EDWIN SEERAJ
IN the 140 years of Test cricket there have been 32 instances in which 23 players have distinguished themselves in recording a century and managing a five-wicket haul in the same game. Leading the way is the indomitable Ian Botham of England,who achieved the feat on a staggering five occasions between 1978 and 1984,followed by the great West Indian, Gary Sobers; the former Pakistani captain, Mustaq Mohammad; South Africa’s stalwart, Jacques Kallis; the Bangladeshi, Shakib-ul-Hassan; and India’s Ravichandra Ashwin who have each done the double twice.
The player who established the ‘Century and Five-wicket Club’ was Jimmy Sinclair,who was involved in 25 Tests between 1896 and 1911;in the formative years of South Africa’s life as a Test-playing nation. In 1899 against England in Capetown,he cracked 106 and claimed six for 26 with his right-arm fast-medium stuff,to carry his team to an emphatic 210-run victory.
Uniquely, New Zealand’s Bruce Taylor joined the elite list in his debut game against India in Kolkata in 1965;a record that is still intact more than 50 years after.
Batting at number eight in the order, in the first of his eventual 30 Tests, he slammed 105,then returned with his right-arm swingers to bag five for 86 in the drawn encounter.
The first of the four West Indians to perform the double was the Barbadian Dennis Atkinson,against the Australians in the fourth game of a five-Test series at the Kensington Oval, Barbados in 1955. The Aussies, led by Ian Johnson, was leading the series 2-0 at the time and Atkinson was under pressure as captain.
On winning the toss, the visitors plundered a massive 668 with the all-rounders Keith Miller (137), Ray Lindwall (118) and Ron Archer (98) leading the way;in the face of a herculean effort from the Jamaican pacer, Tom Dewdney, who toiled manfully for figures of four for 125.
The West Indies were soon stuttering at 147 for six with John Holt, Sobers, the feared ‘3 Ws’-Frank Worrell, Clyde Walcott and Everton Weekes, and the talented Collie Smith,all back in the pavilion and still behind by a mammoth 521 runs.
Atkinson, who had never compiled a Test century before, was joined by the wicketkeeper Clairmonte DePeiaza who was playing in only his second Test and had little credentials as a batsman;having never reached three-figures in a first-class game.
However, the pair somehow managed to put together a huge, record-breaking seventh wicket partnership of 347 runs;still a Test record,and for over 50 years a first-class record as well.
DePeiaza fashioned a remarkable 122 (16 fours) and Atkinson an incredible 219 (29 fours and a six),to take the West Indies to 510 all out,which kept the deficit to a manageable 158 and ensured the follow-on was avoided.
The Aussies, exhausted by the West Indian fightback, were dismissed for 249 second time around,with Atkinson etching his name in the record books with five for 56 off 36.2 overs. Set 407 for victory, the regional side batted their way to 234 for six as the game ended in a draw.
Incidentally, Pakistan’s Mustaq Muhammad is the only other player to hit a double-century and pouch a five-wicket haul in the same Test. His 201 and five for 49 was achieved against the New Zealanders at Dunedin in 1973.
The second West Indian to enter the fray was the budding all-rounder O’Neil Gordon (Collie) Smith, against India in Delhi in 1958-59.
Smith was a right-handed batting stylist and useful off-spinner who first came to prominence when he produced a stunning 169 for Jamaica against the visiting Aussies in 1955-a performance that won him a place in the team for the first Test at Sabina Park,where he eased to a debut hundred (104) in a losing cause.
In the Delhi Test, India got to 415,on the heels of middle-order batsman Chandu Borde’s fine 109 as Wes Hall (4/66) and Smith (3/94),did most of the damage.
The West Indies then went on the rampage, battering the Indians to the tune of 644 for eight declared with the opener John Holt scoring 123, Joe Solomon registering an unbeaten even century, and Smith dismissed for an exact hundred; batting at number five.
Trailing by 229 runs, India were all out for 275 (Borde 96);but there was insufficient time left for the West Indies to start their second innings in pursuit of the 47 runs needed for victory.
Speedster, Roy Gilchrist prized out three wickets for 62 runs but it was Smith who stole the headlines with five for 90 from a marathon 42 overs;thereby distinguishing himself in the process.
Sadly, Smith played just three more Tests–all against Pakistan–before he tragically died in a car accident in England in September 1959.
The legendary Sobers first hit the ‘jackpot’ in 1962 when the West Indies inflicted a 5-0 drubbing on the hapless Indians in the Caribbean.
In the fifth and final Test in Jamaica, he came to the wicket with his team in a spot of bother at 64 for three, but carved out a responsible 104,spiced with 12 fours and three sixes,which took the hosts to 253.
The visitors were then bundled out for 178 (Bapu Nadkarni 61) as fast bowler Lester King–on debut and playing on his home turf–ran riot,reducing the Indians to 40 for six,enroute to a haul of five for 46.
In their second dig, West Indies got to 283 as Worrell found himself stranded on 98. Set 359 to win, India could only muster 235,and so went down by 123 runs. Sobers caused most of the carnage, claiming five for 63 off 32 overs.
Sobers then repeated the dose four years later at Headingley, Leeds in England,when he had a phenomenal series both as captain and player.
The West Indies took the 1966 Wisden Trophy 3-1,with Sobers winning the toss on all five occasions, hitting a record-breaking 722 runs at 103.14 per innings with three centuries, and garnering 20 wickets at 27.25 runs apiece in a truly magnificent performance.
In the fourth Test at Leeds, the West Indies amassed 500 for nine declared as 174 of those runs blazed off the bat of Sobers (24 fours),and 137 from the blade of Seymour Nurse (14 fours, two sixes) in a stroke-filled 265-run fifth wicket stand.
England then staggered to 83 for six before they were rescued by Basil D’Oliveira (88) and Ken Higgs (49), who featured in a face-saving 96-run seventh-wicket partnership that took them to 240 all out. Sobers,with his subtle pace and variations,gathered five for 41.
Asked to follow-on, England were bundled out for just 205;to lose by an innings and 55 runs.
The fourth and final West Indian to enter the record books is the recently-recruited middle-order batsman and off-spinner, Roston Chase, who did the ‘double’ against India at Sabina Park in the second Test of the four-Test ‘rubber’ in July-August this year.
Having had a profitable West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League 2015-2016 season and some useful scores for representative West Indies sides against touring teams, Chase made his debut in the first Test of the series at North Sound in Antigua.
It was an inauspicious start with scores of 23 and eight and figures of none for 102 in an innings and 92- run thrashing in four days.
In the second Test in Jamaica, the West Indies batted on winning the toss and scraped to 196 after having been seven for three in the sixth over. Jermaine Blackwood, coming into the game with a ‘pair’ in the first Test, played superbly for 62 as Ravi Ashwin spun his way to five for 52.
India then raced to 500 for nine declared (Lokesh Rahul 158, Ajinka Rahane 108 not out),and enjoyed the luxury of a 304-run lead. Chase twirled his fingers for 36.1 overs and was rewarded with a five-for……five for 121.
The West Indies started the second innings disastrously and at the end of the fourth afternoon they were precariously placed at 48 for four with Kraig Braithwaite, Rajendra Chandrika, Darren Bravo,and Marlon Samuels gone cheaply and everything pointing to a comprehensive win for India early on the fifth day.
However, Jermaine Blackwood again played enterprisingly for 63,and with Chase,added 93 in a crucial fifth wicket stand.
The wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich, in tandem with Chase, then put together a fluent sixth-wicket effort worth 144 runs that not only took the sting out of the Indian attack but stole precious time from the day’s play.
Dowrich eventually fell for a classy 74 but Chase, now partnered by his captain Jason Holder, batted exquisitely to the end, eventually reaching an undefeated 137,which carried the West Indies safely to a confidence-boosting draw.
Chase’s feat was the first by a West Indian in 50 years. When will it happen again?