A hundred at long last

Given Jason Gillespie's bottomless reservoir of patience, his penchant for stonewalling and the weak opposition he was facing, it was not so much his 526-minute and 425-ball innings that astonished, but the fact that he made 201 runs in the course of it. His masterclass at Chittagong proved that even a limited batsman could achieve the seemingly impossible.

This week, the List features batsmen with the lowest averages before scoring their maiden century and double-century, and those who had to wait the longest for a Test hundred.

Eight ducks, five in a row against Australia, in his first 16 innings and several spells on the sidelines had reduced the batsman in Ajit Agarkar to an object of ridicule. At Lord's, he soothed some of his wounds with his maiden century but India still lost by 170 runs. Since then, he's not gone past fifty and his batting potential remains just that.

Most unlikely Test centuries - by batting average prior to the match (qualification: 5 matches)

Player	Runs	Opposition	Ground	Season	Scorecard		Mat	Ave
AB Agarkar (India)	109*	v England	Lord's	2002	Test 1610		11	7.81
WJ Edrich (Eng)	219	v South Africa	Durban	1938/39	Test 271		8	8.69
SE Gregory (Aust)	201	v England	Sydney	1894/95	Test 42		6	10.00
JM Parker (NZ)	108	v Australia	Sydney	1973/74	Test 729		5	10.42
MS Atapattu (SL)	108	v India	Chandigarh	1997/98	Test 1385		9	10.70
KR Rutherford (NZ)	107*	v England	Wellington	1987/88	Test 1094		13	11.19
IJ Siedle (SAf)	141	v England	Cape Town	1930/31	Test 202		5	11.55
TR Gripper (Zimb)	112	v Bangladesh	Chittagong (MAA)	2001/02	Test 1568		8	11.66
W Barnes (Eng)	134	v Australia	Adelaide	1884/85	Test 17		8	11.84

Marvan Atapattu also had a horrendous start to his Test career: dropped after a pair on debut, he one run in his second match and another pair in his third after 16 months on the sidelines. His highest score in 11 innings before the 1997-98 tour of India was 29. At Mohali, he scored his first century. His first double came two months later and Atapattu had turned the corner.

Gillespie has the third-lowest average for a batsman before scoring his maiden double-hundred but the two batsmen whose averages are lower belong to the era before World War II. Coincidentally both Gillespie and Wasin Akram, whose double-century helped Pakistan avoid defeat against Zimbabwe, reached their landmarks in their 71st Test.

Most unlikely Test double centuries - by batting average prior to the match (qualification: 5 matches)

Player	Runs	Opposition	Ground	Season	Scorecard		Mat	Ave
WJ Edrich (Eng)	219	v South Africa	Durban	1938/39	Test 271		8	8.69
SE Gregory (Aust)	201	v England	Sydney	1894/95	Test 42		6	10.00
JN Gillespie (Aust)	201*	v Bangladesh	Chittagong (CDS)	2005/06	Test 1799		70	15.64
RWT Key (Eng)	221	v West Indies	Lord's	2004	Test 1707		8	18.76
Wasim Akram (Pak)	257*	v Zimbabwe	Sheikhupura	1996/97	Test 1336		70	19.20
SFAF Bacchus (WI)	250	v India	Kanpur	1978/79	Test 845		7	20.30
HH Gibbs (SAf)	211*	v New Zealand	Christchurch	1998/99	Test 1449		12	21.22
MS Atapattu (SL)	223	v Zimbabwe	Kandy	1997/98	Test 1394		12	21.42
GJ Whittall (Zimb)	203*	v New Zealand	Bulawayo	1997/98	Test 1379		19	22.63

Akram had scored a century prior to his double but Gillespie's 70-Test wait for his first hundred is by far the longest, beating Heath Streak, who played 55 Tests before scoring a hundred.

Longest wait for first century - by matches before first instance

Player	Opposition	Ground	Season	Scorecard		Mat
JN Gillespie (Aust)	v Bangladesh	Chittagong (CDS)	2005/06	Test 1799		70
HH Streak (Zimb)	v West Indies	Harare	2003/04	Test 1668		55
SM Pollock (SAf)	v Sri Lanka	Centurion	2000/01	Test 1529		50
DL Vettori (NZ)	v Pakistan	Hamilton	2003/04	Test 1676		48
IA Healy (Aust)	v England	Manchester	1993	Test 1223		47
ADR Campbell (Zimb)	v India	Nagpur	2000/01	Test 1517		46
Intikhab Alam (Pak)	v England	Hyderabad (Sind)	1972/73	Test 717		36
M Prabhakar (India)	v West Indies	Chandigarh	1994/95	Test 1278		35
W Rhodes (Eng)	v Australia	Melbourne	1911/12	Test 119		34
SMH Kirmani (India)	v Australia	Mumbai	1979/80	Test 860		34