Rank South Africa's 5 famous pace bowling all-rounders from the 90s

[vcs]

Yep, both batting units were excellent against pace and Warne made a huge difference. Gilchrist also.

Remember Steve Waugh, Blewett etc. also having some great tours against SA earlier on.

 

[Dendarii]

Kinda an interesting record. Steve Waugh held it in 1999 when he tonned up against Zimbabwe and India before Bangas got test status, at this stage Kirsten was missing Zimbabwe


But a few years later he got his ton against Zim and Bangas before Waugh did coz he played against Bangas before Waugh did


now neither hold the record as Afghanistan and Ireland are around


Wonder who are all the holders of this record through history?

Well, the first one's quite easy to find - Charles Bannerman scored 165 against England in the first ever test match.

Full Scorecard of Australia vs England 1st Test 1877 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com

The next one looks like it was Bobby Abel who only scored two test centuries, one against South Africa and one against Australia.

Full Scorecard of South Africa vs England 2nd Test 1889 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com
Full Scorecard of Australia vs England 2nd Test 1892 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com

And that's as much trawling through old scorecards as I'm prepared to do.

 

[SeamUp]

I know this isn't quite the topic. Felt I needed to add this for SA's batting. I don't think Cullinan is too far off G.Kirsten in recognition and importance to that batting line-up.

CricketWeb votes.

I seem to remember glorious innings against India and Murali's Sri Lanka. Remember him standing alone v Devon Malcolm and it was all done with stroke-play.

In his last 3 years of test cricket he averaged just short of 60 which is also interesting considering most players drop-off. He got better.

 

[trundler]

South African batsmen from that era are ruled out by default, as are West Indian batters consequently. Bradman and Hammond each did do it. McCabe too. Hobbs also.

 

[StephenZA]

I know this isn't quite the topic. Felt I needed to add this for SA's batting. I don't think Cullinan is too far off G.Kirsten in recognition and importance to that batting line-up.


I seem to remember glorious innings against India and Murali's Sri Lanka. Remember him standing alone v Devon Malcolm and it was all done with stroke-play.

In his last 3 years of test cricket he averaged just short of 60 which is also interesting considering most players drop-off. He got better.

That innings against SL is my favourite innings of his.

 

[trundler]

How far off is Kirsten from Smith

 

[AndrewB]

South African batsmen from that era are ruled out by default, as are West Indian batters consequently. Bradman and Hammond each did do it. McCabe too. Hobbs also.

Did what? (If it's "scored a Test hundred against all other Test countries", I think only Hammond of the above did it; none of the others played against New Zealand. Hobbs had done so at one point - he became the first with hundreds against 3 other countries when he scored 159 against the West Indies in 1928).

 

[trundler]

Did what? (If it's "scored a Test hundred against all other Test countries", I think only Hammond of the above did it; none of the others played against New Zealand. Hobbs had done so at one point - he became the first with hundreds against 3 other countries when he scored 159 against the West Indies in 1928).

Oh crap New Zealand. Forgot about them but can you blame me?

 

[mr_mister]

It gets murky after Pakistan came in. Sobers never played against SA but tonned up against the 5 nations he did play

Hardly anyone from the 60s/70s/80s played against SA and SL, Gavaskar and Viv the best candidates didn't

 

[AndrewB]

Barrington and Cowdrey scored 100s against each of the other six teams around then.

 

[AndrewB]

Apologies for continuing this thread drift, but for completeness:

- Charles Bannerman was the first of 13 batsmen scored 100 against the only other Test team back when it was just England and Australia. (Curiously, none of these 13 ever scored 100 against South Africa).
- Bobby Abel was the first of 23 batsmen scored 100s against both the other Test teams when it was Eng/Aus/SA.
- Jack Hobbs (and no-one else) scored 100s against all the other 3 teams after WI first played but before NZ. (Hendren's first 100 against WI was a few weeks after NZ's first Test.)
- No-one had scored 100s against "all the other 4 teams" between NZ and India's first Tests. Les Ames was the first to score 100s against 4 other teams.
- Wally Hammond and Len Hutton were the only batsmen to score against all the 5 other teams before Pakistan's first Test (only a few months before in Hutton's case).
- Colin Cowdrey, Ken Barrington, Ted Dexter and Geoff Boycott scored 100s against all the 6 other teams before SL.
- Sunil Gavaskar, Javed Miandad, Martin Crowe, John Wright, Graham Gooch and Allan Border scored 100s against the other 6 teams while SA were banned.
- No-one had scored 100s against "all the other 7 teams" including SA before Zimbabwe's first Test. Martin Crowe was the first to score 100s against 7 other teams
- Steve Waugh scored 100s against the other 8 teams before Bangladesh first played.
- Gary Kirsten was the first of 13 batsmen scored 100s against the other 9 teams before Ireland and Afghanistan first played.

There will be plenty of other batsmen who scored (or at some point had scored) 100s against every team their country had played at that time, but that's trickier to check.

Kane Williamson is I think the only current batsman with 100s against the other 9 teams besides Ireland and Afghanistan.

 

[mr_mister]

Great work Andrew.