Highest Test totals without a century and half-century

Simon Katich during his 99-runs inning against the West Indies in 2009

Test match is a game of partnerships. There is no restriction of the number of overs; all the batsmen have their own time to score at their will. It is not often we see a one man’s show in a Test inning like in the limited over games.

There have been many totals of over 450 and few over 500 were no batsman scored a century which clearly means that there was a small important contribution by all batsmen in the inning.

The highest inning total not to contain a century is India’s 524/9 against New Zealand at Kanpur in 1976/77. The highest score in the inning was not even 75. There were six individual half-centuries and the highest score was 70 by Mohinder Amarnath.

There are three more totals over 500 which did not have anyone scoring century. Let’s list them to see in more detail.

TOTALS OF 480 OR MORE WITHOUT AN INDIVIDUAL CENTURY

Total	Highest	Batsman	For	Against	Venue	Season
524/9 dec	70	Mohinder Amarnath	India	New Zealand	Kanpur	1976/77
520/7 dec	99	Simon Katich	Australia	West Indies	Perth	2009/10
517	87*	Brian McMillan	South Africa	Australia	Adelaide	1997/98
500/8 dec	95	Mudassar Nazar	Pakistan	Australia	Melbourne	1981/82
488	94	Habibul Bashar	Bangladesh	Zimbabwe	Chittagong	2004/05
485	88	Allan Border	Australia	New Zealand	Christchurch	1992/93
485	99	Sourav Ganguly	India	Sri Lanka	Nagpur	1997/98
481	91	Sachin Tendulkar	India	England	Nottingham	2007
480/8 dec	92	Simon Katich	Australia	West Indies	Brisbane	2009/10

•  
• Two of the above instances were in the same Test series – Australia vs West Indies in West Indies in 2009/10. And on both occasions, the highest score in the inning was Simon Katich (99 and 92).
• All of the above instances were in the first inning of the match except India’s 481 in 2007 was in the second inning of the match.
• There were six half-centuries in India’s 524/9 and Pakistan’s 500/8.
• There are three 300+ totals with no individual 50+ score.
• Below the table lists the highest totals with no individual 50+ score in Tests.

TOTALS OF 270 OR MORE WITHOUT AN INDIVIDUAL HALF-CENTURY

Total	Highest	Batsman	For	Aganinst	Venue	Season
315	47	David Gower	England	West Indies	Port of Spain	1985/86
304	42	Steve Harmison	England	South Africa	Cape Town	2004/05
302	44	Peter van der Merwe	South Africa	New Zealand	Wellington	1963/64
296/8 dec	45*	Nayan Mongia	India	New Zealand	Cuttack	1995/96
284	48	Tapash Baisya	Bangladesh	West Indies	Kingston	2004
280	49	Gordon Greenidge	West Indies	Australia	Melbourne	1988/89
279	43*	Brett Lee	Australia	England	Birmingham	2005
278/8 dec	44	Gary Kirsten	South Africa	England	Lord’s	1994
273	48	Brendon McCullum	New Zealand	South Africa	Dunedin	2011/12

 

Lowest completed inning to include a century is New Zealand’s 159 against England at Christchurch in 1962/63 where John Reid scored 100.

Lowest total (no qualification) to include a century is Pakistan’s 135/1 against India at Lahore in 1982/83 where Mohsin Khan scored 101.

Lowes total to include a double century is India’s 329 against Sir Lanka at Galle in 2008 in which Virender Sehwag scored 201*.