Tiny totals despite two centuries

South Africa were sitting pretty midway through the first day of the ongoing Eden Gardens Test. Hashim Amla and the debutant Alviro Petersen had scored their hundreds, shared a double-century partnership, and the score was 218 for 1 in a match India needed to win to level the series. And then the Kolkata collapse began, and nine wickets tumbled for 78. A reader wrote in asking if South Africa's 296 was the lowest total to include two centuries. It isn't, but it's among the lowest…

There have been two instances of a team being dismissed for a total lower than 296 despite having two centurions in the innings. New Zealand were reeling at 60 for 6 against India at Seddon Park in 2009 when Daniel Vettori joined Jesse Ryder. Both batsmen scored hundreds, leading New Zealand to 246 before Vettori fell, after which the tail collapsed to 279 all out. The second lowest such total is Australia's 284 in the first innings at the Gabba in 1968. Ian Redpath had fallen for a duck, and Ian Chappell had joined Bill Lawry with the score on 0. They added 217 - Chappell making 117, Lawry 105 - before the collapse. Lance Gibbs worked through the middle and lower order, dismissing Australia for 284.

Most of the other lowest totals with two centuries, in the table below, involve declarations or successful run-chases. The 1000th Test was a rather remarkable one. The momentum ebbed and flowed from Pakistan to New Zealand at the Niaz Stadium in 1984 and the match entered its final innings with the hosts needing 230 to win. They lost two wickets with the score on 14 before Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad scored centuries to secure victory. Miandad's 103 made him Pakistan's leading century-scorer with 13.

Lowest team score to include two hundreds - Tests

Team	Score	Inns		Result	Opposition	Ground	Start Date	Scorecard
Pakistan	230/3	4		won	v New Zealand	Hyderabad (Sind)	Nov 25, 1984	Test 1000
Mudassar Nazar 106, Javed Miandad 103*
India	249/2	4		drawn	v New Zealand	Hamilton	Jan 2, 1999	Test 1438
R Dravid 103*, SC Ganguly 101*
West Indies	250/0	4		drawn	v Australia	Georgetown	Mar 2, 1984	Test 979
CG Greenidge 120*, DL Haynes 103*
Australia	255/4d	3		won	v India	Melbourne	Jan 1, 1948	Test 292
AR Morris 100*, DG Bradman 127*
Australia	259/2	3		drawn	v South Africa	Johannesburg	Feb 10, 1950	Test 321
J Moroney 101*, RN Harvey 100
England	264/1	3		drawn	v South Africa	The Oval	Aug 17, 1929	Test 185
H Sutcliffe 109*, WR Hammond 101*
England	267/2d	2		won	v New Zealand	Leeds	Jul 3, 1958	Test 456
CA Milton 104*, PBH May 113*
New Zealand	279	1		lost	v India	Hamilton	Mar 18, 2009	Test 1915
JD Ryder 102, DL Vettori 118
Australia	283/2d	3		won	v West Indies	Brisbane	Nov 3, 2005	Test 1769
ML Hayden 118, RT Ponting 104*
Australia	284	2		lost	v West Indies	Brisbane	Dec 6, 1968	Test 642
WM Lawry 105, IM Chappell 117
Australia	289/4d	3		won	v England	Sydney	Jan 4, 1975	Test 751
IR Redpath 105, GS Chappell 144
England	291/4d	3		drawn	v South Africa	Johannesburg	Dec 24, 1938	Test 267
PA Gibb 106, E Paynter 100
South Africa	296/6d	3		drawn	v England	Centurion	Jan 21, 2005	Test 1736
AB de Villiers 109, JH Kallis 136*
Australia	300/2d	3		drawn	v West Indies	Bridgetown	Mar 9, 1973	Test 716
IM Chappell 106*, KD Walters 102*
England	301/6d	3		won	v India	Lord's	Jul 25, 2002	Test 1610
MP Vaughan 100, JP Crawley 100*
Zimbabwe	302/4d	3		drawn	v Pakistan	Bulawayo	Mar 14, 1998	Test 1408
MW Goodwin 166*, A Flower 100*
South Africa	305/4d	3		drawn	v Pakistan	Lahore	Oct 8, 2007	Test 1844
GC Smith 133, JH Kallis 107*
Sri Lanka	307/7	4		drawn	v India	Kandy	Sep 14, 1985	Test 1025
RL Dias 106, LRD Mendis 124
Australia	307/4d	3		won	v South Africa	Durban	Mar 24, 2006	Test 1792
ML Hayden 102, RT Ponting 116
West Indies	307/3d	3		drawn	v India	Georgetown	Mar 19, 1971	Test 684
CA Davis 125*, GS Sobers 108*

We looked only at innings in which a team was dismissed to determine the lowest totals to contain a partnership of 200. New Zealand collapsed for 138 in the first innings in Jamaica in 1985, allowing West Indies to enforce the follow-on. Faced with the danger of an innings defeat, Geoff Howarth and Jeff Crowe added 210 runs for the second wicket - a New Zealand record at the time - and nearly wiped out the deficit. However, both batsmen fell on the same score - 223 - and the innings collapsed for 283, leaving West Indies with only 59 to chase.

Only once has a team lost a Test after their openers added more than 200 in the first innings of a match. West Indies managed to do so at Seddon Park in 1999. Adrian Griffith and Sherwin Campbell added 276 after Brian Lara chose to bat - the best partnership for West Indian openers other than Messrs Greenidge and Haynes - but their nine team-mates managed only 81 between them. They were dismissed for 365 in the first innings, and a collapse for 97 in the second left New Zealand with an easy chase.

Lowest team score with a partnership of 200 - Tests (qualification: all out)

Partners	Runs	Wkt	Score	Inns	Result	Opposition	Ground	Start Date	Scorecard
JJ Crowe, GP Howarth (NZ)	210	2	283	3	lost	v West Indies	Kingston	May 4, 1985	Test 1016
IM Chappell, WM Lawry (Aus)	217	2	284	2	lost	v West Indies	Brisbane	Dec 6, 1968	Test 642
Abdul Razzaq, Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)	206	6	288	1	drawn	v West Indies	Georgetown	May 5, 2000	Test 1494
VS Hazare, VL Manjrekar (India)	222	4	293	1	lost	v England	Leeds	Jun 5, 1952	Test 351
Junaid Siddique, Tamim Iqbal (Ban)	200	2	312	3	lost	v India	Dhaka	Jan 24, 2010	Test 1950
H Sutcliffe, GE Tyldesley (Eng)	230	2	313	2	won	v South Africa	Johannesburg	Dec 24, 1927	Test 168
Fawad Alam, Younis Khan (Pak)	200	2	320	3	lost	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (PSS)	Jul 12, 2009	Test 1924
BC Lara, RR Sarwan (WI)	209	3	336	2	lost	v England	Birmingham	Jul 29, 2004	Test 1708
MD Crowe, BA Edgar (NZ)	210	3	342	2	drawn	v England	Lord's	Jul 24, 1986	Test 1049
SE Gregory, GHS Trott (Aus)	221	4	347	3	lost	v England	Lord's	Jun 22, 1896	Test 50
Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Ahmed (Pak)	246	2	350	1	drawn	v India	Mumbai (BS)	Dec 2, 1960	Test 497
GP Thorpe, MP Vaughan (Eng)	267	3	357	2	lost	v Pakistan	Manchester	May 31, 2001	Test 1547
M Azharuddin, SR Tendulkar (India)	222	6	359	2	lost	v South Africa	Cape Town	Jan 2, 1997	Test 1349
G Boycott, APE Knott (Eng)	215	6	364	2	won	v Australia	Nottingham	Jul 28, 1977	Test 806
SL Campbell, AFG Griffith (WI)	276	1	365	1	lost	v New Zealand	Hamilton	Dec 16, 1999	Test 1477
KF Barrington, TW Graveney (Eng)	201	3	369	1	drawn	v Pakistan	Lord's	Jul 27, 1967	Test 621
IM Barrow, GA Headley (WI)	200	2	375	1	drawn	v England	Manchester	Jul 22, 1933	Test 228
SM Katich, JL Langer (Aus)	218	6	375	3	won	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	Mar 24, 2004	Test 1691
VS Hazare, MH Mankad (India)	211	3	378	3	lost	v England	Lord's	Jun 19, 1952	Test 352
V Sehwag, SR Tendulkar (India)	220	5	379	1	lost	v South Africa	Bloemfontein	Nov 3, 2001	Test 1564

No team has lost a Test after three batsmen scored centuries in the same innings. And only once has a team ended on a total less than 400 after three batsmen celebrated hundreds, although it was because of declaration rather than dismissal. South Africa were following on at Lord's in 2008, having conceded a first-innings lead of 346, with more than two days to survive. Graeme Smith scored 107, Neil McKenzie used up 447 deliveries for 138 runs, and Amla contributed an unbeaten 104. They ended on 393 and only three wickets had fallen in 167 overs.

Lowest team score to include three hundreds - Tests

Team	Score	Inns		Result	Opposition	Ground	Start Date	Scorecard
South Africa	393/3d	3		drawn	v England	Lord's	Jul 10, 2008	Test 1880
GC Smith 107, ND McKenzie 138, HM Amla 104*
England	416/4d	1		won	v New Zealand	The Oval	Jul 29, 1931	Test 210
H Sutcliffe 117, KS Duleepsinhji 109, WR Hammond 100*
England	446/6d	3		won	v New Zealand	The Oval	Jul 14, 1983	Test 957
G Fowler 105, CJ Tavare 109, AJ Lamb 102*
West Indies	447/5d	3		drawn	v New Zealand	Christchurch	Feb 22, 1980	Test 875
DL Haynes 122, LG Rowe 100, CL King 100*
South Africa	482/5d	2		won	v Bangladesh	Potchefstroom	Oct 25, 2002	Test 1621
HH Gibbs 114, G Kirsten 160, JH Kallis 139*
Australia	486/9d	1		drawn	v New Zealand	Brisbane	Nov 8, 2001	Test 1565
JL Langer 104, ML Hayden 136, AC Gilchrist 118
Australia	494	1		drawn	v England	Leeds	Jul 10, 1926	Test 165
WM Woodfull 141, CG Macartney 151, AJ Richardson 100
New Zealand	496/9d	1		drawn	v England	Auckland	Feb 10, 1984	Test 977
JG Wright 130, JJ Crowe 128, IDS Smith 113*
West Indies	497	2		drawn	v India	Kolkata	Oct 30, 2002	Test 1622
WW Hinds 100, S Chanderpaul 140, MN Samuels 104
England	497/5	3		drawn	v India	Kanpur	Dec 1, 1961	Test 514
G Pullar 119, KF Barrington 172, ER Dexter 126*
India	498/4d	1		drawn	v New Zealand	Hyderabad (Deccan)	Nov 19, 1955	Test 416
PR Umrigar 223, VL Manjrekar 118, AG Kripal Singh 100*
India	510/7d	1		drawn	v Australia	Delhi	Oct 13, 1979	Test 858
SM Gavaskar 115, GR Viswanath 131, Yashpal Sharma 100*
Australia	512/8d	3		won	v Sri Lanka	Galle	Mar 8, 2004	Test 1685
ML Hayden 130, DR Martyn 110, DS Lehmann 129
South Africa	513/8d	1		drawn	v England	Cape Town	Jan 1, 1931	Test 202
B Mitchell 123, IJ Siedle 141, HW Taylor 117
Australia	513/5d	3		won	v Sri Lanka	Hobart	Dec 16, 1989	Test 1133
MA Taylor 108, DM Jones 118*, SR Waugh 134*
India	517/5d	2		drawn	v Australia	Mumbai	Oct 15, 1986	Test 1054
SM Gavaskar 103, DB Vengsarkar 164*, RJ Shastri 121*
England	519	1		drawn	v India	Manchester	Aug 9, 1990	Test 1149
GA Gooch 116, MA Atherton 131, RA Smith 121*
South Africa	521/8d	2		won	v England	Manchester	Jul 7, 1955	Test 410
DJ McGlew 104*, JHB Waite 113, PL Winslow 108
England	524	2		won	v Australia	Sydney	Dec 2, 1932	Test 220
H Sutcliffe 194, WR Hammond 112, Nawab of Pataudi snr 102
Australia	527/5d	3		won	v England	Perth	Dec 14, 2006	Test 1821
MEK Hussey 103, MJ Clarke 135*, AC Gilchrist 102*

The lowest team score to contain a partnership of more than 300 is West Indies' 431 against Australia at Sabina Park in 1999. Steve Waugh had led his team to 256, after which Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie cut through the West Indian top-order, reducing them to 56 for 4, with nightwatchman Pedro Collins retired hurt. Lara rallied with 213, Jimmy Adams dug in for 94, and they added 322. Australia were then dismissed for 177, leaving West Indies' openers only 3 to knock off.

Losing a Test after two batsmen share a 300-plus partnership is a rare occurrence. It has happened only twice, and by coincidence, both matches were within a few months of each other. Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan added 363 runs for the third wicket at Headingley in August 2006, giving Pakistan a slender lead after England had scored 515. However, after they were set 323 to win, Pakistan collapsed for 171 in the final innings. In December that year, Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen added 310 for the fourth wicket in Adelaide but Australia still won by six wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the Ashes.

Lowest team score with a partnership of 300 - Tests (qualification: all out)

Partners	Runs	Wkt	Score	Inns	Result	Opposition	Ground	Start Date	Scorecard
JC Adams, BC Lara (WI)	322	5	431	2	won	v Australia	Kingston	Mar 13, 1999	Test 1451
JL Langer, RT Ponting (Aus)	327	5	451	2	won	v Pakistan	Perth	Nov 26, 1999	Test 1472
R Dravid, G Gambhir (India)	314	2	453	1	drawn	v England	Mohali	Dec 19, 2008	Test 1901
GA Gooch, DI Gower (Eng)	351	2	464	1	won	v Australia	The Oval	Aug 29, 1985	Test 1022
Aamer Sohail, Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)	323	3	471	2	won	v West Indies	Rawalpindi	Nov 29, 1997	Test 1389
AI Kallicharran, IVA Richards (WI)	303	3	494	1	drawn	v England	Nottingham	Jun 3, 1976	Test 777
IVA Richards, RB Richardson (WI)	308	3	498	2	won	v Australia	St John's	Apr 7, 1984	Test 987
DS Atkinson, CC Depeiaza (WI)	347	7	510	2	drawn	v Australia	Bridgetown	May 14, 1955	Test 406
R Dravid, VVS Laxman (India)	303	5	523	2	won	v Australia	Adelaide	Dec 12, 2003	Test 1673
A Melville, AD Nourse (SA)	319	3	533	1	drawn	v England	Nottingham	Jun 7, 1947	Test 285
Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan (Pak)	363	3	538	2	lost	v England	Leeds	Aug 4, 2006	Test 1813
Saqlain Mushtaq, Wasim Akram (Pak)	313	8	553	2	drawn	v Zimbabwe	Sheikhupura	Oct 17, 1996	Test 1336
Imtiaz Ahmed, Waqar Hasan (Pak)	308	7	561	2	won	v New Zealand	Lahore	Oct 26, 1955	Test 414
DG Bradman, JHW Fingleton (Aus)	346	6	564	3	won	v England	Melbourne	Jan 1, 1937	Test 257
Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan (Pak)	324	3	570	1	won	v India	Bangalore	Mar 24, 2005	Test 1743
DG Bradman, WH Ponsford (Aus)	388	4	584	2	drawn	v England	Leeds	Jul 20, 1934	Test 236
JB Hobbs, W Rhodes (Eng)	323	1	589	2	won	v Australia	Melbourne	Feb 9, 1912	Test 119
MA Atherton, RA Smith (Eng)	303	3	593	2	drawn	v West Indies	St John's	Apr 16, 1994	Test 1259
Ijaz Ahmed, Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)	352	3	594	2	won	v Sri Lanka	Dhaka	Mar 12, 1999	Test 1450
EJ Barlow, RG Pollock (SA)	341	3	595	2	won	v Australia	Adelaide	Jan 24, 1964	Test 553

The lowest total with a team having four centuries in an innings is New Zealand's 534 for 9 declared at the WACA in 2001. Lou Vincent, Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle and Adam Parore made hundreds. No one else got into double figures.

The smallest team score to include a hundred is Pakistan's 135 for 1 in a draw against India in Lahore 1982. Mohsin Khan made 101 not out.

John Reid's 100 out of a total of 159 against England in Christchurch 1963 is the smallest innings score to contain a hundred, where a team has been dismissed.