Charles Bannerman: Cricket statistics and records attract the most. What to say about the adventures of centuries..! In the history of 146 years of Test cricket, this magical figure has proved to be a milestone for the batsmen. Talking about the Test format, so far a total of 809 cricketers have scored centuries. So far 4390 (100+) centuries have been scored in Test cricket. Talking about centuries, this series started with Charles Bannerman. His bat had scored a century on the very first day of his Test debut. Sachin Tendulkar is at the top of world cricket by scoring 51 test centuries.
Test cricket started on this day in 1877
Test cricket officially started on this day (15 March) in 1877. In the first Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the newly emerging team Australia won by defeating the old English giants by 45 runs. Interestingly, there was no time limit for this Test match and both the teams had to play two innings each, no matter how many days it took. This match lasted from 15 to 19 March. Rest day was kept on the fourth day i.e. Sunday, March 18, 1877, after the initial 3 days of play. After this, Australia won on the fifth day.
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…the first test run came from Bannerman’s bat
That historic first Test match proved to be very special for Charles Bannerman. Bannerman was born in England, but playing for New South Wales, he made a place in the Australian team. Actually, his parents had come to Australia in his childhood. Bannerman started the innings. Alfred Shaw bowled the first ball of the Test match and that ball was faced by Bannerman. The first Test run came from Bannerman’s bat.
Bannerman finally retired hurt after scoring 165 runs
Bannerman then touched a personal score of fifty. Not only this, he created history by converting that half-century into a century. Whenever the first century is talked about in international cricket, Bannerman’s name will be at the top. Eventually this opener got retired hurt after scoring 165 runs. Actually, Bannerman was injured. His finger was hurt.
Bannerman alone scored 165 of the team’s 245.
Bannerman alone scored 165 in Australia’s first innings score of 245. That is, this is the record of getting the most runs (67.4 percent) in terms of percentage in a completed Test innings. Also, it is still the highest first innings score by an Australian batsman on debut. But in the next two Tests, Bannerman could not get away with 30 runs. After scoring 165 and 4 runs in the first test, he was able to score only 10, 30, 15 and 15 * runs in the two matches played in Melbourne.
Due to illness, Bannerman’s Test career was just three Test matches, but due to his century, he got his name registered in the record books. His brother Alec played 28 Tests for Australia, although he could not score a century. Bannerman died in 1930 at the age of 79.