Retiring twice in an innings, and Fazal's unfortunate 98
This week, we look at players who've retired unwell or hurt
Travis Basevi and George Binoy
06-Jun-2007
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There were two Tests played during the last week of May in extremely contrasting conditions. India took on Bangladesh at Mirpur where the temperature was around 35 degrees Celsius and the humidity above 90%. At Leeds, West Indies froze against England where the mercury dropped to 7 degrees on the final day. In Mirpur, Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik, the openers, both retired ill after scoring 138 and 82 respectively. Mashrafe Mortaza and Syed Rasel also suffered fitness problems. At Leeds, Ramnaresh Sarwan fell hard on his shoulder while fielding, damaged his collarbone, and played no further part in the Test. This week, we look at players who've retired unwell or hurt.
Dilip Vengsarkar retired hurt in six innings, the most number of times in Test cricket. However, these numbers includes the four instances when he came back to bat after recuperating in the dressing-room.
Geoffrey Boycott retired four times in his Test career but curiously two of those instances came in the same innings. Boycott sustained bruised ribs against West Indies at Edgbaston in 1973 and had to retire on 54. He came back out with the total on 249 for 6 and immediately headed back for treatment after Vanburn Holder hit him on the arm with the first ball. The only other instance of a batsman retiring twice in the same innings is Bert Sutcliffe retiring on 3 and 4 against England at Edgbaston in 1965 after Fred Trueman hit him on the ear.
| Player | Span | Inns | Num | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DB Vengsarkar (India) | 1976-1992 | 185 | 6 | 3.24 | |
| WM Lawry (Aus) | 1961-1971 | 123 | 4 | 3.25 | |
| G Boycott (Eng) | 1964-1982 | 193 | 4 | 2.07 | |
| B Sutcliffe (NZ) | 1947-1965 | 76 | 3 | 3.95 | |
| KF Barrington (Eng) | 1955-1968 | 131 | 3 | 2.29 | |
| NC O'Neill (Aus) | 1958-1965 | 69 | 3 | 4.35 | |
| M Amarnath (India) | 1969-1988 | 113 | 3 | 2.65 | |
| CG Greenidge (WI) | 1974-1991 | 185 | 3 | 1.62 | |
| DL Haynes (WI) | 1978-1994 | 202 | 3 | 1.49 | |
| SR Waugh (Aus) | 1985-2004 | 260 | 3 | 1.15 | |
| N Hussain (Eng) | 1990-2004 | 171 | 3 | 1.75 | |
Click here for the full tables.
The Sydney Test between West Indies and Australia in 1975-76 contains the highest number of batsmen retiring hurt in an innings. Jeff Thomson broke Bernard Julien's thumb but he resumed batting with one hand on the second day; Michael Holding retired overnight after being hit by Greg Chappell off the last ball of the first day. Earlier Clive Lloyd had retired after being hit on the jaw but returned with the score on 233.
No one has retired after scoring a double century and only Inzamam-ul-Haq has returned after retiring hurt and gone out to score a double hundred, in the final of the Asian Test Championship in Dhaka in 1999.
In 1948, Denis Compton made a total of 145 after retiring hurt on 4 against Australia at Manchester, the most runs added by a batsman after resuming his innings. Four players in total have added a hundred runs after returning.
| Player | Retire | Final | Runs | Opposition | Ground | Season | Scorecard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCS Compton (Eng) | 4 | 145* | 141 | v Australia | Manchester | 1948 | |
| SM Gavaskar (India) | 39 | 166* | 127 | ||||
| PJL Dujon (WI) | 35 | 139 | 104 | v Australia | Perth | 1984/85 | |
| M Azharuddin (India) | 6 | 109 | 103 | ||||
| GP Thorpe (Eng) | 5 | 103 | 98 | v West Indies | Bridgetown | 1997/98 | |
| CH Gayle (WI) | 14 | 107 | 93 | ||||
| Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) | 8 | 95 | 87 | v England | The Oval | 2006 | |
| MD Crowe (NZ) | 51 | 137 | 86 | ||||
| B Sutcliffe (NZ) | 0 | 80* | 80 | v South Africa | Johannesburg | 1953/54 |
Click here for the full tables.
Roshan Mahanama's seven retired hurts are the most for a batsman in one-day internationals but the highest frequency belongs to Graeme Wood, who retired hurt four times in 77 innings.
Inzamam and Steve Waugh are the only names to appear in both the Test and ODI tables for the most retired hurts in a career. Inzamam retired five times in Tests and three times in ODIs while Waugh retired three times in each form.
| Player | Span | Inns | Num | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RS Mahanama (SL) | 1986-1999 | 198 | 7 | 3.54 | |
| ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL) | 1989-2007 | 381 | 6 | 1.57 | |
| SC Ganguly (Asia/India) | 1992-2007 | 279 | 5 | 1.79 | |
| GM Wood (Aus) | 1978-1989 | 77 | 4 | 5.19 | |
| Inzamam-ul-Haq (Asia/Pak) | 1991-2007 | 350 | 4 | 1.14 | |
| SR Waugh (Aus) | 1986-2002 | 288 | 3 | 1.04 | |
| BC Lara (ICC/WI) | 1990-2007 | 289 | 3 | 1.04 |
Click here for the full tables.
Only one batsman has retired after scoring a century in a one-day international. Herschelle Gibbs, batting on 116, was steering South Africa towards a comfortable victory against India in the Champions Trophy semi-final in 2002. With 70 runs needed off 78 balls, a dehydrated Gibbs went off the field after which the Indian spinners smothered South Africa and clinched victory by 10 runs.
Pakistan's Zahid Fazal got within two runs of his maiden ODI century against India at Sharjah in 1991 but severe cramps prevented him from staying on for a hundred. He had to go off the field and 98 remained his highest score in ODIs.
| Player | Retire | Final | Opposition | Ground | Season | Scorecard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HH Gibbs (SA) | 116 | |||||
| Zahid Fazal (Pak) | 98 | - | v India | Sharjah | 1991/92 | ODI 685 |
| RS Mahanama (SL) | 92 | - | ||||
| BC Lara (WI) | ||||||
| A Jadeja (India) | 88 | - | v Zimbabwe | Singapore | 1999 | ODI 1493 |
| ST Jayasuriya (SL) | 83 | 109 | ||||
| KO Otieno (Kenya) | ||||||
| AJ Strauss (Eng) | 74 | - | v India | Jamshedpur | 2005/06 | ODI 2361 |
| GC Smith (SA) | 72 | 74 | ||||
| DJ Cullinan (SA) |
Click here for the full tables.
If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.
Travis Basevi is the man who built Statsguru. George Binoy is an editorial assistant on Cricinfo