Bettering your best

Had Stuart Broad scored ten more runs in England's second innings against South Africa at Headingley, he would have improved on his career-best of 76, which he achieved in the first Test at Lord's. It would have been the sixth time in eight matches that Broad had scored his career highest. He improved his high score five times, scoring 2 in his debut Test, 16 in his second, and 42, 64 and 76 in his third, sixth and seventh. This week we look at batsmen who bettered their highest scores most times in their Test and one-day international careers.

The tables feature batsmen who had subdued starts to their careers, for they have greater scope for improvement than those who begin with hundreds. Damien Martyn's 36 is the highest score on debut for a batsman who improved his best at least ten times. Rahul Dravid's 95 at Lord's is the highest among batsmen who bettered it at least eight times.

No batsman has improved individual high scores more times than Dilip Vengsarkar, who did so on 12 occasions. He had a slow start, and by the end of his eighth Test, his highest score, which he had already improved six times, was 49. Vengsarkar's unbeaten 157 against West Indies at Eden Gardens in 1979 was his longest-standing high score, lasting for 48 Tests. Vengsarkar also improved his best in one-day internationals eight times. He scored 105 against England in Pune in his 46th match and that remained the highest score of his 126-ODI career.

Improving a career high score the most times in Tests

Player

Span Mat Inns Runs HS Ave

100 50 Num DB Vengsarkar (India)

1976-1992 116 185 6868 166 42.13

17 35 12 7, 16, 30, 39, 48, 49, 78, 83, 157*, 159, 164*, 166

HP Tillakaratne (SL) 1989-2004 83 131 4545

204* 42.87 11 20 11

0, 6, 55, 82, 93, 93*, 116, 119, 126*, 136*, 204* Mushtaq Ahmed (Pak) 1990-2003 52

72 656 59 11.71 0 2

11 0, 4, 5*, 6, 11, 12*, 18, 20*, 27, 42, 59 DR Martyn (Aus)

1992-2006 67 109 4406 165 46.37

13 23 11 36, 67*, 74, 78, 89*, 105, 118, 124*, 133, 161, 165

GAR Lock (Eng) 1952-1968 49 63 742

89 13.74 0 3 10

1*, 9, 13, 19*, 21, 25*, 30, 49, 56, 89 KF Barrington (Eng) 1955-1968 82

131 6806 256 58.67 20 35

10 0, 34, 56, 80, 87, 128, 139, 151*, 172, 256 GA Gooch (Eng)

1975-1995 118 215 8900 333 42.58

20 46 10 0, 6, 31, 54, 91*, 99, 123, 153, 196, 333

SR Tendulkar (India) 1989-2008 147 238 11782

248* 55.31 39 49 10

15, 59, 88, 119*, 148*, 165, 179, 217, 241*, 248* WPUJC Vaas (SL) 1994-2008 104

152 2928 100* 24.19 1 13

10 0, 4, 14, 16*, 33*, 36, 51, 57, 74*, 100* KC Sangakkara (SL)

2000-2008 73 120 6127 287 55.19

16 25 10 23, 24, 25, 74, 98, 105*, 140, 230, 270, 287

England batsman Billy Gunn , who played 11 Tests, from 1887 to 1899, improved his high score in 40% of his innings (eight out of 20). Gunn began his career with a duck and his subsequent high scores were 4, 9, 10, 15, 34, 77 and 102 not out. He scored his only hundred in his ninth Test, in 1893, and his final two appearances for England spanned six years.

Darren Gough leads the table of batsmen who played the most innings without improving their high score after their first innings. Gough played 86 Test innings but never bettered the 65 he made on debut against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1994. His next best was 51, scored in his seventh Test, in Sydney in 1995.

Jacques Rudolph and Mathew Sinclair began their careers with double-centuries against Bangladesh and West Indies respectively. Sinclair came close to beating his debut score of 214 not out when he scored an unbeaten 204 against Pakistan in Christchurch. Rudolph has also been unable to surpass his unbeaten 222 in 62 subsequent innings.

Mat Inns Runs HS Ave 100

50 D Gough (Eng) 1994-2003 58

86 855 65 12.57 0 2

RS Kaluwitharana (SL) 1992-2004 49 78 1933

132* 26.12 3 9 AC Hudson (SA)

1992-1998 35 63 2007 163 33.45

4 13 JA Rudolph (SA) 2003-2006 35

63 2028 222* 36.21 5 8

MS Sinclair (NZ) 1999-2008 32 54 1595

214 32.55 3 4 MJ Clarke (Aus)

2004-2008 35 54 2212 151 47.06

7 8 AA Mallett (Aus) 1968-1980 38

50 430 43* 11.62 0 0

WB Phillips (Aus) 1983-1986 27 48 1485

159 32.28 2 7 Yasir Hameed (Pak)

2003-2007 23 45 1450 170 34.52

2 8 BM Laird (Aus) 1979-1982 21

40 1341 92 35.28 0 11

SLV Raju (India) 1990-2001 28 34 240

31 10.00 0 0 AJY Hopkins (Aus)

1902-1909 20 33 509 43 16.41

0 0 BW Yuile (NZ) 1963-1969 17

33 481 64 17.81 0 1

JL Hendriks (WI) 1962-1969 20 32 447

64 18.62 0 2 JK Lever (Eng)

1976-1986 21 31 306 53 11.76

0 1 LJ Tancred (SA) 1902-1913 14

26 530 97 21.19 0 2

Aminul Islam (Ban) 2000-2002 13 26 530

145 21.19 1 2 MB Poore (NZ)

1953-1956 14 24 355 45 15.43

0 0 Hanumant Singh (India) 1964-1969 14

24 686 105 31.18 1 5

FLH Mooney (NZ) 1949-1954 14 22 343

46 17.14 0 0 JA Hayes (NZ)

1951-1958 15 22 73 19 4.86

0 0 PNF Mansell (SA) 1951-1955 13

22 355 90 17.75 0 2

AH Jarvis (Aus) 1885-1895 11 21 303

82 16.83 0 1 BH Pairaudeau (WI)

1953-1957 13 21 454 115 21.61

1 3 AG Kripal Singh (India) 1955-1964 14

20 422 100* 28.13 1 2

Asim Kamal (Pak) 2003-2005 12 20 717

99 37.73 0 8

Pakistan's Shakeel Khan Jr improved his individual best in every innings. He batted five times in three Tests and scored 0, 5, 7, 29 and 33. England allrounder Arthur Hill's career comprised three Tests in South Africa in 1896, and over the course of them he gradually increased his average to 62.75 by improving his score every time he batted. He made 25, 37, 65 and 124 in his four innings.

Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya, the only two players with more than 400 one-day caps, have improved their best scores the most times in ODIs. Tendulkar's 186 not out against New Zealand in his 226th ODI was the 13th and final time that he improved his highest score. Jayasuriya last bettered his score in his 217th match when he scored 189 against India in Sharjah.

Improving a career high score the most times in ODIs Player Span Mat Inns

Runs HS Ave 100 50 Num

SR Tendulkar (India) 1989-2008 417 407

16361 186* 44.33 42 89 13

0, 36, 53, 62, 77, 81, 84, 110, 115, 127*, 137, 143, 186* ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL) 1989-2008

416 404 12688 189 32.87 27

65 12 3, 13, 24, 31, 32, 34*, 58, 65, 77, 140, 151*, 189

RR Sarwan (WI) 2000-2008 131 123 4251 115*

43.37 3 27 12 20, 32*, 36, 38, 44, 52, 83*, 84, 99*, 102*, 104*, 115*

A Ranatunga (SL) 1982-1999 269 255 7456

131* 35.84 4 49 11

42, 55*, 63*, 64, 74*, 86*, 88*, 98, 101*, 102*, 131* PA de Silva (SL) 1984-2003 308

296 9284 145 34.90 11 64

11 8, 14*, 50*, 81*, 86, 88, 96, 104, 105, 107*, 145 VVS Laxman (India)

1998-2006 86 83 2338 131 30.76

6 10 11 0, 23, 23*, 45, 51, 83, 101, 102, 103*, 106*, 131

IT Botham (Eng) 1976-1992 116 106 2113

79 23.21 0 9 10

1, 20, 31, 34, 37, 42*, 60, 65, 72, 79 ME Waugh (Aus) 1988-2002 244

236 8500 173 39.35 18 50

10 18, 32, 42, 62, 67, 108, 113, 121*, 130, 173 R Dravid (Asia/ICC/India)

1996-2007 333 308 10585 153 39.49

12 81 10 3, 4, 11, 22*, 39, 90, 107, 123*, 145, 153

HH Dippenaar (Afr/SA) 1999-2007 107 95 3421 125* 42.23 4 26 10 17, 26, 65*, 77, 81, 89, 93, 110*, 123, 125*

For such an aggressive strokeplayer, Michael Slater famously had an underwhelming one-day career. He began on the right note by scoring 73 off 69 balls against South Africa at the MCG in 1993, but that was as good as it got. That score remained his highest, although he went past 50 eight more times before finishing his 42-match career effectively demoted to the lower order.

Robin Uthappa broke the Indian record for the highest score on debut when he made 86 against England in Indore in 2006 but he hasn't been able to improve on that in his next 33 attempts.

Mat Inns Runs HS Ave 100

50 Abdul Qadir (Pak) 1983-1993 104

68 641 41* 15.26 0 0

DSBP Kuruppu (SL) 1983-1990 54 52 1022

72 20.03 0 4 DW Randall (Eng)

1976-1985 49 45 1067 88 26.67

0 5 MJ Slater (Aus) 1993-1997 42

42 987 73 24.07 0 9

CD Collymore (WI) 1999-2007 84 35 104

13* 5.77 0 0 RV Uthappa (India)

2006-2008 38 34 786 86 27.10

0 5 Farhad Reza (Ban) 2006-2008 31

28 390 50 17.72 0 1

SS Karim (India) 1997-2000 34 27 362

55 15.73 0 1 Tauseef Ahmed (Pak)

1982-1990 70 25 116 27* 10.54

0 0 LE Plunkett (Eng) 2005-2007 27

24 295 56 21.07 0 1

CS Pandit (India) 1986-1992 36 23 290

33* 20.71 0 0 MH Dekker (Zim)

1992-1996 23 22 379 79 18.94

0 2 MG Burgess (NZ) 1973-1981 26

20 336 47 16.80 0 0

Syed Rasel (Ban) 2005-2008 34 18 56

15 4.66 0 0 BC Hollioake (Eng)

1997-2002 20 17 309 63 20.60

0 2 AR White (Ire) 2006-2008 20

16 258 40 16.12 0 0

J Smits (Neth) 2003-2007 28 15 116

26 16.57 0 0 GR Codrington (Can)

2006-2007 17 15 235 45* 19.58

0 0 GC Dyer (Aus) 1986-1988 23

13 174 45* 15.81 0 0

M Mbangwa (Zim) 1996-2002 29 13 34

11 4.85 0 0