Saturday, July 14, 2007

A day of numerous records for Sangakkara

On the third day of Kandy Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Kumar Sangakkara scored an unbeaten 222 - his second double century in successive innings.Sangakkara had also made an unbeaten 200 in Sri Lanka's only innings in second Test at P.Sarvanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. With this Sangakkara became only the fourth batsman in Test cricket history to score double centuries in successive innings after England's Wally Hammond, Australia's Don Bradman and India's Vinod Kambli. Hammond had done so on two occasions. The following table has the details:
Double centuries in successive innings
Batsman         Score Opponent    Venue         Season
WR Hammond (Eng) 251  Australia   Sydney        1928-29
                 200  Australia   Melbourne     1928-29
WR Hammond (Eng) 227  New Zealand Christchurch  1932-33
                 336* New Zealand Auckland      1932-33
DG Bradman (Aus) 304  England     Leeds         1934
                 244  England     The Oval      1934
VG Kambli (Ind)  224  England     Mumbai WS     1992-93
                 227  Zimbabwe    Delhi         1992-93
KC S'kara (SL)   200* Bangladesh  Colombo PSS   2007
                 222* Bangladesh  Kandy         2007

This was sixth double century of Sangakkara's career, which puts him at top in level with Marvan Atapattu among Sri Lankans. Only Bradman, Lara and Hammond have scored more double centuries than Sangakkara. Sangakkara's frequency of scoring double centuries is second best after Don Bradman (who else!) among all batsmen who have scored at least five double centuries in a career.

Most double centuries in a career
200s  Batsman           Inns Inns/200
12 DG Bradman (Aus)      80    6.66
9  BC Lara (WI)         232   25.78
7  WR Hammond (Eng)     140   20.00
6  KC Sangakkara (SL)   110   18.33
6  MS Atapattu (SL)     152   25.33
6  Javed Miandad (Pak)  189   31.50
5  R Dravid (Ind)       185   37.00

Sangakkara's 222 runs in third day's play are the most scored by a Sri Lankan batsman in a single day's play. The previous record was held by Aravinda de Silva.

Most runs in one day by a Sri Lankan batsman

                                                               Day
222 (0-222*) KC Sangakkara v Bangladesh  Kandy         2007    3rd
206 (0-206)  PA de Silva   v Bangladesh  Colombo PSS   2002-03 2nd
203 (0*-203*) PA de Silva  v New Zealand Wellington    1990-91 2nd

Sri Lanka made 470 runs for the loss of four wickets in third day's play. This is the sixth best performance by a side in a day's play. The world record is also held by Sri Lanka. No points for guessing who the opposition was. 



Most runs in one day - by one team
509-9 SL  32-0 to 541-9  Bangladesh    Colombo PSS 2002-03 2nd
503-2 Eng 28-0 to 531-2d South Africa  Lord's      1924    2nd
494-6 Aus 494-6          South Africa  Sydney      1910-11 1st
475-2 Aus 475-2          England       The Oval    1934    1st
471-8 Eng 471-8d         India         The Oval    1936    1st
470-4 SL  30-0 to 500-4  Bangladesh    Kandy       2007    3rd

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