Flower for all seasons
Mohandas Menon
Prolific left-handed batsman Andy Flower, during his first innings knock of 142 against South Africa, at Harare, on September 9, 2001, became the first Zimbabwean and the 71st batsman in Test cricket history to reach the landmark of 4,000 runs.
Later, in the second innings, Flower, who was left stranded one run short of a double century, became the sixth batsman in Test cricket to record a score of 199 (see table below).
However, Flower's feat was unique since he is the only batsman to remain unbeaten while doing so. Australian Lindsay Hassett had remained unbeaten on 198 against India at Adelaide in January 1948, which was then the highest unbeaten score made by a Test batsman without reaching a double hundred.
Flower, meanwhile, also missed the rare feat of scoring a 100 and a 200 in the same Test match. Only five Test batsmen - Australian Doug Walters, Indian Sunil Gavaskar, West Indian Lawrence Rowe, Australian Greg Chappell and Englishman Graham Gooch - have had the distinction of doing so, with Gooch scoring a triple and a hundred in the same match against India in 1990.
By aggregating 341 runs (142+199) in the Harare match, Flower became the first batsman to score 300-plus runs against South Africa in a Test match. Don Bradman's unbeaten 299 in one innings (at Adelaide in January 1932) was the previous best.
Flower (142 & 199 not out), who became the first 'keeper to score hundreds in each innings of a Test match also bettered the previous highest score by a 'keeper against South Africa, which was the 164 by Englishman Alec Stewart at Manchester in July 1998.
For the record, only four 'keeper-batsmen in Test cricket history have had the distinction of recording double hundreds, with Flower being one of them. His unbeaten 232 against India at Nagpur last season still remains the highest by a 'keeper in Test cricket. However, by missing a double hundred by just one run, he missed the opportunity of becoming the first 'keeper to score two Test double hundreds. Flower now has four scores over 150, which is by far the maximum by any keeper-batsman in Test cricket history. Following him are West Indian Clyde Walcott and Englishman Alec Stewart with just two scores of over 150.
At the end of the Harare Test, Flower has a career batting average of 55.18, which places him in the tenth position among the Test batsmen with over 4,000 runs. The last table has the details.
Profile:
Known as: Andy Flower
Born: Cape Town, South Africa, 28-4-1968
Role: Left hand middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper.
Teams: Mashonaland
First-class debut: 1986-87
Test debut: v India at Harare, 1992-93
Highest Test score: 232* v India at Nagpur, 2000-01
Best Test wicket-keeping performance (in an innings): 5 (5ct) v England at Nottingham, 2000
Best Test wicket-keeping performance (in a match):
5 (4ct+1st) v New Zealand at Harare, 1992-93
5 (5ct) v Pakistan at Harare, 1994-95
5 (5ct) v Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC), 1997-98
5 (5ct) v Sri Lanka at Harare, 1999-00
5 (5ct) v England at Nottingham, 2000
5 (4ct+1st) v Bangladesh at Harare, 2000-01
5 (5ct) v India at Harare, 2001-02
Test captaincy record: P20, W1, L10, D9 from 1993-94 to 2000
His summary of runs scored against each opponent
