Faf du Plessis becomes 12th batsman to finish a day on 99 not out
Du Plessis: 12th batsman to finish a day on 99*
Faf du Plessis was one short of a Test century at the end of the first day against West Indies at Johannesburg. He is the 12th man to have ended a day’s play in this way in Tests, Bharath Seervi lists them.
Three Tests had started on Boxing Day: Australia vs India, South Africa vs West Indies and New Zealand vs Sri Lanka. Initially, Brendon McCullum smashed an astonishing 195 off 134 balls before Stumps of Day One at Christchurch. When South Africa were put to bat by West Indies on the same day, the top order of South Africa won the day for the hosts. Dean Elgar scored fine 121 while Faf du Plessis, batting at No.3, remained one short of his century.
Du Plessis was batting at his normal pace. He took his scores into the 90s in the 81st over of the day. It certainly looked like he would get to his fourth Test hundred before the end of the day. He did not. He got stuck on 92 for 15 deliveries. Meanwhile, 86 overs were bowled. Du Plessis hit a four and took two singles to get to 98. He was to bat the 88th over. He played out five dot balls to Jason Holder and scored a single off the last delivery of the over. That turned out to be the last ball of the day. Du Plessis remained one short of his century.
He then faced the first ball of the second day and hit a boundary to get to his century and was caught-behind next ball! He fell for 103.
But how many others had faced this similar fate in the past? How much did they add more on the next day to their overnight score of 99?
Du Plessis’ was overall the 14th occasion of a batsman ending a day’s play on 99 not out. The last such occasion was also by a South Africa – Hashim Amla vs Australia at Perth 2012/13, he was dismissed for 196 the next day. The table below has the list of all the occasions.
99 not out at close of a day’s play in Tests
| Batsman | Score | Against | Day | Venue | Date | Result |
| Jack Hobbs | 119 | Australia | 3 | Adelaide Oval | January 19, 1925 | Lost |
| Wally Hammond | 120 | South Africa | 1 | Kingsmead | January 20, 1939 | Won |
| Gerry Gomez | 101 | India | 1 | Kotla | November 10, 1948 | Draw |
| Glenn Turner | 110 | Pakistan | 1 | Dhaka | November 8, 1969 | Draw |
| Glenn Turner | 101 | Australia | 2 | Christchurch | March 9, 1974 | Won |
| Mudassar Nazar | 126 | India | 1 | Chinnaswamy | November 21, 1979 | Draw |
| Greg Chappell | 114 | England | 3 | MCG | February 3, 1980 | Won |
| Mudassar Nazar | 152* | India | 1 | Lahore | January 23, 1983 | Draw |
| Allan Lamb | 113 | West Indies | 4 | Lord’s | June 20, 1988 | Lost |
| Javed Miandad | 153* | England | 3 | Edgbaston | June 6, 1992 | Draw |
| Graeme Hick | 178 | India | 1 | Wankhede | February 19, 1993 | Lost |
| Marvan Atapattu | 201 | Bangladesh | 1 | Colombo (SSC) | September 6, 2001 | Won |
| Hashim Amla | 196 | Australia | 2 | WACA | December 1, 2012 | Won |
| Faf du Plessis | 103 | West Indies | 1 | New Wanderers | December 26, 2014 | – |
– All batsmen completed their centuries next day.
– Glenn Turner and Mudassar Nazar have the distinction of being not out on 99 at close of a day’s play twice in their career.
– Four runs were added by Du Plessis to his overnight score. This is the second lowest among the above batsmen. Gerry Gomez and Glenn Turner had each added just two runs and were out on 101.
– Marvan Atapattu added another 102 runs and completed his double-century. He is the only one to do so. Atapattu retired out for 201.
– Hashim Amla was dismissed for 196 next day: a nervous 190.
– When Wally Hammond was unbeaten on 99 at close of play, his batting partner Eddie Paynter was unbeaten on 197. Paynter eventually scored 247 before being dismissed next day.
– Greg Chappell and Javed Miandad were captains of their respective sides.
– Along with Gerry Gomez, Clyde Walcott was unbeaten on 152 at close of play. The first ball of the next day saw Gomez run Walcott out. Gomez could not stay for long. He was stumped for 101. It remained his only Test hundred.
– In the same innings, Robert Christiani hit a four off the last ball next day to move from 99 to 103.
– The Test in which Chappell was 99 not out at stumps had seen Geoff Boycott being run out on 99 on Day One.
– The test in which Miandad was 99 not out at stumps, Alec Stewart was 94 not out at the end of next day. Stewart was dismissed for 190 on the fifth day — his highest score in Test career.
– Du Plessis’ is the only one in a Boxing Day test match.
There have been only two cases of a batsman being not out on 199 at the end of a day in Tests.
199 not out at close of a day’s play in Tests
| Batsman | Score | Against | Day | Venue | Date | Result |
| Marvan Atapattu | 207* | Pakistan | 2 | Kandy | June 29, 2000 | Draw |
| Rahul Dravid | 233 | Australia | 3 | Adelaide | December 14, 2003 | Won |
Rahul Dravid had 196 runs when he started to play the last over of the day. He played two dot balls, took a couple, played out another dot, and took a single of the fifth ball took his score to 199. He hit a boundary off the first ball the next day to bring up his double century.
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)