THE 3 500th hundred in the history of Test cricket was made this week when Sri Lanka’s Thilan Samaraweera made 102 against South Africa at Durban in the 2 025th Test match. The first Test hundred was made by Australia’s Charles Bannerman against England in the first-ever Test match played at Melbourne in 1877. The distribution of the 3 500 Test hundreds is acutely skewed towards single hundreds.
There are 3 191 of them (approximately 91% of all hundreds), 285 double hundreds (just over 8%), 23 triple hundreds (less than 1%) and one quadruple hundred.
This article celebrates some of the memorable ones. It cannot be all-encompassing because selecting a ‘memorable’ hundred involves a fair degree of subjective judgement. With that caveat in mind, let’s start batting.

PRE-WORLD WAR I
There were three Test nations prior to World War I: Australia (1877), England (1877) and South Africa (1889) and their batsmen provided the memories to savour prior to World War I (1914-1918).
Bannerman’s pioneering effort – 165 retired hurt – still represents the highest percentage of runs scored in a team’s innings: 67%. His remarkable feat has endured some 2 025 Test matches over 134 years.
Billy Murdoch breached the realm of the double hundred when he made 211 for Australia against England at the Oval in 1884.
Kumar Ranjitsinghi, the Indian prince who enjoyed the grand title of His Highness The Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, made a sparkling 154 not out on Test debut for England against Australia at Old Trafford in 1896.
Gilbert Jessop scored a magical 102 in 75 minutes for England against Australia at the Oval in 1902. ‘The Croucher’, as he was referred to because of his low stance, bludgeoned a strong Australian attack to set up an improbable victory for England against its ‘old enemy’.
Victor Trumper scored a breath-taking 104 for Australia against England at Old Trafford in 1902, of which a 103 were made before lunch on the first day of the match; a feat emulated by only three others:
Charlie Macartney of Australia in 1921, Don Bradman of Australia in 1930, Majid Khan of Pakistan in 1977.

BETWEEN THE WARS 1919 – 1939
The arsenal of Test hundreds was further enhanced during the inter-war years when West Indies (1928), New Zealand (1930) India (1932) became Test nations. Clifford Roach made 209, the first double by a West Indian, against England at Georgetown in 1930.
He scored an astonishing 122 during the final session of the first day’s play. It led to West Indies first-ever Test win and overshadowed a hundred in each innings by his colleague George Headley (114 and 112).
In the same series Andy Sandham of England made the first-ever triple century (325) while batting with a pair of oversized boots.
Of the 2 679 Test cricketers to date, only nineteen other batsmen have scored a triple-century; Don Bradman of Australia (334 and 304), Brian Lara of the West Indies (375 and 400 not out), Virender Sehwag of India (309 and 319) and Christopher Gayle of the West Indies (317 and 333) doing so twice.
Bradman put England to the sword by scoring 334 at Leeds in 1930. During that memorable innings he scored a still record 309 runs in one day: 105 before lunch, 115 between lunch and tea and 89 in the final session.
He regarded his 254 at Lord’s in the previous Test as his finest effort although many historians opt for his 237 on a gluepot of a pitch at Melbourne in 1937. Indeed, several of Bradman’s 29 Test hundreds scored in his 52 Test appearances are quite memorable. 
Stan McCabe’s 232 for Australia against England at Trent Bridge in 1938 is memorable for a unique reason.
Bradman beckoned some of his teammates onto the players’ balcony and told them, “Don’t miss this. It’s the best batting you will ever see.” High praises, indeed. It must have been a truly special innings by McCabe.
Bradman’s arch-rival Walter Hammond made a majestic 240 for England against Australia at Lord’s in 1938. His trademark cover drives remain among the finest the game has ever seen.
The following year, Headley established a historic landmark at the spiritual ‘Home of Cricket’ when he scored a hundred in each innings: 106 and 107. Unfortunately for Bradman and Headley, the advent of World War II interrupted their careers when they were in their prime and it is interesting to muse at the possibilities lost.

THE POST WAR YEARS (1945 – 1969)
The post-war years witnessed an array of everlasting hundreds. Pakistan became a Test nation in 1952.
Andy Ganteaume scored a unique hundred for West Indies against England at Port of Spain in 1948: he batted once, made 112 and never played in another Test. His story reflects the prejudice that was prevalent in West Indies cricket at that time.
Ganteaume’s close friend Everton Weekes reeled off five consecutive Test hundreds in 1948-49, a record that has endured the test of time. Martin Donnelly chose the centre stage at Lord’s to score a brilliant 206 for New Zealand against England in 1949.
Neil Harvey’s brilliant 151 not out in the fourth innings turned almost certain defeat into a brilliant victory for Australia against South Africa at Durban in 1950. He remains one of the all-time great left-handers.
Back in the West Indies, Denis Atkinson (219) and Clairmonte Depieza (122) scripted a fairy tale 7th wicket world record partnership of 347 against Australia at Bridgetown in 1955. Atkinson also took five wickets in an innings of the same Test. Only Pakistan’s Mustaq Mohammad has emulated his feat.
Also in the West Indies, Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammed played what is still the longest innings in Test history – 970 minutes – in compiling 337 at Bridgetown in 1958. His rearguard action saved the Test for his country and his triple-hundred remains the only one made in a team’s second innings.
During the same series, a 21-year-old West Indian Garfield Sobers made one of the most famous scores in Test history: 365 not out at Kingston. It would remain the most recognisable record in Test cricket until Brian Lara made 375 in 1994.
Of course, there are other Sobers’ gems: 132 in the Tied Test at Brisbane in 1960, 163 not out at Lord’s in 1966 and 113 not out on a minefield of a pitch at Sabina Park in 1968.
Nevertheless, ‘365’ has a certain resonance to it that the others do not have, since Sobers was a remarkable cricketer, the greatest ever.
Rohan Kanhai of the West Indies scored a hundred in each innings of the Adelaide Test against Australia in 1961. He remains the only West Indian to accomplish this feat in Australia, the toughest of all Test tours.
A strong case can also be made for his 256 against India at Calcutta in 1959 when he whacked 203 in one day. The Nawab of Pataudi of India scored 167 against England at Leeds in 1967.
Quite remarkably, he had the benefit of only one eye as he had lost the other. Graeme Pollock was at his majestic best with 274 for South Africa against Australia at Durban in 1969.
It was one of his many meaningful contributions to South Africa’s 4-0 thrashing of Australia in that series.

THE SWINGING 70s AND 80s
The proliferation of Test cricket during the decades of the 1970s and 1980s was accompanied by an ever-increasing array of memorable hundreds. Sri Lanka became a Test nation in 1982.
Lawrence Rowe scored 214 and 100 not out on his Test debut for the West Indies against New Zealand at Sabina Park in 1972.
No one else has ever scored double and a single on their Test debut although five others have done so in a Test: Doug Walters (242 and 103), Sunil Gavaskar (124 and 220) Greg Chappell (247 and 133), Graham Gooch (333 and 123) and Brian Lara (221 and 130).
Greg Chappell’s 131 for Australia against England at Lord’s in 1972 was overshadowed by his countryman Bob Massie’s haul of 16 for 137. Nevertheless, for elegance and artistry, Chappell’s innings was as good as it gets. 
Dennis Amiss batted for the last nine and a half hours to draw the second Test between England and the West Indies at Kingston in 1974. His innings lent credence to the saying that ‘England would rather lose a battleship than a Test match.’
Alvin Kallicharran made 124 for the West Indies against India at Bangalore on a substandard pitch that was soaked by overnight rain.
He battled the formidable Indian spin trio of Chandrasekar, Prassana and Venkatraghavan on a drying pitch to lay claim to the title of ‘the most complete West Indian batsman.’ His countryman Roy Fredericks flayed the fearsome Australian duo of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson on a fiery Perth pitch to register a breath-taking innings of 169 in 1975.
Sunil Gavaskar, India’s greatest batsman, gallantly battled England for 221 at the Oval in 1979 as India (429 for eight) came within spitting distance of a record 438 to win.
Ian Botham scored a whirlwind 149 not out to swing a Test match in England’s favour against Australia at Headingley in 1981. With odds against England at 500-1, Bob Willis then bowled England to a memorable victory with 8 for 43.
Gordon Greenidge produced an amazing display of fireworks for the West Indies against England at Lord’s in 1984. He scored 214 not out off 242 balls in an incredible, successful run chase of 344.
Throughout his innings he favoured an injured leg and moved with a pronounced limp.
Allan Border’s second innings 100 not out saved Australia from defeat against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1984 and his courage left an indelible impression on a certain 15-year-old named Brian Charles Lara.
Martin Crowe, New Zealand finest batsman, took on the fearsome West Indian trio of Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Joel Garner and scored 188 against West Indies at Georgetown in 1985.
On a clear day in the blistering heat of his native Antigua in 1986, the West Indian Viv Richards belted an English attack to all parts of the Antigua Recreation Ground to reach 103 off 56 balls. His sensational batting earned him one of the game’s prized records: the fastest hundred.
Of course, his 291 and 232 during the dry summer of 1976 in England are both quite memorable in their own right. Australia’s Dean Jones defied the stifling heat of Madras in 1987 to score a most courageous double hundred, 210.
He lost fourteen pounds during that innings and was hospitalised for dehydration. Unfortunately, the Test resulted in a contrived tie because of an overzealous Indian umpire who wanted his name in the record books.