When 11 centurions all made double-figures
Scorecard Series number 4
I am sufficiently far removed from the ‘real world’ these days that I don’t know whether ‘synergy’ is still a buzzword. I remember the days when businesses would ‘optimise their synergies’ and other presumably deeply meaningful business-speak. But whether or not this is still the case is neither here nor there. This post is about an example of two cricket stats coming together in beautiful synergy.
All Eleven Batters Reaching Double-figures is one stat that generates a bit of excitement. While it doesn’t happen often it is not extremely rare. All told there are 150 instances in first-class cricket when eleven batters each made at least 10 in an innings. This is roughly one every 400 matches. The most impressive example of this genre is when Yorkshire made 515 against Leicestershire at the old ground in Lecester, Aylestone Road, where all eleven made at least 22. There are three other instances in first-class cricket where all eleven reached at least 20.
All Eleven In a Team With A Century is another stat that comes up occasionally. As you may imagine it is quite rare for a team to have all eleven players with a first-class century. This has happened 207 times in first-class cricket. So it is a bit more common than ‘All Eleven Batters Reaching Double-figures’ at roughly once every 300 matches. The best of the more extreme examples of this stat is the three occasions when nine players had a first-class double-century. Perhaps not surprisingly, these all happened for ‘select’ XIs: Players v Gentlemen at Scarborough in 1921, MCC v CI Thornton’s XI at Scarborough in 1925 and The Rest v Lancashire at The Oval in 1928.
But the most fun with these stats is the only match when all eleven players had first-class centuries and all eleven scored double-figures in the innings, a true optimisation of synergies. Here is the match:
https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/63/63510.html or
The Natal XI contained nine current or future international players and had the likes of Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock and Pat Symcox in the bowling attack. They all had first-class hundreds, and they all made double-figures in Natal’s first innings. The match started on 14 February 1997, so St Valentine may regard this as an example of true love for cricket stats anoraks. As is often the case, this needs a footnote. Eleven of the Western India States team that played Rest of India at Poona in 1942 made double-figures and eleven of the team had a first-class century, but it was a 12-a-side match. Only 10 of the 11 who batted had a first-class century at the time.
See here:
https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17350.html or
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