Five All-Time Greats Who Couldn't Score A Century At Lord's

Lord’s cricket ground is known as one of the most iconic cricket grounds in the world. Scoring a century or taking a five-wicket haul at Lord’s is a dream for any cricketer. Achieving a milestone at Lord’s Cricket Ground has a huge significance. The Honours Board inside the dressing room commemorates the players who have scored a century, taken 5 wickets in a single innings or taken 10 wickets in a match.

Recently, KL Rahul became the tenth Indian batsman to score a century at the historic venue. He produced a brilliant hundred in the ongoing second Test against England. Former England skipper, Michael Vaughan has scored the most number of centuries at Lord’s Cricket Ground, with 6 hundreds to his name.

Having said that, there have been some all-time great Test batsmen who couldn’t score a century at the historic venue. Here’s a look at five of them:

Five all-time greats who couldn’t score a century at Lord’s.

Michael Atherton

Michael Atherton was the backbone of England’s batting line-up during the late 1990s. He also led England to 54 Test wins in his captaincy career. He played 115 Test matches for England and scored 7728 runs at an average of 37.69.

Michael Atherton notched 16 centuries in his Test Cricket career but failed to notch one at Lord’s Cricket Ground. Former England player hit as many as seven half-centuries at the historic venue but couldn’t convert a single one of them into a hundred. His best score at Lord’s in Test Cricket remained 99-not out against Australia in 1993.

His name, however, was later etched at the honour’s board when the limited over’s honours were introduced in 2019. His only century at Lord’s came against West Indies in a one-day international match. He hit 127 off 160 balls to help his team win the third ODI.

Brian Lara

Brian Lara has numerous records to his name in Test Cricket. A veteran in Test Cricket, Lara holds the record for the highest individual score in Test Cricket. He made a plethora of runs in different parts of the world in Test Cricket. However, Brian Lara struggled to come good at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

In six Tests played at the venue, he could only manage to score 126 runs at a dismal average of 22.66. He is amongst the all-time greats who couldn’t score a century at Lord’s Cricket Ground. Lara has over 11,000 runs in Test Cricket in 299 ODIs.

Jacques Kallis 

Jacques Kallis is arguably the greatest all-rounder to have ever played the game. He was one of the biggest assets for South Africa for a number of years. Kallis enjoyed an illustrious cricketing career and is counted amongst the all-time greats of the game.

However, the South African all-rounder too didn’t have successful outings at the historic venue. In 3 Tests played at Lord’s, he managed to score 54 runs. He played his first Test at Lord’s in 1998. After not getting a chance to bat in the first innings, he got out for a duck in the next innings. In his second Test at Lord’s, he scored 7 and 13 in the two innings. In his third Test at Lord’s, he scored 3 and 31.

Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting, too, finds himself in the list of all-time greats who couldn’t score a century at Lord’s. Ricky Ponting has a great record against England in England. But when it came to Lord’s, he couldn’t get going. Ricky Ponting hit 41 hundreds during his Test Cricket career but failed to produce a single one at the historic venue.

Ricky Ponting scored more than 13,000 runs in 168 Tests at an average of 51.9.

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar, the master blaster, has 51 Test centuries to his name- the most by any batsman in Test Cricket history. However, Sachin Tendulkar couldn’t hit a single century or half-century at the historic venue. His highest score at the venue is 37.

He has played five Tests at Lord’s Cricket Ground, scoring 193 runs. Interestingly, he has got centuries in Old Trafford, Edgbaston, Trent Bridge and Leeds but not at Lord’s Cricket Ground.  Overall, Sachin Tendulkar has 13,378 runs to his name in 200 Tests at an average of 53.8.