The 100th anything

It annoyed many, and pleased comparatively few, that Cardiff hosted the first Ashes Test last week. In doing so, Sophia Gardens became the 100th venue to stage a Test, 132 years after the MCG was the first in 1877. To commemorate that bit of trivia we've looked at other 100ths in this week's column - the 100th match, 100th century, 100th duck, 100th five-for, and the like, across all formats. Incidentally, did you know that Lord's was only the fifth Test venue - after the MCG, The Oval, the SCG and Old Trafford - and its first match was only in 1884.

We already know that Sophia Gardens was the 100th in Tests. Australia were the first to play at the 99th as well - the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in 2008, an outstanding facility unfortunately located in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Nagpur.

The 100th ODI venue - and the first one in South Africa - was Newlands in Cape Town. India, the first team to tour South Africa after their readmission into the cricketing fraternity, played there in 1992 and lost by six wickets.

We haven't got anywhere near the 100th Twenty20 venue yet. Trent Bridge, when it hosted Bangladesh against India in the World Twenty20, was only the 29th Twenty20 international venue.

Trent Bridge, however, did host the 100th Twenty20 international during the World Twenty20. It was between Sri Lanka and West Indies, and Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya cracked half-centuries in a 15-run victory.

The 100th Test was the fifth and final one of the 1907-08 Ashes. Victor Trumper scored 166 in the second innings at the SCG to help Australia recover from a large first-innings deficit and win the Test by 49 runs. The hosts took the series 4-1.

The SCG also hosted the 100th one-day international, between Australia and India during the World Series Cup in 1980-81. It wasn't as exciting as the 100th Test though for Allan Border scored a century and Australia won by nine wickets.

The 100th Test century came in the 105th Test , between England and Australia at The Oval in 1909. Warren Bardsley scored Nos. 99 and 101 in Australia's first and second innings but Jack Sharp, who was picked by England for only three Tests but also played for Aston Villa, squeezed in the 100th - 105 in only 170 minutes - during the drawn match. The game is most remembered, however, for the out-of-the-blue selection of 37-year-old Douglas Carr.

Gordon Greenidge scored the 100th century in ODIs, against Australia at the WACA in 1987. West Indies made 255 and Australia were shot out for 91 by a hostile attack which sent down an unrelenting volley of short balls.

No one has managed to go where Chris Gayle has in Twenty20 internationals so far. Gayle is the sole centurion in the shortest format, having blitzed 117 off 57 balls against South Africa in Johannesburg.

The 100th duck in Test cricket was the Greek scholar Percy McDonnell who captained Australia in the SCG Test against England in 1887. He was lbw to Billy Barnes for 0 in the second innings, one of six ducks in the match. This game appeared in last week's column as well; for England's 45 was the lowest first-innings score from which a side has gone on to win a Test.

By a strange and rather pointless quirk of fate, the 100th duck in ODIs also came in a match where the team batting first was skittled for 45. It was Robert Callender, bowled by Bob Willis, the ninth wicket to fall in Canada's collapse against England in the 1979 World Cup.

The Twenty20 format is too new to have an entry in most 100th categories but it does have a 100th duck - Scotland's Neil McCallum, dismissed first ball by Ryan ten Doeschate against Netherlands in Belfast in 2008.

The 100th five-for in Tests came in only the 48th match when South African spinner George Rowe took 5 for 115 against England at the Old Wanderers in 1896, a game the hosts lost by an innings and 197 runs. George Lohmann took his 100th wicket in the Test (he remains the quickest to reach the landmark) and his 9 for 28 was the first time a bowler had taken nine in an innings.

Do you remember Charlie Lock? He played one Test and eight ODIs for Zimbabwe, including all of their games in the 1996 World Cup. He scored only eight runs in ODIs and took eight wickets as well, five of which came in the space five runs and 11 balls against New Zealand at McLean Park in February 1996. Lock's 5 for 44 was the best ODI figures by a Zimbabwean at the time, it was also the 100th five-for in one-day cricket.

The 100th ten-wicket haul in Tests was taken during an England-South Africa contest as well, at The Oval, in 1951. Jim Laker spun England to a four-wicket win by taking 4 for 64 and 6 for 55 in each South African innings. Wisden reported that Laker was "unafraid to pitch the ball well up to the batsmen, and attacked them persistently." During England's run-chase, Len Hutton became the first batsmen to be given out for obstructing the field.