clyde Walcott twice scored hundreds in both innings of a Test. I'm not aware of any batsman to have done this in the same series. He finished with 5 centuries in the series.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yeah I think Walcott's peak of 11/16 is the coolest find so far - just because he's not really considered by many to be in the top 10-15 batsman of all time and I don't often see him even called the best of the 3 W's - yet that is very solid. Not as crazy as Mo-Yos run, but certainly less discussed.

At the start of this run he averaged 37 from 17 tests - by the end of it he averaged a tick over 60 from 33. Went from a modest record to an ATG one very quick.
 
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honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Gambhir was properly on the way to greatness before he let himself go after the WC win. If he had knuckled down I think he would have retired as one of the greats, given how well he was playing and considering his range as a batsman.
 

TheJediBrah

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Gambhir and Sehwag had the makings of being something really special. Pretty crazy that India had a top 6 of those 2, Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman. Probably deserved to win more than they did but the bowling let them down.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
I don't think the fab 4 ever played all that much with both Gambhir and Sehwag in full form. But there was a while when it seemed Yuvraj had finally realized how to bat in tests and we had a batting line up that went:


Gambhir
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Harbhajan
Zaheer
2 pacers


Very close to a side that can do well across all conditions in tests, that one. Pity the trio at 3, 4 and 5 were so well past it around 2011 though. I did think they would simply be replaced by Pujara, Kohli, Rahane but then Yuvi was unfortunate post 2011 WC and Gambhir and Sehwag (and Harbhajan and Zak IMO) let the success get to their head and we ended up rebuilding the entire bloody batting line up.
 

TheJediBrah

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Nearly an ATG top 6 though, on paper at least. Compare it to:

Langer
Hayden
Ponting
Martyn
Clarke
Hussey

I think the Indian top 6 matches up pretty closely
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
2008-11 (before WC that is) perhaps the best time we had in test cricket in my time of watching cricket. The beauty of that line up was we could have the part time spin of Yuvi and Sehwag help us out in conditions where we play 3 fast bowlers as well. And Ishant had just burst on to the scene, and if Sreesanth could have stayed sane, we would have had a strong attack, "unlucky" Ishant notwithstanding.
 

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