Cricket: Rating NZ's double tons

Jesse Ryder. Photo / Getty Images

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There's no such thing as a bad test double century, let's make that perfectly clear before fans of Mathew Sinclair start writing in complaining.

You can make a horrific 50 (Geoff Howarth 58* against Australia at the Basin Reserve in 1982 would top most lists), and even a scratchy 100 (Glenn Turner 101 versus Australia, first innings, Christchurch, 1974) but a double century is a triumph of tenacity if nothing else.

But there are some more meritorious than others.

New Zealanders have now passed 200 15 times in tests, with Jesse Ryder the most recent member of the 11-man club opened by another stylish left-hander, Martin Donnelly.

RANKING THE DOUBLE TONS

1. Martin Donnelly 206 v England, Lord's, 1949

Because it was the first, because it was at Lord's and, most importantly, because it was the highlight in a team effort that enabled NZ to draw this test, the series and earned respect from the cricket world (respect that was to gradually diminish on subsequent tours but that is another story).

Wisden describes it rather soberly as thus: "At lunch, with the New Zealand total 160 for four, the game stood in an even position. Then Donnelly took complete control of the attack and, with most of the other batsmen giving him good support, the game swung round in New Zealand's favour ... Donnelly was quite content to wait for the loose ball and batted much more cautiously than usual. He took three-and-a-half hours to complete his first hundred, but on Tuesday he changed his style completely and in under an hour and a half he obtained 80 out of 112. Altogether, he batted five minutes short of six hours, and his 206, made out of 347, contained twenty-six 4s."

2. Stephen Fleming 274* v Sri Lanka, Colombo, 2003

Anybody of a pale hue that can bat for a shade under 11 hours under the fierce sun of Colombo, while combating the wiles of Muttiah Muralitharan and friends deserves all the accolades thrown his way. This should have contributed to a sportsman of the year gong in 2003 but he was not even nominated, yet Wade Cunningham was - and the Halberg judges wonder why their decisions disillusion so many.

3. Martin Crowe 299 v Sri Lanka, Basin Reserve, 1991

Starting their second innings 323 behind an Aravinda de Silva-inspired Sri Lanka, NZ's task was actually quite obvious: bat out the rest of the match on a docile pitch against an average attack. When John Wright was dismissed for 88 with the score at 148, Martin Crowe joined Andrew Jones and the two would not be separated until the score had reached 615, a world record for any partnership to that point. Crowe went on to score 299 before he got too little bat on an intended glide to third man. Like Ryder on Friday, he was an unhappy man.

4. Nathan Astle 222 v England, Christchurch, 2002

Being the only New Zealander to score a double century in a losing side there are several good reasons to drop Astle's inferno several places down the list - there was little to no pressure on him with the game being lost, a placid wicket, a tiring attack and the often overlooked fact that Astle and Chris Cairns had almost worked New Zealand into a position where they could win when he tried one big shot too many. However there are 168 better reasons why it should be included and that is the number of balls it took him to reach his score - a world record - 28 of which were hit to the fence and 11 over it.. Stunning.

5. Mathew Sinclair 214 v West Indies, Basin Reserve, 1999

A top three of Gary Stead, Craig Spearman and debutant Sinclair did not promise a lot but Sinclair's brilliant innings - he got off the mark with a fortunate french cut - saw New Zealand to an innings and 105-run victory. You assumed this would lead to a long and glorious career but a combination of poor selection and a rather stubborn approach to his cricket failed to see him capitalise on his start, though he did score another double ton (see 15).

6. Glenn Turner 223* v West Indies, Kingston, 1972

This series would degenerate into one of the most boring ever played (see 14) but Turner's effort here should not be underestimated. it was the first test of a series the home side were expected to win, they had posted a mammoth first innings total and the visitors were in deep trouble at 108-5. Turner's nine-and-a-half-hour effort demonstrated NZ would not be pushed over.

7. Graham Dowling 239 v India, Christchurch, 1968

Test wins were rare back then and though India didn't have any quicks of note they did have brilliant spin twins Bishen Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna. Dowling's determined 239 gave NZ a first innings of 502 and enabled them to force india to follow on. Chasing just 88 to win NZ did it four wickets down.

8. Jesse Ryder 201 v India, Napier, 2009

OK, it's a featherbed of a strip that forgot to invite any grass to the party but this was made against a good attack nonetheless and came when NZ were 23-3. The strokes were sumptuous, the patience was excellent and the way he fed the strike to Taylor so efficiently when the right-hander was on a mission spoke of a player with intuitive batting intelligence.

9. Bryan Young 267* v Sri Lanka, Dunedin, 1997

In retrospect, with New Zealand winning by an innings inside four days, Young is probably still cursing Fleming's declaration that nipped what seemed like an inevitable triple century in the bud. Murali and Chaminda Vaas were playing and Young made batting look ridiculously easy at times so why isn't it further up the list - probably because it's a name you just don't associate with this type of batting.

10. Stephen Fleming 262 v South Africa, 2006

On the face of it, this looks like easy pickings on a Newlands pitch that yielded 500+ in both sides' first innings. However, South Africa's attack, lack of a world-class spinner aside, was strong and NZ were 82-3 at one stage before Fleming's calm demeanour steadied things.

11. Lou Vincent 224 v Sri Lanka, Wellington, 2005

This was rollicking good fun and contributed to an innings victory but it comes with one qualification: Murali was not playing. Vincent was lucky to get to 200 with a relatively simple catch dropped in the outfield but if you knew then how he was about to be treated by the selectors you wouldn't begrudge him anything.

12. Bert Sutcliffe 230* v India, Delhi, 1955

Everything points to this being higher. The brilliant Sutcliffe batting in often oppressive Delhi against a magical spin attack but, alas, the reality was a little different. Yes, Sutcliffe was brilliant but he scored this against a poor attack on a pitch that yielded 1093 runs for the loss of just 10 wickets.

13. Fleming 202 v Bangladesh, Chittagong, 2004

Always going to be an "but-it-was-only-Bangladesh" innings, but set up an innings victory and the next highest score on this wicket was 89.

14. Turner 259, West Indies, Georgetown, 1972

This from Wisden: "It would be hard to imagine a duller game of cricket than this. The abiding memory was of another mammoth innings double century by Turner, the utterly lifeless pitch and the total lack of effort by either captain to open up the game."

15. Sinclair 204* v Pakistan, Christchurch, 2001

Saqlain Mushtaq scored a century in this test, for goodness sake.