Being Outside Cricket

Adam Voges – 130 not out v West Indies at Roseau, Dominica

A debut century always gets the stattos on their uppers, and this one was one of the better ones. With due respect to Graham Thorpe and Alastair Cook, it was a first innings ton. With due respect to Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior, it came when his team were really up against it. With due respect to pretty much everyone, this bloke is a cricketing OAP.

The obvious starting point is that at 35 years and and 243 days he is not only the oldest man to make a test century on debut, he combined this with really pissing off Ian Chappell. The previous holder of this record was Dave Houghton of Zimbabwe, who was 125 days younger when he scored a hundred against India in Harare in 1992. I make it Voges is the 99th player to make a century on debut – there have been 101 debut centuries and Lawrence Rowe and Yasir Hameed made a hundred in each innings – and the fourth Australian this century to do so, following Michael Clarke, Marcus North and Shaun Marsh. Kirk Edwards was the last man to score a hundred on debut in the West Indies (at Roseau too), while Scott Styris was the last visitor to score a debut hundred in the Caribbean (he made his at St. George’s, Grenada). No Australian before Voges made a hundred in their debut test in the Caribbean. Other Aussies to make debut centuries are – Charles Bannerman, Reggie Duff, Roger Hartigan, our main man Herbie Collins, Bill Ponsford, Archie Jackson, Jim Burke, Doug Walters, Greg Chappell, Gary Cosier, Dirk Wellham, Kepler (pure dinkum) Wessels, Wayne Phillips, Mark Waugh and Greg Blewett.

This was the 36th highest score made by a batsman on debut, and the 9th highest by an Australian. The leader in that field is the longest standing record in the game. Charles Bannerman’s 165* still leads the way, with Archie Jackson (164), Wayne Phillips (159), Kepler Wessels (162) and Doug Walters (155) all within 10 runs of that record. Others above Voges include Mark Waugh (138), Shaun Marsh (141) and Michael Clarke (151). It is the 8th highest unbeaten hundred on debut, with that lead being held by Jacques Rudolph who made 222* on debut against Bangladesh. The highest debut hundred remains Tip Foster’s 287 in Sydney for England in 1903.

This was the 109th test century by an Australian against West Indies. At the time it moved into 41st= in the overall scores list, level with another maker of 130*, Kim Hughes. It was the 55th scored in the Caribbean, and at the time, it placed him just in the top 20. The best is by Bill Lawry, who made 210 in Bridgetown in May 1965. It is the 4th highes by someone batting 5 for Australia in the West Indies (Steve Waugh holds the top two slots with 200 and 199), and is one of just two unbeaten tons from number 5 in the West Indies by an Aussie – the other being Adam Gilchrist. All pretty decent names.

Voges was the second Australian to make a century at Windsor Park. Matthew Wade made 106 on the Aussies previous visit in 2012. He became the fifth man to make a hundred there, and the scorer of the 6th overall – Chanderpaul (2), Edwards, Wade and Gayle the others. 130* is the test record for this venue.

Have you seen a 130, Dmitri? Given the two scores of 130 made in London were before I was born, this makes it unlikely, and that’s the case. The last England man to make 130 was Alastair Cook, at Leeds in 2013 – you remember the one. That hundred made before his drought. Other 130s of note include Eoin Morgan’s very forgotten century against Pakistan on a difficult pitch at Trent Bridge. The last 130 before this was made by Imrul Kayes in November last year. The last one by an Aussie was by Michael Clarke against India in Chennai in 2013. Jacques Kallis has ben not out 130 on two occasions. Brian Lara has been dismissed on 130 on two occasions.

The first 130 in tests was made on 17 July 1899 by Tom Hayward. Coming in at 47-4 at Old Trafford, Tom Hayward eased the England score up into the 300s with his knock. Wisden waxed lyrical…

On the first day England stayed in until just after six o’clock their total reaching 372. Nothing in the early cricket gave promise of such a score, the start being so disastrous as to threaten a repetition of the failure at Lord’s. Despite fine weather in the morning the ground kicked a good deal during the first hour, and at the end of fifty minutes’ play four wickets were down for 47. Things changed a little when Hayward joined Jackson these two batsman staying together for an hour and twenty minutes and in that time putting on 60 runs. Jackson was caught at slip off a bumping ball at 107, and though Brockwell played a very bright innings he only remained in while 47 runs were added when he left England’s position was a very bad one, the only dependable batsman left to help Hayward being Lilley. These two had saved the situation at Leeds and again they did brilliant work together, putting on 113 runs in something over an hour an a half.

When Lilley was lbw at 267 a speedy end to the innings was expected, but the Australian bowling had now lost its keen edge and some rare hitting followed. Hayward and Young took the score to 324, and after the ninth wicket had fallen Young and Bradley added 35 runs in as many minutes. Sadly disappointed at the turn the game had taken the Australians became a little demoralised. Hayward’s innings of 130 was in every way magnificent. Rarely or never in the whole series of England and Australia matches in this country has a more remarkable display of batting been given. Up to lunch time he took an hour and a half to make 20 runs, but so completely did the character of his cricket change when things were going better for his side that after the interval he added 110 runs in rather less than two hours and three-quarters.

This was on Hayward’s three centuries for England. Another great Surrey man….

Two Adams scoring test tons within the space of a few days. How coincidental.

Adam Voges century came up in 187 balls and contained 9 x 4 and 1 x 6