Triple Centuries scored by Nations

Last year in a series between India and Pakistan Virendher Sehwag scored 309 against Pakistan, making him the first ever Indian to score a triple century in a Test innings believe it or not. That now means that all major Test playing nations apart from South Africa and New Zealand have had a player register an Interntaional triple ton for them. New Zealand have come as close as it is possible to score one without actually doing so with Martin Crowe making it 299 before being dismissed and Graeme Smith just recently set a new South African record for the highest ever score by a South African player in a Test Innings by recording 277 against England last year. The question that i ask is which one of these two nations will have a player reach 300 first. It is inevitable that it will happen eventually (especially with the game going the way it is at the moment and it being a batsman's game) but the question is who and how soon. It is my belief now that New Zealand (at the moment) don't really have anybody capable of making a truly huge score of say 300 or so (they do have players capable of hitting a double hundred or two maybe) and they may not possibly make one for a while, especially with their pitches in New Zealand being tough hard fast wickets with aid the quicks more than the batsmen. So they may well have to wait until the next time they tour the sub-continent. South Africa on the other hand i think do have players capable of reaching this sort of a score with Smith having come pretty close last year (a couple of years ago Stephen Flemming did come close to with a score of 274 against Sri Lanka but i don't think he has another big score in him) and Gibbs also more than capable of scoring heavily. Kallis too can certainly concentrate for long periods of time and score heavily but for some reason he just hasn't been able to go on from sort of getting to 150 and through to about the mid 170's and going on to make a double ton (which is still hard to believe.) However i do think he will convert a century into a double hundred eventually and possibly even go on to make a score of 250+ (i think that is maybe the only flaw of his game so far that he hasn't managed to go on to get a big score yet.) Also with the series against Zimbabwe coming up shortly i don't think there is a better time for him to go on now to score heavily (if he is selected and not rested) and possibly for the team to eventually find that score of 300. I think they may struggle to find a better chance for a long long time. For that reason i predict that it will indeed be South Africa to have a player to make it to 300 first and i think it may well come in this series against Zimbabwe which is about to start. i usually bet and gamble on cricket quite a bit (not something i'm particularly proud of) and imanaged to find odds of 10/1 for a South African player to score a triple ton in the series against Zimbabwe and i did put my money where my mouth is and put £100.00 on it, so i guess if there's any slight insentive for me to watch this series this is it. As for the rest of the world well, Australia lead the way as far triple centuries scored go, with 6 and the West Indies and England then follow with both of them having had 4 scored by a player of their nation in an international match. Sir Donald Bradman and Brian Lara are the only two to have scored more than one (two each) and have both incredibly scored both their 300+ scores at the one ground, Lara at St Johns recriational ground in Antigua and Bradman at Headingly in England. Lara has both of his at home (what is home for him) and Bradman both of his overseas. All four of them came against England! Bradman also has a score of 299 not out to go with his 2 scores of 300+. Also Brian Lara is of course the only player to get a Test match score of 400 in an innings. I think that Brian Lara may well go on to surpass Bradman and i think he just about has one more 300 knock left in him as hard as it is believe and i think he will manage to get it again when he is under pressure and has his back truly up against the wall. Of any of the other players who have scored one (current players) i think only possibly Matthew Hayden has one more left in him as he has a lot of time in which to get it, he still has a good few years left in his career and he plays in such a great side that he has the free will to score as pleases and at his own pleasure really most of the time. Sehwag i don't think will manage to get another one as i just don't think he is good enough and i don't think Sanath Jaysuriya now has enough time in his career. Inzamam...well i suppose its possible. So anyway any predictions as to who will score a triple ton first out of the two major Test playing nations left not to have gotten one and out of the current players who have one who if anyone do you think can go on to possible get another one? I might just add one more question into the mix, which player do you think is most likely to go on to score his first triple ton? I think Ricky Ponting would be a huge candidate and possibly even Justin Langer as we all know that he can certainly bat for long periods of time and he is in the form of his life. Graeme Smith...well maybe but if he;s going to get it i think he has better play in both Tests against Zimbabwe. A while back i may have said Andrew Strauss too but he seems to fall apart like Kallis when he makes it to the 150 stage.

I reckon it could be on the cards next time South Africa play Bangladesh at home, if no-one does it against Zimbabwe. But even for the best players 200 is usually enough, unless they have the incentive of a specific record to go for.

Yup you're right, even though players won't admit it, they're always wanting to improve their own statistics - whilst I never achieved anything like the scores you did when I played at school JALRC, I remember that in a house competition, in two heavy defeats I top scored with scores of 6, and 16. It's stupid, as obviously I was gutted that we lost but I was chuffed I'd scored more than anyone else on my team. Completely natural in sport.

In the end the series between Zimbabwe and South Africa didn't produce a triple ton or even a double ton but Jaques Kallis did hit the quickest Test 50 of all time and Zimbabwe were given the maulling we expected them to get.

Originally posted by Inducker      .........talking of triple tons - THE best effort was undoubtably Graham Gooch's triple at LOrds against India in 1990 ! He backed that up with another hundred in the 2nd innings - the only cricketer to score a triple and a ton in the same test !!

I believe that match gave him the record for average runs in a match by one player.

Incidently in response to your other question i would have said a few bowling records may have been set but that of course would have only been the case had Shaun Pollock been playing. I guess the odd double ton is not out of the question too.

I think we all spoke to soon...the records seem to be going the other way with Hinds looking to make it to 200 and already 3 partnership records broken! This is hilarious now the South African's can't even beat reserve teams!