Big names without a Test century on Sri Lankan soil

When his teammates were falling to the Sri Lankan bowling, Craig Ervine with the little support from the middle order struck a brilliant century against the home side on the first day of the Colombo (RPS) Test. The left-hander remained unbeaten on 151 at the end of the first day of the Test and will be aiming for a bigger score.

While Ervine already has already amassed 151 runs in his maiden outing in the Test format in Sri Lanka, some of the very well-known batting legends have failed to score a hundred in the format on Sri Lankan soil. Even from Zimbabwe, he is only the 2nd player to score a Test hundred in Sri Lanka after Andy Flower.

South Africa’s Jacques Kallis and Windies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul, among the elite list of 10,000 run-scorers in Test cricket have failed to score a hundred on Sri Lanka soil. Even the big names, Mike Atherton and Mark Waugh were not able to attain that as they played during the legendary spinner Muralitharan’s period, who made things tough for even the better players.

Ervine’s feat can’t be taken lightly either as the Zimbabwe batsman had to overcome the likes of Rangana Herath who destroyed the No.1 ranked Australian side not so long ago. The player who batted the most innings former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

He played 11 Tests in Sri Lanka and managed to score only 4 fifties in 20 innings with a highest of 66*. Here is a list of players who have made a good name in the longer format as a batsman but are yet to (haven’t) score a hundred in the format in Sri Lanka. (Min: 8 innings)

(Stat as on July 14, 2017)