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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If there's a particular List you would like to see, email us with your comments and suggestions.