Posted by There were eight centurions in England’s gargantuan 823-7 against Pakistan in October 2024. Harry Brook (317) and Joe Root (262) attracted most of the headlines, but there was also Shaheen Shah Afridi (120), Naseem Shah (157), Abrar Ahmed (174), Aamer Jamal (126), Salman Ali Agha (118) and Saim Ayub (101). This article celebrates the latter kind of hundred. The bowler’s hundred. The rubbish kind of hundred.
1. Zulfiqar Babar, Pakistan – 1-183 v England at Abu Dhabi in 2015
It was a pretty rough time for Pakistan’s bowlers against Brook and Root, but at least nobody had a Zulfiqar Babar experience.
It’s safe to say this 2015 match was another that was played on a flatty. After Shoaib Malik’s 245 took Pakistan to 523-8, Alastair Cook responded with 263 as England made their way to 598-9.
Zulfiqar had the worst of it really. After 68.5 overs, he’d conceded 176 runs and still hadn’t taken a wicket. He then snared Jos Buttler for his only success. The only person who has ever had to wait longer for their first wicket was Hedley Verity, but he was way more economical and only conceded 97 in the innings (and so narrowly evaded qualification for this feature).
After England’s declaration, the speed of the match really picked up. Adil Rashid took 5-64 as Pakistan were bowled out for 173. England then raced to 74-4 in 11 overs in a somewhat forlorn bid to make the 99 runs necessary for victory. Zulfiqar opened the bowling and took 2-27.
2. Zahid Mahmood, Pakistan – 4-235 v England at Rawalpindi in 2022
You don’t have to go too far back to find a Pakistan bowler who had a terrible time against England. While he managed to snaffle four wickets in the first innings of the first Test a couple of years ago, Zahid Mahmood also suffered punishment so severe and protracted that even Prometheus might have elicited a sharp intake of breath. He conceded 235 runs in 33 overs as England topped 500 on the first day.
Zahid was actually quite economical compared to Saud Shakeel, who managed to concede 30 in just two overs – largely thanks to six Harry Brook fours in the second one. It’s questionable whether Shakeel would have been able to maintain that pace though. (In many ways it was a smart move to so quickly mark himself out as unfit for the firing line.)
3. Narendra Hirwani, India – 1-137 v England at the Oval in 1990
This is a weird one because India were on top for most of the time Hirwani was bowling. After making 606-9 with hundreds from Kapil Dev and our old friend Ravi Shastri, they bowled England out for 340 before inviting them to follow-on.
It was in that second innings that Hirwani brought up his hundred. What was particularly noteworthy about it, however, was one particular spell that he bowled. The spell spanned from his first delivery to his last one.
After coming on second change, Hirwani bowled 59 overs on the bounce. No-one has ever bowled more.
This seems doubly weird given that he wasn’t having any great success. Sure, he took the first wicket – Graham Gooch for 88 – but you’d think that at some point – maybe after 40 or 50 overs – Mohammad Azharuddin might have thought, “Hey, maybe we’ll just try you at the other end for an over or two.”
But no, that never happened. England made 477-4 and the match ended as a draw.
Maybe this is just what you did against England back then. In 1987, Abdul Qadir bowled 73 overs out of 148 team overs across England’s two innings in Lahore. He only really had a proper gap of just one over, which was Mudassar Nazar, technically opening the bowling in the second innings and then at some point he also had a change of ends.
You can see why Javed Miandad kept Qadir on though. He took 9-36 in the first innings and 4-45 in the second to secure an innings victory. It’s fair to say he was a little more economical than the Pakistan bowlers who came up against Brook and Root too. He conceded 1.51 an over in the first innings, but then tightened that up to 1.25 in the second. Who says leg-spinners are expensive?
4. Ray Price, Zimbabwe – 5-199 v West Indies at Bulawayo in 2003
If you never saw him, let us tell you that Ray Price was a fantastically fun cricketer. He bowled really nothingy finger spin with a fury way beyond the capacity of even the most ferocious fast bowlers.
“There’s no way that I should have played Test cricket or one-day cricket or any sort of cricket,” he once told The Cricket Monthly. “I think I just wanted it more than everybody else.”
Price’s approach hinged on barking at the batsmen dementedly until they became completely irritated and did something foolish. At one point he was the number two ranked bowler in one-day internationals. This was about one per cent down to his bowling and 99 per cent down to angry grumbling.
He often had a terrible time against Brian Lara, however. “Jeepers, he just tore me to shreds,” Price said about one innings when he’d foolishly goaded him in a one-day international. “He hit me over extra cover, hit me over cow, swept me, backed away and cut me past point. He lambasted me.”
As far as we can make out, this happened a few weeks after Lara had contributed to the most expensive single spell of bowling in Test history, when Price conceded 157 runs in one 33-over stint.
He did take three wickets though. (Not Lara.)
4.(again) Ray Price, Zimbabwe – 0-187 v Australia at Perth in 2003
This was the match when Matthew Hayden broke Lara’s record with 380. Price conceded 89 to him on his own. His figures were then further dented when Adam Gilchrist came out and larruped 113 not out off 94 balls.
Most players would resolve to shut their mouths and concentrate on their bowling after an experience like that, but Price instead decided that he’d really take it to the Aussies in the next Test. He told Hayden that he’d “have him for lunch” among other things.
Price conceded another hundred (121 to be precise) but took six wickets. Steve Waugh apparently signed a stump for him, commending him on his “attitude”.
5. Jason Krejza, Australia – 8-215 v India at Nagpur in 2008
The bare facts of this one really speak for themselves. Jason Krejza was picked to tour India despite a first-class average of 50.09. The warm-up matches went terribly. He played a Test match anyway. He took 8-215 in 43.5 technicolour overs. A month later, he played his second and final Test.
If you want to know more, take a look at our feature about the weirdest eight-fors of the last 25 years.
6. Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, Australia – 1-298 v England at the Oval in 1938
Fleetwood-Smith’s performance arguably remains the benchmark for terrible final Tests. His innings figures of 1-298 in England’s 903-7 declared remain the most expensive in Test history.
Which takes us nicely onto…
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This article reminds me of a cruel antipodean joke that I remember doing the rounds during the dog days of the 1990s.
What do you call an England cricketer with a hundred against Australia?
A bowler.
Interesting, from that perspective, to see four of the seven items above have England on the batting side of the equation and none on the bowling side.
Was a bit surprised that Nilesh Kulkarni didn’t make the cut. Wicket with first ball in tests and then conceding 195 runs in the innings with no more wickets to show for it.
Ooh that’s a good one. He should have been in.