Declarations Which Denied Batsman A Personal Milestone

Cricket is a team sport. I know you must have heard this cliche for the longest period of time and perhaps continue to do so but the fact of the matter is, the lines between it being a team sport or a sport built on individual feats often gets blurred, every time we see a batsman denied of a personal milestone due to declaration of the innings.

And, then, it gives rise to a raging social media debate, with people presenting strong arguments on both sides. We saw it to the hilt when Tim Paine decided to pull the trigger on the Australian innings, leaving David Warner not-out on 335.

Here’s a look at instances where a declaration denied batsman a personal milestone:

Also Read: Five Indian Cricketers Who Are Remembered For Just One Performance

Darryl Cullinan- 275* vs New Zealand, Auckland 1999

Daryll Cullinan was one of the mainstays of the South African batting line-up throughout the 1990s.

The right-handed middle-order batsman was at the height of his powers during the 1999 Test series against New Zealand. In the first Test at Eden Park, Auckland, Cullinan stroked his way to a career-best 275.

Cullinan could have become the first-ever South African to score a triple-hundred but with his team having already batted for over 200 overs and time being a crucial factor, skipper Hansie Cronje decided to declare the innings, and rightfully so!

However, despite bowling out New Zealand cheaply in the first innings, South Africa couldn’t repeat the same in their second attempt and the game eventually ended in a draw.

AB de Villiers- 278* vs Pakistan, Dubai 2010

13 years later, AB de Villiers found himself on the brink of becoming the first Proteas batsman to score a triple-hundred when he smashed a whirlwind 278 against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.

De Villiers took 418 balls to score 278 and was looking prime to scale the Mount.300 barrier. But, given the flatness of the track and paucity of time, captain Graeme Smith called off the innings once de Villiers broke his record of the highest individual score by a South African [277 vs England in 2003].

The game, however, meandered to a high-scoring draw.

David Warner- 335* vs Pakistan, Adelaide Oval

David Warner successfully shrugged off his disastrous form that had plagued his 2019 Ashes campaign with a whirlwind 335 against Pakistan in the Pink ball Test at the Adelaide Oval last summer.

During his knock, Warner broke the record of Mark Taylor, Michale Clarke and Sir Donald Bradman to become the second-highest individual scorer.

With the inexperienced Pakistan bowling looking toothless, Warner was looking set to possibly go past Matthew Hayden or even Brian Lara’s tally of 400.

But Tim Paine, keeping the rain (which never arrived) forecast in consideration, decided to declare the Australian innings at 3-589.

As it turned out, Australia Australian rapped up the Test match in four days by bowling Pakistan out for 302 and 239, kickstarting a raging debate on social media- “Should Paine have allowed Warner to go for the record?” Hindsight is a beautiful thing.

Graeme Hick-98* vs Australia, SCG 1998

The 1994-95 Sydney Test was one of the rare occasions during the 90s when England found themselves in the driver’s seat against Ashes foe Australia.

Trailing 0-2 in the series, England had asserted themselves in a position of ascendancy after the completion of the first innings of both teams in the New Year Test courtesy a 193 run lead over the Australians.

England was pretty circumspect in their second innings. They batted too slowly with Mike Atherton leading from the front here as well. The opener took 166 balls to score 67 and it was only after Graeme Hick and Graham Thorpe got together that the innings gathered some momentum.

But to Hick’s dismay, Atherton wasn’t as patient in the dressing room as he was while batting in the middle. In what turned out to be the last over of England’s innings, Hick, 98, blocked three successive balls which was enough for his captain to call them back in and draw a close to the innings.

Hick was flummoxed and rightly so! And, as it turned out, he neither got a hundred nor England ending up winning as Shane Warne and Tim May saved the day for the English.

Javed Miandad- 280* vs India, Hyderbad (Sind) 1983

A declaration that strained the relation [if they weren’t already] between two of Pakistan’s greatest-ever cricketers- Imran Khan and Javed Miandad.

Javed Miandad was in blazing form (when was he not while playing against India?) during the 1983 Test against India, the zenith of which was his 280* in the 4th Test in Sind.

Miandad was looking prime for a triple -hundred when skipper Imran Khan pulled the trigger on the innings and declared at 3-581.

As it turned out, Pakistan won the Test easily [by an innings & 119 runs], pissing Miandad even more.

Miandad even went on to dedicate an entire chapter titled “The Anatomy of a Declaration” in his autobiography.

“I noticed Zaheer [Abbas] looking intently towards the pavilion. I turned around to look as well, and saw that Imran was waving us in. It was like a kick in the stomach. I remember just standing dumbfounded, not knowing what to do. Then I noticed that Zaheer was starting to walk back … Gavaskar was incredulous. He said he would never have declared had an Indian batsman been as close to 300 as I was,”

Sachin Tendulkar- 194* vs Pakistan, Multan 2004

Sunil Gavaskar might not have, but Rahul Dravid did, 21 years after Imran Khan’s controversial declaration in Multan. And, at the receiving end this time was Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar was batting on 194 when Rahul Dravid pulled the trigger on the innings, leaving everyone including Sachin Tendulkar stunned.

The declaration, as it turned out, as a result of a grave miscommunication, and given how easily India wrapped up the game, it is something that could have been avoided.

According to John Wright’s Indian Summers and Sachin Tendulkar’s ‘Playing It My Way’, the batsmen were told in the Tea break that they had 15 overs to play before the declaration. However, as it turned out the innings was declared after 13.5 overs.

Tendulkar scored 29 runs from 36 balls post the Tea break and he did not even face what eventually turned out to be the last over of the innings.

Tendulkar in his book also recounted the incident during the Sydney Test, a couple months prior to the Multan declaration where Rahul Dravid was left stranded on 91* after Sourav Ganguly’s declaration.

Sachin said that Ganguly had repeatedly sent them messages to seek their advice on declaration but Rahul we keen on continuing batting.

“Rahul was keen to bat on for a little longer and we finally declared just after he was hit on the head by a Brett Lee bouncer when he was on 91 and I was on 60 not out. In hindsight, I must say we delayed the declaration too long … when we had both been batting on the fourth evening and Sourav had sent out two or three messages asking when we should declare and Rahul had carried on batting.”

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