Who was the first person to register a century and a 10-wicket haul in the same Test?
(11 December 2001)

To celebrate its golden jubilee in 1980, the Board of Control for Cricket in India invited old foes England for a one-off Test at the Wankhede in Bombay. The match was preceded by various spectacles, culminating in a thrilling fireworks display at the Brabourne stadium. The Wankhede's own fireworks display, orchestrated by Ian Botham, put the Brabourne to shame.

A year later, England's famous victory at Headingley against Australia was to earn the sobriquet of "Botham's Test," but the match at Wankhede deserved it every inch as much. Batting first, India were reduced to 242 all out, their middle and lower orders left a shambles by Botham's figures of 6-58. England, however, were themselves staring down the barrel at 58/5 when they looked to Beefy to rescue them once again.

Botham did not disappoint. Batting with an imperturbable Bob Taylor (43 off 180), the all-rounder struck 114 off just 144 balls, hitting 19 fours in his innings. Single handed, he lifted England from the muck and propelled them to a total of 296, a more-than-handy lead of 54. Perhaps with a misconception that he had to further imprint his influence on the Test, he then devastated the Indian batting with figures of 7-48, leaving them dead in the water at 149 all out.

England then cantered to the target of 96, with Geoffrey Boycott making an unusually rushed 43 off 95 balls. Although that match is now best remembered for captain Gundappa Viswanath's sporting action of calling back Bob when he was wrongly given out, it was also special for Botham, who became the first player in nearly 100 years of Test cricket to score a century and pick 10 wickets in the same Test.

For more details on all the above facts check out [ StatsGuru ]

[Archive]