Recovering from a pair

Tim McIntosh did something rare during New Zealand's ongoing tour of India. He made a pair in the first Test in Ahmedabad, and a century in his next innings, during the second Test in Hyderabad. Only 11 batsmen had done it before him - bounced back from a pair in one Test by scoring a hundred in their next innings. This week's List is about them, and others who performed impressively before and after making a pair.

The table below, which contains batsmen with the highest score in an innings immediately following a pair, has another entry featuring Ahmedabad's Motera. Gus Logie made a pair there in November 1983: he fell first ball to Maninder Singh in the first innings, and was one of Kapil Dev's nine wickets in the second. Logie missed West Indies' next four Tests and only played against Australia in Trinidad, in March 1984, because Clive Lloyd pulled a hamstring. Logie took his chance there and scored 97. He came down with flu on the eve of the next Test, though, and missed West Indies' next 13 Tests.

Ravi Bopara had to wait longer than Logie did to bounce back from a pair - 15 Tests. Bopara was out for ducks in both innings in his third Test, in Galle in December 2007, and didn't get another opportunity for more than a year. The recall came out of the blue, when Bopara was in New Zealand with England Lions, and Andrew Flintoff injured himself on the tour of the West Indies in 2008-09. Bopara was flown in and made 104 in his first innings for England, after a 41-hour journey. He made centuries in his next two innings as well - against West Indies at Lord's and Chester-le-Street.

Ricky Ponting and Everton Weekes have got close, scoring 197 in the innings after a pair, but only one batsman has made a double-century after bagging two ducks in a Test - Clifford Roach, a West Indian batsman from the pre-World War II era. Roach fell without scoring to Bill Voce in both innings of the Trinidad Test in 1930 but made 209 in the next game at Bourda. Roach made 22 in the second innings of that Test and his aggregate of 231 in the match is the highest for anyone in a Test immediately after a pair.

Sri Lanka's Chamara Silva is one of 37 people to have made a pair on Test debut. Unlike most of his companions, though, Silva came back rather strongly. After making ducks in both innings in Christchurch, Silva made 61 and 152 at Basin Reserve to help Sri Lanka draw the two-Test tour of New Zealand in 2006-07. His aggregate of 213 is second to Roach's 231 in a match immediately following a pair.

Roach also appears in tables for batsmen with the most runs in an innings and match immediately preceding a pair, for just before his ducks in Trinidad, he had performed impressively, scoring 122 and 77 in Barbados.

Dilip Vengsarkar also sandwiched a pair between two centuries during India's home series against West Indies in 1979-80. He made an unbeaten 157 in a draw in Kolkata, 0 and 0 in a three-wicket win in Chennai and 109 in another draw , in Delhi.

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