5 batters with no hundreds despite boasting good batting averages
There isn't a more satisfying feeling for a batter than raising the bat upon scoring a hundred. Of course, cricket remains a team sport and the requirements of the team always remain at the forefront. But that feeling of notching up a hundred is a special one alright.
Fancy being Sachin Tendulkar then - he got to raise his bat 100 times in his international career upon reaching triple-figures. Or a certain Jack Hobbs who scored a small matter of 199 first-class centuries. Mind-boggling, isn't it?
Yet not every world-class batter has had that luxury. Even if it's just a particular format of the sport, quite a few marquee names have struggled to get the monkey off their back and register a hundred.
We look at five such names who boast good averages without a century to their name.
#5 Ravindra Jadeja (ODIs)
Ravindra Jadeja has been India's leading all-rounder for a number of years now. What has aided his cause is the upswing that he has shown with the bat in hand over the last three years in particular.
That said, despite boasting a couple of centuries in Test cricket, the veteran from Saurashtra is yet to notch up a hundred in 168 ODI appearances. While he has scored 13 half-centuries, his highest score in the 50-over format remains 87 against England in 2014.
Jadeja averages 32.58 with the bat in one-day internationals - a solid number for someone who predominantly bats at No. 7. That also probably explains why he hasn't been able to score an ODI ton, given that he doesn't have the luxury of facing too many deliveries.
#4 Sam Curran - (Yet to score a hundred in competitive cricket)
After a long injury layoff owing to a stress fracture in his back, Sam Curran is back playing competitive cricket again. The England all-rounder has also been in a rich vein of form, particularly with the bat, for Surrey in both first-class and T20 cricket, and has been racking up significant scores on a consistent basis.
However, that elusive hundred continues to stay away for the 24-year old. While his average isn't eye-catching per se, the fact that he doesn't have a fixed batting position and has come agonizingly close to the triple-digit mark on several occasions is worth factoring in.
Sam Curran scored 69 in 38 balls and picks 5/30 for Surrey against Hampshire. A complete all round show by Sam.
While his highest score in 78 first-class games is 96, Curran came excruciatingly close to pulling off a jailbreak in the deciding ODI against India last year. After a chase of 330 that looked dead and buried at 200/7, Curran nearly pulled off a heist and remained unbeaten on 95 as England fell short by a mere seven runs.
Given that he has a complete career ahead of him and the manner in which he's developed as a batter, it could just be a matter of time before Sam Curran has a hundred to his name.
#3 Peter Kirsten (ODIs)
The older half-brother of World Cup winning coach Gary, Peter Kirsten made his international debut rather late, owing to South Africa's exile during the anti-apartheid struggle. Kirsten took part in the nation's first game since readmission in 1991 and was also a member of their side during the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
Kirsten was a giant on the first-class circuit, having piled up 57 hundreds in 327 appearances. While one of them also included a Test century, the South African never managed to cross triple-digits across 40 ODI appearances, having fallen short by three runs against New Zealand in 1994.
The right-hander averaged a solid 38.02 in the one-day internationals and tallied nine half-centuries. Consistency personified, he would count himself unlucky to have missed out on a hundred in the format.
#2 Niroshan Dickwella (Tests)
Despite playing 49 Tests and recording 20 half-centuries, Niroshan Dickwella is yet to breach the triple-digit mark in the format. The enterprising wicketkeeper-batter has notched up two centuries for Sri Lanka in the ODI format, but somehow hasn't managed to get the monkey off his back in Test cricket.
Dickwella is second only to the late Shane Warne in the list of most runs in Test cricket with no hundreds. While he does bat with the tail more often than not, the fact remains that he has come close to the mark on multiple occasions.
Five scores of 80 or more, including two in the nineties, headline Dickwella's Test career thus far. With a highest score of 96, the 28-year old will hope to reach the milestone of scoring a Test century sooner rather than later. Mind you, he most certainly has the shots and the range to do so alright!
#1 Misbah-ul-Haq (ODIs)
Pakistan's crisis man for a good part of the 2010s, Misbah-ul-Haq as a batter was consistency and solidity personified. Having taken over as the team's captain in the aftermath of the spot-fixing saga of 2010, Misbah ended his career as Pakistan's most successful Test skipper.
He even notched up 10 Test hundreds to his name, including the then joint-fastest century (56 balls against Australia) in the longest format in 2014. Despite accumulating 42 scores in excess of 50 in one-day international cricket, not one of them was converted into a hundred.
As you can guess, with 5122 runs at an average of 43.40, Misbah tops the list for most runs without a hundred in ODI cricket by some distance. The former batter's top five scores in the format saw him remain unbeaten and while he was a finisher who got the job done in many instances, he was let down by a lack of sufficient support from his colleagues as well.
Also Read: 3 Indian cricketers who were involved in controversies
Also Read: 5 times a vehicle was driven on a cricket field