NZ's first triple-ton, and their liking for India's bowlers

Stats highlights from the fifth day of the Wellington Test between New Zealand and India

18-Feb-2014

Brendon McCullum and Jimmy Neesham fall into an embrace, New Zealand v India, 2nd Test, Wellington, 5th day, February 18, 2014

Brendon McCullum became only the second batsman in Test history to make a triple-century in the second innings. Pakistan's Hanif Mohammad was the first one to do so when he batted an estimated 970 minutes against West Indies at the Kengsinton Oval in Bridgetown in 1957-58 and helped his team save the Test.

McCullum is the first New Zealand batsman to score a triple-century in Tests. He went past his country's long-standing record score of 299 by Martin Crowe, against Sri Lanka at the same venue . McCullum is also only the eighth captain to hit a triple hundred in Tests. The last one to do it was Michael Clarke, who scored an unbeaten 329 to bat India out of the match at the SCG in 2012.

McCullum's innings lasted 775 minutes. It was the eighth longest innings in Test history. The record for batting the longest in Tests belongs to Hanif, who batted an estimated 970 minutes in that Barbados Test.

New Zealand's score of 680 for 8 is the highest by any team in the second innings of a Test. They beat their own record of 671 against Sri Lanka at the same venue in 1990-91, incidentally in the same Test in which Crowe scored 299. There have been only seven scores of 600 or more by a team in the second innings of a Test, of which two have come at the Basin Reserve.

Jimmy Neesham's hundred on debut is the tenth by a New Zealand batsman. The last New Zealand batsman to score a century on debut was Hamish Rutherford, who scored 171 against England in Dunedin last year.

Neesham is the third New Zealand batsman to make a hundred on debut batting at No. 8. Scott Styris made 107 against West Indies in St George's in 2002. Including Neesham, there have only been seven instances of hundreds on debut by batsmen batting at No. 8. Neesham's 137 is the highest score by a No.8 batsman on debut.

This was only the second instance of two New Zealand batsmen batting at No. 7 or lower scoring hundreds in an innings. The only other instance was against Zimbabwe, in Harare, when McCullum and Daniel Vettori hit hundreds in New Zealand's first innings.

Including this Test, the last three instances of three or more New Zealand batsmen scoring centuries in an innings have come against India. The last such instance came during India's previous tour here, when Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder and McCullum hit centuries in Napier. This was only the sixth such innings for New Zealand.

There were five hundreds by New Zealand batsmen in this series. For New Zealand, four of the seven instances, when their batsmen have scored five or more hundreds in a series of three matches or fewer have come against India. India's last tour to New Zealand had six centuries from the hosts - the most hundreds hit by New Zealand batsmen in such series. Including the five in this series, New Zealand's batsmen have hit 12 hundreds in 2013-14, which is the most they have scored in any season.

Virat Kohli batted fluently in India's second innings to score his sixth hundred and save India the Test. This was his first Test century in the second innings. Kohli has scored 1721 runs at 46.51 from 24 Tests.

Zaheer Khan bowled 51 overs, the most he has ever bowled in an innings, and took his 11th five-wicket haul in Tests and his fourth in New Zealand. The 51 overs that he bowled in New Zealand's second innings is only the 11th instance of an India fast bowler sending down 300 or more deliveries in an innings. The last such instance was by Kapil Dev, when he bowled 51 overs against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in 1991-1992.

The 170 runs that Zaheer conceded in New Zealand's second innings was the second-highest by an India fast bowler who's taken five or more wickets in a Test innings. Kapil holds the dubious record of conceding the most runs - 220 against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 1983, though he did take seven wickets.

India's fast bowlers bowled 146 overs in the second innings - the second-highest number of overs they have ever bowled in an innings. The most they have ever bowled in a Test is 163 overs, against West Indies in Antigua in 2002.

India have now gone 14 consecutive overseas Tests without a win. This is not the longest such sequence for them though. The highest number of consecutive overseas Tests that India went without winning is 26 - a seven-year period from July 1986 to July 1993.

James Neesham Virat Kohli Zaheer Khan Brendon McCullum India New Zealand New Zealand vs India India tour of New Zealand

Shiva Jayaraman is a sub-editor (stats) at ESPNcricinfo.com