Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 16 October 2008 /

Lara's 153 not out against Australia on a deteriorating wicket, Sehwag's lightning quick triple century and Dean Jones' debilitating double hundred in Madras are amongst Andrew Hughes' choices for best-ever Test knocks...

One of the statistically most impressive batting performances of all time occurred in March this year, during the First Test between India and South Africa at Chennai. Virender Sehwag came out to bat mid way through the final session of the second day with his team facing a 540 run deficit. In typical fashion, he launched into the South African bowling, bringing up his fifty before the close. Twenty-four hours later, he was celebrating his triple hundred, the fastest of all time. He was finally out on 319.

Only a cricket philistine would decry what was a wonderful exhibition of sustained attacking batting. However, though Sehwag's place in the record books is secure, as only the third man in history to have notched two triple centuries, cricket lovers tend to reserve their greatest praise for less numerically spectacular knocks. In such a subjective area, it is nearly impossible to say which is the best, but you can identify certain trends that mark out some innings as more notable than others.

For example, scores achieved on dodgy pitches against top quality bowlers are the ones that players themselves most value. In 1999 Brian Lara's 153 not out won a thrilling Test against a rampant Australian side featuring both Warne and McGrath. Reduced to 105-5 chasing 308 to win on a deteriorating Bridgetown pitch, Lara guided his team home with one wicket to spare.

Equally impressive was Graham Gooch's effort against the West Indies at Headingley in 1991. Facing up to Marshall, Ambrose, Walsh and Patterson on a green wicket in gloomy conditions, he carried his bat in the second innings, scoring 154 not out, with the next highest score 27, to set up an unexpected English win.

Then there are the knocks that transform the course of a game and a series. VVS Laxman's against Australia in Calcutta, 2001 is the stuff of Indian cricket legend. Following on, India still trailed with 6 wickets left when Laxman began his onslaught. He racked up 281 and got them quickly enough to allow India time to bowl the Aussies out. They went on to clinch the series.

Don Bradman's 270 against England at Melbourne in 1936-37 was a similarly dramatic affair. It was his first series as captain, he'd lost the first two Tests and his side were 97-5 in their second innings when he went out to face Bill Voce, Gubby Allen and Hedley Verity on a rain-affected pitch. On top of that, he was battling the effects of flu. The greatest batsman of all time showed his mettle, sharing a stand of 346 with Jack Fingleton to set up the win. Australia won the next two Tests to become the only team ever win a five match series from two down.

Finally, there are those innings admired for the sheer physical courage displayed. Stan McCabe's 187 at Sydney in the Bodyline series was just such an innings. Whilst his teammates succumbed to the leg theory attack of Larwood and Voce, McCabe hooked and pulled repeatedly, attacking every single ball with no apparent thought for his own safety. He finished the series with an average of forty-three.

More recently, Dean Jones wrote his name into the history of the game with a gut-wrenching innings in Madras in 1986. Batting in 40 degree heat with 80 per cent humidity, stopping to be sick every over and barely able to stand-up Jones managed a staggering 210 after which he had to be hospitalised. So traumatic was the experience that even now he suffers physical effects if exposed to high temperatures.

But whilst Sehwag's innings on a flat Chennai wicket may not go down as one of the all-time greats, for its sheer speed of scoring it was mighty impressive and his resurgence as a batsman has been a welcome boost to India. Scores of 45 and 6 in the First Test of the current series against Australia were a little disappointing, given the high standards he has set this year, but he will hope for better things at the PCA Stadium in Mohali, the venue for the Second Test. Sehwag averages an astonishing eighty-five on this batting friendly track and he can be backed as top Indian run-scorer in the first innings at [4.9]

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