We all know Test cricket is a game of patience and there is a lot of time for a batter and team to score runs. Any of the team that plays the long format of the game will hope that some of their batters score big runs and occupy the crease for a long time. A big score means a big century from one of their frontline batter and a supporting act from the rest. This helps in just piling up a huge total on the board, making the best use of the batting conditions available, while also putting the opposition under tremendous pressure.
However, there are plenty of occasions in Test cricket, when we have witnessed more than one player scoring centuries, at times, both of them converting it into a big one. This allows no room for the opposition to come back and win the game. Here are 20 times where 2 players from a team scored a double century in the same Test innings.
| S.No | PLAYERS | TEAM | INNINGS TOTAL | VS | VENUE, YEAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Ponsford (266), Don Bradman (244) | Australia | 701 | England | Oval, 1934 |
| 2 | Don Bradman (234), Sydney Barnes (234) | Australia | 659/8 dec | England | Sydney, 1946 |
| 3 | Gary Sobers (365*), Conrad Hunte (260) | West Indies | 790/3 dec | Pakistan | Kingston, 1958 |
| 4 | Bill Lawry (210), Bob Simpson (201) | Australia | 650/6 dec | West Indies | Barbados, 1965 |
| 5 | Javed Miandad (280*), Mudassar Nazar (231) | Pakistan | 581/3 dec | India | Hyderabad (Sind), 1983 |
| 6 | Mike Gatting (207), Graeme Fowler (201) | England | 652/7 dec | India | Chennai, 1985 |
| 7 | Qasim Omar (206*), Javed Miandad (203) | Pakistan | 555/3 | Sri Lanka | Faisalabad, 1985 |
| 8 | Sanath Jayasuriya (340), Roshan Mahanama (225) | Sri Lanka | 952/6 dec | India | Colombo, 1997 |
| 9 | Ijaz Ahmed (211), Inzamam-ul-Haq (200*) | Pakistan | 594 | Sri Lanka | Dhaka, 1999 |
| 10 | Kumar Sangakkara (270), Marvan Atapattu (249) | Sri Lanka | 713/3 dec | Zimbabwe | Bulawayo, 2004 |
| 11 | Wavell Hinds(213), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (203*) | West Indies | 543/5 dec | South Africa | Guyana, 2005 |
| 12 | Mahela Jayawardene (374), Kumar Sangakkara (287) | Sri Lanka | 756/5 dec | South Africa | Colombo, 2006 |
| 13 | Graeme Smith (232), Neil Mckenzie (226) | South Africa | 583/7 dec | Bangladesh | Chittagong, 2008 |
| 14 | Gautam Gambhir (206), VVS Laxman (200*) | India | 613/7 dec | Australia | Delhi, 2008 |
| 15 | Mahela Jayawardene (240), Thilan Samaraweera (231) | Sri Lanka | 644/7 dec | Pakistan | Karachi, 2009 |
| 16 | Ricky Ponting (221), Michael Clarke (210) | Australia | 604/7 dec | India | Adelaide, 2012 |
| 17 | Marnus Labuschagne (204), Steve Smith (200*) | Australia | 598/4 dec | West Indies | Perth, 2022 |
| 18 | Kane Williamson (215), Henry Nicholls (200*) | New Zealand | 580/4 dec | Sri Lanka | Wellington, 2023 |
| 19 | Kusal Mendis (245), Nishan Madushka (205) | Sri Lanka | 704/3 dec | Ireland | Galle, 2023 |
| 20 | Harry Brook (317), Joe Root (262) | England | 823/7 dec | Pakistan | Multan, 2024 |
Key Stats
4 – Number of players who make it to this elite list more than once. Sir Don Bradman, perhaps the greatest Test batter of all time is a common name in the first two instances of 2 players scoring double tons in a single innings.
The other 3 are former Pakistan skipper Javed Miandad and the Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene & Kumar Sangakkara. Both of these former Sri Lanka captains have scored a double century each in the same innings together once and their other one came with different partners.
952/6 dec – This is the highest total ever posted in Test cricket history (check top ten here) and it was by Sri Lanka in 1997 against India at Colombo. In the same innings, Sanath Jayasuriya hammered 340, while his partner-in-crime Roshan Mahanama made 225.
823/7 dec – Likewise, the fourth highest total posted by a team (England) Test cricket, saw Harry Brook and Joe Root recording their respective double tons.
4 – Number of instances where one of the batters had converted their double into a triple century. The players are Gary Sobers, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, and Harry Brook.
5 – Out of the 20 instances listed here, Sri Lanka and Australia batters have been in the thick of things on five occasions each. Pakistan comes next with 3 times, while West Indies and England batters have done it twice each.
