As England and Pakistan continue their battle in the third Test at Edgbaston, let us take a look back at the double hundreds scored by English batsmen at this historic venue.
Alastair Cook – 294 v India, 3rd Test, 2011
- Cook batted for 773 minutes – the longest Test innings by an Englishman until he himself surpassed it with an 836–minute effort at Abu Dhabi in 2015–16.
- This was England‘s sixth–highest individual score and the highest since Graham Gooch‘s 333 against India in 1990.
- Cook‘s innings created a new Edgbaston record for the highest score, going past Peter May‘s 285* against the West Indies in 1957.
- Prior to this innings, Cook had averaged 5.00 across four innings in the series.
Peter May – 285* v West Indies, 1st Test, 1957
Peter May (front) scored a monumental 285* against the West Indies in 1957, and was part of a record stand of 411 with Colin Cowdrey (behind) (source – gettyimages)
- May’s score is the highest by an English captain in Test cricket.
- The partnership of 411 between May and Colin Cowdrey remains England’s highest for any wicket and was a fourth-wicket world record until 2008-09.
- May’s innings lasted for 600 minutes, rescuing his team from a dire position.
- This Test was the first at Edgbaston since 1929.
David Gower – 215 v Australia, 5th Test, 1985
- This innings took Gower’s final series tally to 732 at 81.33 – a record for an English batsman in a home Ashes series.
- Gower and Tim Robinson shared in a partnership of 331 for the second wicket.
- This captain’s innings was Gower’s career-best, eclipsing the 200* made at the same ground against India in 1979.
- In the second innings, Gower caught Wayne Phillips on the rebound, a dismissal that was controversial in nature.
David Lloyd – 214* v India, 3rd Test, 1974
- This was only Lloyd’s second Test; he scored a solid 46 on debut in the previous Test at Lord’s.
- This was his only Test hundred – in fact, he never crossed 50 again in seven Tests.
- Lloyd was on the field throughout this match.
- This was the highest score by an English left-hander against India, until 2011.
Nasser Hussain – 207 v Australia, 1st Test, 1997
- Hussain shared in a partnership of 288 with Graham Thorpe, which created a new fourth-wicket record for England against Australia.
- This was Hussain’s maiden double hundred in all first-class cricket.
- England’s last Ashes double centurion before this was David Gower’s 215 in 1985, also at Edgbaston.
- This was England’s 600th Test century.
David Gower – 200* v India, 1st Test, 1979
- This was then Gower’s highest first-class score.
- Gower’s double century came off just 279 balls – a strike rate of 71.68.
- This was the first of two Edgbaston double hundreds for Gower; he bettered it with 215 in the 1985 Ashes.
- Gower is the leading run-getter at Edgbaston, with a tally of 767 in nine Tests at an average of 59.
The Cricket Cauldron 