Is Smith a bigger matchwinner than Bradman?

Did you know that a higher proportion of Graeme Smith's centuries have led to South African victories than Don Bradman's for Australia? And have India been more successful when Sachin Tendulkar hits a hundred or Rahul Dravid? This week, we look at batsmen with the highest percentage of hundreds in wins and losses.

Given Australia have won almost everything over the last decade, eight of the top 20 batsmen with the highest proportion of centuries in wins are Australians from the 1990s with Darren Lehman on top with a 100% win-rate. Twenty four of Ricky Ponting's 31 hundreds have been in victories while that number for Sachin Tendulkar is only 12 out of 35 - a clear indication of the quality of teams they've played in.

Graeme Smith in good form has been a talisman for South Africa, who haven't lost a game when Smith has scored a century. Nine of his 11 centuries have led to victories and his last three came in consecutive Tests in the West Indies in 2004-05.

Percentage won with a hundred - Tests (qualification: 5 tons)

Player	Span	Mat	100s		Won	100s	%		Lost	100s	%
WW Armstrong (Aust)	1902-1921	50	6		28	6	100.00		12	0	0.00
DS Lehmann (Aust)	1998-2004	27	5		22	5	100.00		2	0	0.00
TT Samaraweera (SL)	2001-2006	39	5		21	5	100.00		9	0	0.00
IR Redpath (Aust)	1964-1976	66	8		29	7	87.50		15	0	0.00
C Hill (Aust)	1896-1912	49	7		25	6	85.71		16	0	0.00
WH Ponsford (Aust)	1924-1934	29	7		16	6	85.71		9	0	0.00
WJ Cronje (SAf)	1992-2000	68	6		32	5	83.33		14	1	16.66
GC Smith (ICC/SAf)	2002-2006	48	11		22	9	81.81		14	0	0.00
AC Gilchrist (Aust)	1999-2006	85	16		64	13	81.25		10	1	6.25
AC MacLaren (Eng)	1894-1909	35	5		10	4	80.00		16	1	20.00

Brian Lara's career is another example of how you can't win a Test match single-handedly. Despite his prolific run-scoring, thirteen of Lara's 32 hundreds haven't prevented West Indies from losing and only eight have led to wins. Even when Lara has gone on to score big - a double hundred for instance - it hasn't made a difference at times. Lara has passed 200 on eight occasions of which West Indies have won just one - against Australia in Jamaica - and lost three. Lara, in fact, holds the record for the most runs in a lost match. He scored 221 and 130 in Colombo in 2001 but Sri Lanka still won by ten wickets. He has a better record in one-day internationals - West Indies have won 16 of the 19 ODIs in which Lara has scored a hundred.

Percentage lost with a hundred - Tests (qualification: 5 tons)

Player	Span	Mat	100s		Won	100s	%		Lost	100s	%
MH Mankad (India)	1946-1959	44	5		5	2	40.00		13	3	60.00
A Flower (Zimb)	1992-2002	63	12		7	2	16.66		34	7	58.33
RR Sarwan (WI)	2000-2006	59	8		11	3	37.50		33	4	50.00
C Washbrook (Eng)	1937-1956	37	6		9	0	0.00		12	3	50.00
JR Reid (NZ)	1949-1965	58	6		3	0	0.00		32	3	50.00
AJ Lamb (Eng)	1982-1992	79	14		21	4	28.57		32	6	42.85
BC Lara (ICC/WI)	1990-2006	124	31		32	8	25.80		60	13	41.93
JB Hobbs (Eng)	1908-1930	61	15		28	7	46.66		22	6	40.00
RA McLean (SAf)	1951-1964	40	5		12	1	20.00		17	2	40.00
Saeed Ahmed (Pak)	1958-1973	41	5		5	1	20.00		16	2	40.00

Only Sunil Gavaskar has a lower double-hundreds-in-wins percentage than Lara's 12.50%. All four of Gavaskar's double-centuries were in drawn games. Gavaskar also has the lowest percentage of hundreds in victories among the top 25 players with the most centuries. Only six of Gavaskar's 34 hundreds have led to Indian wins, giving him a win-percentage of 17.64. He's scored as many in defeats.

Wally Hammond and Geoffrey Boycott's careers were separated by the best part of two decades but England never lost when either of them scored hundreds. Curiously, both players scored 22 hundreds and both have ten centuries in England victories . Colin Cowdrey also scored 22 hundreds with ten of them in victories but had a solitary defeat against South Africa at Nottingham when he scored 105.

Most hundreds - Tests

Player	Span	Mat	100s		Won	100s	%		Lost	100s	%
SR Tendulkar (India)	1989-2006	132	35		41	12	34.28		37	8	22.85
SM Gavaskar (India)	1971-1987	125	34		23	6	17.64		34	6	17.64
SR Waugh (Aust)	1985-2004	168	32		86	25	78.12		36	5	15.62
BC Lara (ICC/WI)	1990-2006	124	31		32	8	25.80		60	13	41.93
RT Ponting (Aust)	1995-2006	105	31		73	24	77.41		15	3	9.67
DG Bradman (Aust)	1928-1948	52	29		30	23	79.31		12	2	6.89
AR Border (Aust)	1978-1994	156	27		50	5	18.51		46	5	18.51
GS Sobers (WI)	1954-1974	93	26		31	12	46.15		25	1	3.84
ML Hayden (Aust)	1994-2006	84	26		59	20	76.92		14	2	7.69
Inzamam-ul-Haq (ICC/Pak)	1992-2006	109	25		46	17	68.00		34	2	8.00

Adam Gilchrist has been an outstanding matchwinner for Australia in Tests, smacking a hundred at No. 6 or 7 to turn a game. Thirteen of his 16 Test centuries have helped Australia win and only once has he scored a hundred in defeat . He also has a 100% success rate in ODIs where all 14 of his centuries have charged Australia to victory. Viv Richards is the only other player with more than ten hundreds to win all the ODIs in which he's scored centuries.