Stephen Fleming equalled a long-standing New Zealand record in the first Test against Pakistan at Eden Park. The match was his 34th Test as captain, drawing him level with the tally set by John Reid. Fleming has taken just four years to reach the mark while Reid (despite never missing a Test in his 58 match career which began in 1949) needed nine years. Interestingly enough, both players had appeared in 58 Tests.
Seasons Tests
John Reid 1955/56-1965 34
Stephen Fleming 1996/97-2000/01 34
Geoff Howarth 1979/80-1984/85 30
Graham Dowling 1967/68-1971/72 19
Ken Rutherford 1992/93-1994/95 18
Bevan Congdon 1971/72-1974/75 17
Martin Crowe 1990/91-1993/94 16
Jeremy Coney 1984/85-1986/87 15
Adam Parore is closing in on another New Zealand Test record. His seven catches in the first Test left him just five behind Ian Smith's New Zealand wicket-keeping record, although if Parore's three catches as a fielder are taken into account, he is just one short of the overall record for catches and two short of the dismissals record.
Whichever way one wishes to view this record, here are the leaders in the wicket-keeping stakes alone:
Matches Ct St Total
Ian Smith 63 168 8 176
Adam Parore 68 164 7 171
Ken Wadsworth 33 92 4 96
Warren Lees 21 52 7 59
Artie Dick 17 47 4 51
The seven catches which Parore took at Auckland was not a New Zealand record but it does put him on the following list for most dismissals in a Test
8 Warren Lees v Sri Lanka Wellington 1982/83 (all ct)
8 Ian Smith v Sri Lanka Hamilton 1990/91 (all ct)
7 Artie Dick v South Africa Durban 1961/62 (6ct 1st)
7 Roy Harford v India Wellington 1967/68 (all ct)
7 Ian Smith v India Wellington 1980/81 (all ct)
7 Ian Smith v England Leeds 1983 (all ct)
7 Adam Parore v Pakistan Auckland 2000/01 (all ct)
Harford, who also missed several chances in the game above, was dropped for the following Test and replaced by John Ward. Indeed, Harford never appeared in first-class cricket again.
During his first innings of 86 at Auckland, Stephen Fleming moved two places up the New Zealand all-time Test run-scoring table, passing first John Reid, and then Bevan Congdon to move into third place. New Zealand's leading run scorers in Test cricket are now:
Runs Matches Ave
Martin Crowe 5444 77 45.36
John Wright 5334 82 37.82
Stephen Fleming 3513 58 36.59
Bevan Congdon 3448 61 32.22
John Reid 3428 58 33.28
Richard Hadlee 3124 86 27.16
Glenn Turner 2991 41 44.64
Andrew Jones 2922 39 44.27
Bert Sutcliffe 2727 42 40.10
Mark Burgess 2684 50 31.20
New Zealand was set a target of 431 in the first Test and although they never became an issue, we should just look at the following two tables to see what has happened in the past.
First of all, the highest winning totals achieved in Test cricket (New Zealand would have had to create an all-time record at Auckland):
406-4 India v West Indies Port of Spain 1975/76
404-3 Australia v England Leeds 1948
369-6 Australia v Pakistan Hobart 1999/00
362-7 Australia v West Indies Georgetown 1977/78
348-5 West Indies v New Zealand Auckland 1968/69
344-1 West Indies v England Lord's 1984
342-8 Australia v India Perth 1977/78
336-5 Australia v South Africa Durban 1948/49
332-7 England v Australia Melbourne 1928/29
326-5 Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe Colombo 1997/98
324-5 New Zealand v Pakistan Christchurch 1993/94
New Zealand's highest scores in the fourth innings of a Test (win, lose or draw) are:
440 England Nottingham 1973 (Lost)
345 England Nottingham 1983 (Lost)
324-5 Pakistan Christchurch 1993/94 (Won)
304-8 Zimbabwe Harare 1997/98 (Draw)
293-8 Australia Christchurch 1976/77 (Draw)
278-8 Pakistan Dunedin 1984/85 (Won)
275-8 Zimbabwe Bulawayo 1997/98 (Draw)
270 England The Oval 1983 (Lost)
262-7 Pakistan Karachi 1976/77 (Draw)
261-5 Sri Lanka Auckland 1990/91 (Draw)
Younis Khan joined a Pakistan short list with his performance in the first Test. He became just the fifth from his country to record a ninety and a century in the same Test. The five are:
Hanif Mohammad v Australia Melbourne 1964/65 104 & 93
Zaheer Abbas v India Faisalabad 1978/79 176 & 96
Mohsin Khan v India Lahore 1982/83 94 & 101*
Saeed Anwar v Sri Lanka Colombo 1994/95 94 & 136
Younis Khan v New Zealand Auckland 2000/01 91 & 149*
James Franklin (playing just his 13th first-class game and his first at Eden Park's main ground) had the misfortune to bag a pair in his Test debut. It may be small consolation for him but he does have some company. The New Zealanders who made a duck in each innings of their Test debut are:
Ken James v England Christchurch 1929/30
Ted Badcock v England Christchurch 1929/30
Gordon Rowe v Australia Wellington 1945/46*
Len Butterfield v Australia Wellington 1945/46*
Brendon Bracewell v England The Oval 1978
Ken Rutherford v West Indies Port of Spain 1984/85
Chris Kuggeleijn v India Bangalore 1988/89
James Franklin v Pakistan Auckland 2000/01*
* only Test
The last morning of the first Test produced some truly remarkable numbers. Here are some of them.
- New Zealand ended up losing all ten wickets for the addition of 40 runs in 30 overs
- On the last morning nine wickets fell for 26 runs in 24.4 overs
- The last eight fell for 10 runs in 12.4 overs
- Four wickets fell without addition in 21 balls
- The last five wickets fell for one run (a leg bye) in 25 balls
- Mohammad Sami's figures on the last morning were 8-4-6-5
- Saqlain Mushtaq's were 12.4-10-3-4
- Their combined figures for the session were 20.4-14-9-9
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