The longest waits for players, in terms of matches and time, between centuries or scores of more than 50
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When Abdul Razzaq drove Charl Langeveldt to the extra-cover boundary to get to 50 off 45 balls in the second one-day international against South Africa in Abu Dhabi, he was reaching that landmark for the first time since September 2006 - four years and 29 matches ago. When he blitzed Albie Morkel over midwicket off his 70th delivery, he went past 100 for the first time since September 2004 - six years and 74 matches ago. That's a pretty long gap, we thought, between hundreds or scores of above fifty, and so we looked at where Razzaq's wait stood in the list of long waits, in terms of matches and time, in one-dayers and Tests. It turned out that a lot of people had to wait a lot longer than Razzaq did.
Sixteen batsman have endured longer spells of ODIs without a century than Razzaq. His captain, Shahid Afridi, suffered such a lean patch twice - 81 one-dayers between September 1998 and April 2002 with no hundred, and 90 between April 2005 and his innings against Sri Lanka during the Asia Cup in June this year.
The longest wait between one-day centuries in terms of matches, however, belongs to Zimbabwe's best batsman Andy Flower. He began his career with a hundred on debut against Sri Lanka during the 1992 World Cup but then played 148 games before scoring his second - also against Sri Lanka, at Sharjah in 2000. He beat Mohammad Azharuddin's gap by two ODIs. Flower's eight-year and 241-day gap between centuries No. 1 and 2 is also the longest time a player has gone without a century in one-day internationals.
Another player who scored a century on debut but then had to wait a while for his second one-day century was Desmond Haynes. He began his ODI career with 148 against Australia in 1978 and then played 54 ODIs over five years and 328 days without another century, until he came up against Australia again at the SCG in 1984. Haynes didn't waste time thereafter and ended his career with 17 centuries, an ODI record until Sachin Tendulkar broke it in 1998.
Manoj Prabhakar, the former India allrounder, scored his first hundred in his 11th game, against Pakistan in Jamshedpur in 1987. He then went 78 ODIs over nearly six years before making another score of more than 50 - an 89 against England in Gwalior in 1993. His next century came against West Indies in Kanpur in October 1994, 100 matches and seven years after his first. Those who watched it will remember it was no cause for celebration. Prabhakar and Nayan Monga, with India needing 63 from nine overs, defended resolutely and scored only 16. Prabhakar remained unbeaten on 102 off 154 balls but was dropped for the rest of the series.
The longest time between scores of more than 50 was endured by Netherlands' Bas Zuiderant. He scored 54 in his second ODI, against England in the 1996 World Cup, as an 18-year old, but his next half-century came only when he was 28, against Bermuda at Potchefstroom in 2006.
Adam Parore, the former New Zealand wicketkeeper, appears in the table for longest wait between one-day scores of greater than 50, and in the one for most Tests between centuries. In one-day internationals Parore made 54 in his 102nd match, against Sri Lanka in October 1998, and then made his next fifty-plus score in his 164th ODI, again against Sri Lanka, in 2001.
In Test matches, Parore possesses the record for playing the most matches between one century and the next. He made only two Test hundreds and they were separated by 57 matches. The first was in his 16th Test, in Christchurch in 1995. Parore was the first Maori to score a Test hundred, and he did it on Waitangi Day. A pair of eighties was the closest he got to three figures in his next 94 innings, until New Zealand played Australia at the WACA in 2001 - Parore's 73rd match. Parore's 110 was the fourth hundred in New Zealand's innings, the first time they had performed such a feat.
The majority of batsmen who endured the longest gaps in terms of time between Test centuries were those whose careers were interrupted by the World Wars. Don Bradman's in the table too, with a gap of eight years and 130 days between century No. 22 and 23 in 1938 and 1946. The longest interval, though, belongs to Warren Bardsley, an Australian who played before Bradman did. Bardsley made 164 against South Africa at Lord's in 1912 and his next century was an unbeaten 193, also at Lord's but in 1926, 13 years and 346 days after his previous one.
Anil Kumble holds a couple of records for long waits before making a landmark score. He made his first Test century in his 118th Test, against England at The Oval in 2007, the most matches played before making a maiden hundred. Earlier in his career, Kumble also went 62 Tests between half-centuries without scoring 50 or more - the longest such patch. It began after the Nagpur Test against Sri Lanka in 1997, in which Kumble made 78, and ended in Nagpur as well, against England in 2006, when he contributed a valuable 58 to India's cause.
