Lawrence Rowe - the Windies great batsman

By A.C. De Silva

CRICKET: To score a century in one's first Test is a great achievement. But when a player scores a century in both innings of his first ever Test match, it is no doubt a time for celebration. And so it was for West Indian player Lawrence Rowe in his first ever Test against New Zealand on his home ground at Sabina Park, Kingston in February 1972.

Rowe, was 23 years of age then. A right-handed aggressive batsman, he scored 214 runs and followed it up with 100 not out. His aggregate of 314 runs in his first Test paved the way for an illustrious way ahead for him in his Test cricket career.

Born on January 8th 1949, Lawrence George Rowe was a star batsman in the West Indies line-up. There was not a single stroke that he could not execute. He rarely lifted the red cherry off the grass, a sign of a truly great batsman.

It was difficult to set a field for him when the mood seized him; he would look impregnable when in his element.

There was one other batsman to exceed 300 on debut and he was R.E. "Tip' Foster who scored 287 and 19 for England against Australia at Sydney in December 1903.

To score boundaries is any batsman's dream in Test cricket. The more boundaries a batsman scores, the more confidence he becomes in his batting. The most boundaries in an individual Test innings - and the only instance of over 50 being struck - 57 by John Edrich during his score of 310 not out for England against New Zealand at Headingley, Leeds on July 8 and 9 in 1965.

Edrich hit 5 sixes and 52 fours during an innings lasting 532 minutes.

It remains England's only triple century since 1938 and the highest first-class score by an Englishman at Headingley.

Patil 24 runs in one over

To score as many boundaries in an over will, no doubt, be the expectation of the attacking batsman. In India there was a batsman by the name of Sandeep Patil, who in the second Test against England at Manchester on June 27 in 1982 got to the landmark.

Facing the bowling of Bob Willis - England's captain, Patil began the over with 3 successive fours, the third delivery being a no-ball. He failed to score off the next ball - a yorker, but hit fours off each of the last three balls.

Patil thus equalled the Test record for the most runs by one batsman off an over (24) set by Andy Roberts for the West Indies at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, on February 15th 1981.

Roberts, the first Antiguan to represent West Indies, struck 4,6,2,6,6 off the bowling of another England captain - Ian Botham, before taking a leg-bye off the last ball.

Botham subsequently exacted his revenge by equalling this record during his innings of 59 not out for England against New Zealand at the Oval on 25th August 1986. He savaged the medium-fast bowling of Derek Stirling for 4,6,4,6,0,4.

Jaisimha's slow batting

All elegant batsmen try to score as many runs as possible on a dry day with the wicket helping the batsman to pile on the runs. However, there was a time in the 1960s when India and Pakistan were involved in hot battles. There was a period of play when run-making became somewhat difficult. On an uninterrupted day of Test cricket, M. L. Jaisimha made 49 on December 18 in 1960.

Playing for India against Pakistan at Green Park, Kanpur, the Hyderabad all-rounder took his score from 5 to 54 in 330 minutes. After batting for 8 hours 20 minutes and spending nearly an hour in the nineties, he attempted to run a single from a push back to the bowler and was run out for 99.

In the game of cricket there are many records. To be not out and pile on the runs will be any batsman's wish. Well, the record for being not out most times in a test career is held, perhaps not surprisingly, by a late-order-batsman-Bob Willis.

Willis not out 55 times

In 128 innings between January 1971 and July 1984, the England fast bowler Willis was not out 55 times.

Equally predictably, another tail-ender Bhagwat Chandrasekhar claimed the most pair of 'ducks' in Test cricket. The Indian spin bowler was dismissed twice in a match without scoring on 4 occasions by New Zealand at Wellington in February 1976, then by England for the same number of times in Delhi 1976 and by Australia at Brisbane and Melbourne in the 1977-78 rubber.

Fielding records

In cricket, their is a saying that catches win matches. It is quite pleasing to the eye when a fielder takes a good catch to dismiss a batsman. The most catches taken by a none-wicket-keeper in a Test career is 122 Greg Chappell in 87 matches for Australia between December 1970 and January 1984.

Chappell gained the record in his final Test against Pakistan at Sydney again on 5th January 1984, when he held his 121st catch (Mohsin Khan at second slip) to overtake the total which Colin Cowdrey had achieved in 114 matches for England between 1954 and 1975.