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23 June 2007 Cricket’s Marathon Man One curiosity of
the cricket record books is that while we can identify the longest Test
innings, its exact length is uncertain. Officially, Hanif
Mohammad’s 337 at Bridgetown in 1958 lasted 970 minutes, but other sources,
including Hanif himself, claim it was 999 minutes,
a nice bookend for Hanif’s record 499 in
first-class cricket a year earlier. Hanif, in
his autobiography, supports his claim with a recording he has of the radio
broadcast of the end of his innings, which states 999 minutes. Accepting that
the recording does say that does not mean it is correct. It would be easy to
make an error in adding up the times on the spur of the moment. Unfortunately, no
original scorebook of this match has been found. A scorebook of the series
has recently surfaced in Pakistan, and it includes Sobers 365* later in the
series, but the Bridgetown Test is missing from this book. Until a scorebook
is found, we will never know how many balls Hanif
faced. However, the accounts of the innings in West Indian newspapers are
quite detailed. What follows are the statistical gems found in the Jamaica Daily Gleaner, concentrating on Hanif’s batting in the match. [Incidentally, Conrad Hunte’s claim, in his
autobiography, that he hit the first two balls of his Test career (and the
first two balls of the series) for four, is not confirmed by the Gleaner account, which mentions only a boundary
off the fourth ball of the first over.] Following the West
Indies 579 on the second day, Hanif opened in the
first innings, and scored five in the four overs before stumps. The following
day he was second out for 17 at 39, in 45 minutes. Pakistan were bowled out
at 2:23 for 106 in 148 minutes, 473 runs behind. Pakistan followed
on at 2:33, Hanif opening again. At tea, Pakistan
was 79 for 0 in one hour, Imtiaz an aggressive 41. Hanif was dropped on 14. Imtiaz
reached 50 in 71 minutes and the 100 partnership came up in 79 minutes. Hanif reached 50 in 123 minutes with five 4s, and the 150
came up in 130 minutes. Imtiaz was
out for 91 out of 152 in 137 minutes (12x4), and stumps was called at 161 for
1 in two and a half hours, after 50 overs, with Hanif
61 and Alim-ud-Din 1 not out.
Attendance had been 9,700. Hanif scored
surprisingly well the next morning, though without hitting many boundaries,
and reached 100 in 244 minutes, with only six fours. Lunch was taken at 219/1
(Hanif 100, Alim-ud-Din 18). After lunch the 100 stand was reached in 135
minutes, and Pakistan’s 250 in 275 minutes. Alim-ud-Din was out for 37 in 165 minutes at 264 (1x4), and
the tea score was 295/2, Hanif 139, Saeed Ahmed 10 (in 60 minutes). Hanif
reached 150 in 393 minutes. Pakistan finished the day at 339 for 2 off 142
overs, Hanif 161 and Saeed 26. Hanif
had scored 100 runs in 300 minutes in the day; 92 overs were bowled. There
had been a four minute interruption because a mirror of a parked car was
reflecting in the batsmen’s eyes. On the fifth
morning, a new ball was taken at 347 after three overs. The third-wicket
stand reached 100 in 196 minutes. Saeed was dropped on 49 and reached 50 in
219 minutes, with 3 fours. The 400 came up in 534 minutes, and at lunch
Pakistan were 405/2, Hanif 185 and Saeed 62. Saeed
was out at the end of the fifth over after lunch, for 65 in 263 minutes
(6x4). Hanif carried on unperturbed and reached 200
in 586 minutes with 17 fours. Scoring slowed, and the 450 came up in 662
minutes; at tea the score was 457/3, Hanif 216 in
656(?) minutes, and Wazir Mohammad 17. Between lunch
at tea there had been 42 overs with 23 maidens. At 473, Pakistan
had wiped out the first-innings deficit in 688 minutes. Another new ball was
taken, after 78 overs, with the score at 491. Hanif
carried on, comfortably reaching 250 in 721 minutes with 21 fours, and the
500 was posted four minutes later. Hanif’s fourth
consecutive century stand (unique in Tests) arrived in 179 minutes. Wazir at
this stage had hit only one boundary. The day finished with Hanif on 270 in 755 minutes, with 22 fours. Wazir was on
31, the total 525. The West Indian bowlers had wheeled off 95 overs in the
five-hour day. It was “Groundhog
Day” once again for the West Indies on the sixth morning, with Hanif walking to the crease for the fourth day in a row.
Wazir was out for 35 in 213 minutes (1x4), after a partnership of 121. Hanif was tiring and slowing down, but there were no
cracks in his concentration. At 290 he passed Hutton’s 797–minute record for
the longest Test innings, but progress to a triple-century was delayed by
lunch, Pakistan 566/3, Hanif 297, Wallis Mathias 9.
The crowd was only 2,000. Fifteen minutes after lunch, Hanif
finally ground past 300, reached in 860 minutes, with 23 fours. Mathias couldn’t
emulate the top order by sharing a century stand, and was out for 17 in 125
minutes at 598 (1x4). The 600 came up in 917 minutes, and the Pakistanis were
at last in sight of saving the match. Hanif and
captain AH Kardar saw the innings safely to tea at
623 for 5, Hanif on 334 in 965 minutes and in sight
of the world record. He edged past Bradman’s and Hammond’s best scores,
having batted three hours longer than those two record-breaking batsmen
combined. But a few minutes after tea, he was caught behind off a routine edge,
out for 337 in 973 minutes, with 24 fours. The score was 626. With the match
saved, Fazal Mahmood lightened up proceedings with
two sixes off Collie Smith, and hit 19 in 20 minutes. He was out at 649,
followed two minutes later, in the same over, by the sixteen-year-old Nasim-ul-Ghani (0). About ten
minutes later, Kardar (23* in 100 minutes) was able
to declare with the score at 657 for 8 in 1005 minutes, with an improbable
lead of 184. There was just over half an hour for Hunte
and Kanhai to bat, which they managed without
difficulty, and the match was drawn after 1370 runs over six days. The times given
from the Daily Gleaner are mostly
internally consistent, and are consistent with the known playing hours in
that series (five-hour days, 90’ + 120’ + 90’). The only real problem seen
with the account is that it gives Hanif a time of
214 minutes for his first 100, which it appears should be 244 minutes. This
could easily be a typo. In light of the
details of this account, the alternative time of 999 minutes for Hanif is quite improbable. Hanif batted
for close to 309 overs. If he received half the strike, he would have faced
about 930 balls. Similarly, his first innings can be estimated at 35 balls.
The total of 965 balls is interesting in that, surprisingly, it would not
actually be a Test record. Wally Hammond (119* and 177) faced 977 balls in
the Adelaide Test of 1928/29. However, there remains a strong possibility
that Hanif took more than half the strike, and he
could even have faced more than 1000 balls in the match. |