When women's Test double centuries met results..

How we'll see a result in women's Tests featuring a double ton after 22 years...

I rarely tweet purely on instinct. 

I'll usually do a little research. Or link to an article. Or retweet sites or authors I find credible. 

I’m usually not trigger happy on Twitter. 

https://twitter.com/SnehalPradhan/status/1569936945157140480

(I said usually. We all have our days.)

But on this occasion, as I was watching highlights of Tammy Beaumont getting her double hundred, I did tweet the first thing that came to mind.

A hypothesis. Untested. Unchecked. Which I thought sounded right. 

https://twitter.com/SnehalPradhan/status/1672631711107100675

It was pretty wrong. 

https://twitter.com/_hypocaust/status/1672634554669039616

Something felt counter intuitive, though. My logic was, in four-day Tests, there would hardly be time for a batting-second double hundred, if they wanted a result, right? (and I’m not counting a draw as a result.)

It turns out the hypothesis was the other way around: In four day Tests where there are double hundreds, results are rare. In any innings. 

And I confirmed that by revisiting the scorecard of every women’s Test double century before Tammy Beaumont’s, in order of high scores:

Kiran Baluch- 242 vs West Indies, 2004. Match drawn. 

Baluch’s 242, the highest score in women's Tests, represents just how wrong and right my hypothesis was. Wrong, because it came batting first. Right, because there wasn’t enough time for a result. Baluch’s effort allowed Pakistan to enforce the follow on against the West Indies. But the Windies responded with a brilliant batting display in the second innings, to save the Test. Pakistan were set 162 in the last innings. The game was drawn after 23 overs, suggesting they had a maximum of 38 overs available to chase 162, if that. 

Safe to say, this match would have seen a result if there was a fifth day.

Mithali Raj- 214 vs England, 2002. Match drawn. 

Mithali’s 214 is the highest score in women's Tests for a team batting second. And it put women’s cricket back in the public consciousness in India, as it was a then world record.  India put England under severe pressure in that game, gaining a 138-run lead by the team each team had batted once. That also took up most of three days though. By the end of the fourth day, England had lost 6 wickets for 198, a lead of just 60, when both captains agreed on a draw. Imagine how a fifth day, and a possible win for India, might have amplified Mithali’s achievement even more than it did. 

Ellyse Perry- 213* vs Australia, 2017.  Match drawn.

Perry's double ton put Australia in a commanding position after Australia had bowled out England for a below-par 280 in the first ever pink-ball women’s Test. Perry’s knock helped Australia amass 448, but that also meant there was only time to bat once unless England collapsed. England did no such thing, and their dour batting in the second innings earned them the draw. England only led by 38 with eight wickets in hand at the end of the fourth day, and a fifth day may have been intriguing. 

Karen Rolton- 209 vs England, 2001.  Australia win. 

Now this is where this list gets interesting. Rolton’s 209 is one of the rare double centuries that have yielded a result in women’s four-day Tests. Mostly thanks to the brilliant bowling of Cathryn Fitzpatrick. Taking three top-order wickets in England’s first innings, before coming back to knock over the tail for a five-for, she helped Australia roll England over for just 144 in 80.5 overs. That left enough time in the game even after Rolton’s double hundred, with Australia piling on 383 in just 112 overs at 3.41 RPO. England were batting again by the end of Day 2, and they fought back, with Claire Taylor scoring a century of her own. But Fitzpatrick picked up four more wickets, and Australia effectively batted only once (their second innings target was seven). The match was done in three days. On a pitch where there were quick runs on offer, it’s criminal that Fitzpatrick didn't get Player of the Match.

Kristy Bond- 204 vs England, 1996. Match drawn.  

New Zealand’s Kristy Bond’s double ton, the only one by a Kiwi and the first in the history of women’s Tests, might have  been played on a highway, not a cricket pitch. We could well have had two other double tons in that match, with two England batters scoring 144 and 160. And both teams only batted once, over four days, with just 18 wickets falling. Safe to say, a fifth day probably wouldn't have saved this Test. 

Michelle Gozko 204 vs England, 2001. Australia win. 

You could take the previous Ashes Test in this list and copy paste the script here (though this one happened first): Fitzpatrick bowls England out cheaply (five-for again, England all out for 103 in 81 overs). An Aussie scores a double (Michelle Gozko, and the next highest score in the innings is 36). This time, England don't make enough to make Australia bat again. Game over in three days, and Fitzpatrick doesn't get Player of the Match (again), despite another three wickets in the second innings. Sigh. 

Joaane Broadbent- 200 vs England, 1998. Match drawn. 

Another day out in batting paradise, with only 17 wickets falling across four days. Besides Broadbent’s effort, which made her the first Aussie to score a double ton, there's two more big hundreds in this match: Mel Jones scoring 131 and Janette Brittin’s 144. Another one where a fifth day probably wouldn’t have made a difference, although if there was a fifth day, there might have been a more sporting declaration. Interestingly, despite three centuries in the game, Charlotte Edwards got Player of the Match for twin fifties and two wickets.

(Player of the Match awards in the early 2000s were a wild ride.)

The point of this trip down statistical memory lane is that Tammy Beaumont’s double hundred is sure to be an outlier, in that we are very likely to have a result. 

This will be the first time since that glorious summer of 2001, where we had two double tons in two wins. The common thread in both those previous occasions was Fitzpatrick, whose pace seems to have been a point of difference (judging purely by scorecards). With increasing professionalism, and players getting used to playing genuine pace, good teams on good pitches just don’t get knocked over for a 100 anymore. 

This is what having a fifth day has allowed: time and space for both rare batting milestones and Test results to coexist again, when good teams play on good pitches. I’m writing this before the fifth day’s play begins, and I can’t say who will win (cough, Australia, cough, someone beat them please, cough), but I’m loving the expanded canvas this narrative can play out on. It’s a canvas that can inspire action; it got me writing again, after a long break. And you can be sure it will get plenty of boys and girls picking up the bat and ball, seeing dreams of scoring a Test double ton in a win for their country.