The firsts of many hundreds

Tags: Graeme Craig Smith, Charles Bannerman, Dennis Leslie Amiss, Christopher Henry Gayle

Published on: Jan 31, 2013

When South Africa take on Pakistan in the first Test at Johannesburg starting on Friday, Graeme Smith will become the first captain to lead his country in 100 Tests. Curiously, it will be his 108th Test as player, which means he has been captain for nearly the entire duration of his career...

When South Africa take on Pakistan in the first Test at Johannesburg starting on Friday, Graeme Smith will become the first captain to lead his country in 100 Tests. Curiously, it will be his 108th Test as player, which means he has been captain for nearly the entire duration of his career, barring a few initial matches. As South Africa prepare to celebrate the bejeweled achievement of their leader, we look at some other interesting firsts pertaining to the number 100 in international cricket.

Charles Bannerman of Australia was the first player to score a century in Test cricket. In fact, he did this in the very first Test match played in the history of the game, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1877. Thus, he also became the first Test cricketer to score a century on debut

Dennis Amiss of England became the first batsman to register a hundred in one-dayers. He did so during his innings of 103 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1972. This was his debut match and the second official ODI to have been played

Amiss is also one of the two cricketers to score a century in his first and last ODI, West Indian Desmond Haynes being the other

Chris Gayle’s 117 in the first match of the World T20 in 2007 was the first century in international T20 cricket. The feat also made the left-hander the first player to score tons in all three formats of the game

The first century partnership in Test cricket was between W. G. Grace and A. P. Lucas, for England against Australia at the Kennington Oval in 1880

W. G. Grace was also the first batsman to score 100 centuries in first-class cricket. He did so in 1895 and ended with 124 centuries in all

Johnny Briggs of England was the first bowler to take 100 Test wickets

Australian Dennis Lillee was the first bower to take 100 wickets in ODIs

Sachin Tendulkar became the first and remains the only man to score 100 hundreds in international cricket (Tests and ODIs combined)

Arjuna Ranatunga of Sri Lanka is the only man to play in his country’s first and 100th Test

Englishman Walter Hammond was the first cricket to take 100 catches in Tests. Sunil Gavaskar became the first Indian to do so

Former Australian captain Allan Border was the first to take 100 catches in one-day internationals. Mohammad Azharuddin was the first Indian to do so

Englishman Colin Cowdrey was the first batsman to score a century in his 100th Test. Incidentally, Graeme Smith is the most recent one to do so.

Just retired Australian legend Ricky Ponting remains the only cricketer to score a century in both innings of his 100th Test

G A Lohmann of England was the fastest to reach 100 wickets in Tests. He did so in his 16th match

Saqlain Mushtaq of England became the fastest to touch the 100-wicket mark in ODIs. He took 53 matches to achieve the same

--By A Cricket Analyst

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