Sangakkara's rare double, and Waqar's hot streaks
During Sri Lanka's recent 3-0 victory against Bangladesh, Kumar Sangakkara scored 200 and 222 in successive innings
Travis Basevi and George Binoy
18-Jul-2007
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Graham Gooch's 456 (333 and 123) against India at Lord's in 1990 is the record for the most runs scored by a batsman in a match. But what about most runs in two consecutive innings, even if they include different matches? During Sri Lanka's recent 3-0 victory against Bangladesh, Kumar Sangakkara scored 200 and 222 in successive innings. It was only the fifth instance of a batsman scoring double-hundreds in consecutive innings, as opposed to consecutive matches.
Walter Hammond was the first to score double-hundreds in successive innings: 251 and 200 against Australia at Sydney and Melbourne to lead England to a 3-0 lead in the 1928-29 Ashes. A pair of centuries from Hammond at Adelaide extended the lead to 4-0 before Australia pulled one back in the last Test at Melbourne.
Before anyone else could score consecutive doubles, Hammond repeated the feat again, this time on the tour of New Zealand in 1932-33. Both Tests were affected by rain but Hammond got stuck in, scoring 227 in his only innings at Christchurch and rattling up 336 at Auckland, breaking Bradman's record for the highest individual Test score. Those two innings add up to the most runs scored by a batsman in consecutive knocks.
| Player | Total | Score | Match Date | Scorecard | Score | Match Date | Scorecard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WR Hammond (Eng) | 563 | ||||||
| DG Bradman (Aus) | 548 | 304 | 20 Jul 1934 | Test 236 | |||
| GS Sobers (WI) | 490 | ||||||
| DG Bradman (Aus) | 466 | 167 | 31 Dec 1931 | Test 214 | |||
| GA Gooch (Eng) | 456 | ||||||
| BC Lara (WI) | 453 | 400* | 10 Apr 2004 | Test 1696 | |||
| WR Hammond (Eng) | 451 | ||||||
| VG Kambli (India) | 451 | 224 | 19 Feb 1993 | Test 1214 | |||
| WH Ponsford (Aus) | 447 | ||||||
| GS Sobers (WI) | 445 | 80 | 5 Feb 1958 | Test 448 | |||
| BC Lara (WI) | 439 | ||||||
| BC Lara (WI) | 433 | 33 | 1 Apr 2004 | Test 1694 | |||
| ML Hayden (Aus) | 430 | ||||||
| Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) | 428 | 99 | 6 Mar 2002 | Test 1592 | |||
| DJ Cullinan (SA) | 427 |
Click here for the full tables.
All but one of the batsmen in the table above have had long and illustrious international careers. The exception is Vinod Kambli, who arrived with a bang, scoring 224 and 227 against England and Zimbabwe in only his fourth and fifth innings. After two more hundreds in his next three Tests against Sri Lanka, Kambli began to slip and faded from the Test circuit before he turned 24. He is the only Indian batsman in the table; none of the modern heavyweights - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid or VVS Laxman have scored enough in consecutive innings to make the cut.
Sanath Jayasuriya is the only batsman to score two consecutive 150s in one-day internationals. He ravaged England for 152 off 99 balls at Leeds in 2006 and then bullied Netherlands for 157 off 104 balls at Amstelveen as Sri Lanka piled up 443 for 9 - the highest totals in ODIs.
| Player | Total | Score | Match Date | Scorecard | Score | Match Date | Scorecard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST Jayasuriya (SL) | 309 | 152 | |||||
| DI Gower (Eng) | 280 | 122 | 13 Jan 1983 | ODI 167 | |||
| SR Tendulkar (India) | 277 | ||||||
| HH Gibbs (SA) | 269 | 116* | 25 Sep 2002 | ODI 1886 | |||
| ML Hayden (Aus) | 259 | ||||||
| SC Ganguly (India) | 258 | 141* | 13 Oct 2000 | ODI 1638 | |||
| IVA Richards (WI) | 256 | ||||||
| ME Waugh (Aus) | 256 | 130 | 23 Feb 1996 | ODI 1058 | |||
| Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) | 254 | ||||||
| HH Gibbs (SA) | 250 | 153 | 3 Oct 2002 | ODI 1890 | |||
| S Chanderpaul (WI) | 250 | ||||||
| R Dravid (India) | 249 | 104* | 23 May 1999 | ODI 1457 | |||
| AR Border (Aus) | 245 | ||||||
| Saeed Anwar (Pak) | 242 | 131 | 1 Nov 1993 | ODI 842 | |||
| CH Gayle (WI) | 241 |
Click here for the full tables.
The table of most Test wickets in consecutive innings is similar to the records for the highest wickets tally in a Test match with Jim Laker and the other usual suspects leading the way.
Waqar Younis, however, dominates the one-day international table for most wickets in consecutive games with seven entries [Bradman had three in the Test table for most runs]. Waqar has taken two consecutive five-fors on four occasions while no other bowler has managed more than one. Waqar also has three five-fors in a row: 5 for 11 and 5 for 16 against New Zealand at Peshawar and Sialkot, and 5 for 52 against West Indies at Karachi in 1990.
| Player | Total | Bowl | Match Date | Scorecard | Bowl | Match Date | Scorecard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Jun 2001 | ODI 1725 | ||||||
| GJ Gilmour (Aus) | 11 | 6/14 | |||||
| Waqar Younis (Pak) | 11 | 6/26 | 29 Apr 1990 | ODI 627 | |||
| Azhar Mahmood (Pak) | 11 | ||||||
| ALF de Mel (SL) | 10 | 5/39 | 16 Jun 1983 | ODI 211 | |||
| Waqar Younis (Pak) | 10 | ||||||
| Waqar Younis (Pak) | 10 | 5/11 | 4 Nov 1990 | ODI 637 | |||
| Waqar Younis (Pak) | 10 | ||||||
| Aaqib Javed (Pak) | 10 | 5/35 | 12 May 1997 | ODI 1205 | |||
| Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak) | 10 | ||||||
| M Muralitharan (SL) | 10 | 7/30 | 27 Oct 2000 | ODI 1650 | |||
| SE Bond (NZ) | 10 | ||||||
| CEH Croft (WI) | 9 | 6/15 | 4 Feb 1981 | ODI 115 | |||
| BP Patterson (WI) | 9 | ||||||
| A Kumble (India) | 9 | 6/12 | 27 Nov 1993 | ODI 858 |
Click here for the full tables.
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Travis Basevi is the man who built Statsguru. George Binoy is an editorial assistant on Cricinfo