5 Great Cricketers who never scored a test century at Lord's

Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, EnglandScoring a test hundred at Lord’s – The Home of Cricket has always been special for every player who ever played at the venue, after all who would not like to have his name inscribed on the Lord’s honours board.A century at Lord’s highlights the entire career of a player and then he is looked upon as a special player. Many players have scored centuries at Lord’s and went on to achieve extraordinary status in the game but there are also some greats of the game who never made a three-figure score at the venue.Let’s have a look at 5 such greats of the game.

#5 Jacques Kallis

Jacques Kallis had a paltry average of 10.8 at Lord’s

Kallis redefined the meaning of an all-rounder during his playing days, he probably is one of the best all-rounders to have ever played the game of cricket. The former Proteas all-rounder has the second highest number of test centuries (45) in the world, only 6 short of Sachin Tendulkar who has scored 51 test hundreds.

Jacques Kallis has been a perfect team man, he gave his everything in whatever he did for South Africa and was one of the most consistent batsmen of his times, irrespective of the playing conditions. With the ball in hand, he clocked 140 consistently and was not just ‘any other bowler’ in the side.

He was the main reason South Africa maintained their position at the top of the ICC Test Rankings for quite a long time. Kallis achieved several personal milestones during his career but the one even Kallis could not achieve was getting his name up there on the Lord’s honours board. However, Kallis got just 5 opportunities to score that hundred at the home of cricket but he failed miserably at Lord’s.

Kallis scores at Lord’s – 0, 7, 13, 3, 31 – a total of 54 runs at a nightmarish average of 10.8 for the best all-rounder of his era.

#4 Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting never had a good outing at Lord’s

The former Australian captain is one of the greatest players to have ever played the game. He was the best batsman in each format for quite a long time during his career, he was a part of the Australian team that lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1999 and later on himself led Australia to the ultimate glory in 2003 and 2007.

Ponting was the captain of the Australian team that dominated World Cricket in the 2000’s. He has scored against all the nations in all the conditions but even Punter could not break his jinx of not being able to score a hundred at Lord’s in his 8 appearances at the venue.

Ponting’s scores at Lord’s – 14, 4, 9, 42, 2, 38, 26, 0 – A total of 135 runs at a below par average of 16.87 for a special player like Ricky Ponting.

#3 Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar’s performances are probably the best among the lot at Lord’s

Not only some modern greats, but also a few legends of World cricket have not been able to get their name on the Lord’s honour’s board and Sunil Gavaskar is one of those legends who have had this void in his career.

Gavaskar is the one who made the Indians believe that they can compete with the best in the business when he himself faced the lethal bowling attack of the West Indies without any helmet in the 70’s comprising of Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Sir Garfield Sobers and scored heavily against the best attack back then.

The Mumbaikar scored 34 test centuries and 13 out of his 34 hundreds have come against the West Indies which also include 3 double hundreds. He is probably the reason why India became a batsman oriented nation, even Sachin Tendulkar looked up to Gavaskar as his role model during his early playing days.

The diminutive genius retired with 34 test centuries against his name which was the most by any batsman at the time he retired. Even though he scored two fifties at the Lord’s but the Little master never scored a hundred at Lord’s in his 10 appearances during his entire career.

Sunil Gavaskar’s scores at Lord’s – 4, 53, 49, 5, 42, 59, 48, 24, 34, 22 – Gavaskar Sir scored a total of 376 runs at the home of cricket including 2 half centuries at a mediocre average of 37.6.

#2 Brian Lara

Lara scored one half-century at Lord’s

The only thing that comes to our mind when we hear the name Brian Lara is 400*. How can anyone forget the man who holds the invincible record for highest individual score in test cricket. Lara has been one of the best batsman of his era and one of the best to have ever played for West Indies.

His unique style of batting gave him that extra time to play the ball, he was elegant in a unique way. Lara scored 34 test centuries and his 400* came against England in 2004 at St. John’s but the left-hander never reached the three-figure mark at Lord’s in England’s own backyard in his 6 appearances at the home of cricket during his entire cricketing career.

Brian Lara’s scores at Lord’s – 6, 54, 6, 5, 11, 44 – A total of 126 runs at a very low average of 22.66 compared to his career average of 52.88.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar had a shocking average of 21.67 at Lord’s

The God of Cricket achieved almost everything during his cricketing career, he scored 100 International centuries, over 31 thousand international runs, hundreds against all test playing nations, ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 but the home of cricket never received the blessings from the God of Cricket and who’s loss has it been, Sachin’s or Lord’s.... ?

The readers can decide that.

Tendulkar scored 51 test centuries during his career but could not score one at the Mecca of Cricket. Since his debut in 1989, Sachin stepped into the famous ground 9 times during his entire cricketing career but could not reach the three-figure mark.

Tendulkar’s scores at Lord’s read – 10, 27, 31, 16, 12, 37, 16, 34, 12 – a total of 195 runs at an average of 21.67 which does not do justice to what Sachin Tendulkar has been all over the years.