Flashback: The first cricketer to play in 100 Test matches

Many aspiring cricketers do dream of playing Test cricket for their national team but only a few are lucky in doing so. A very few of those carried themselves on to feature in over 100 matches in the longer format. As of today, 70 players have been able to play as many as 100 Tests including 15 of them for England. Colin Cowdrey was the first of those 67 players to complete 100 caps in Test history.

The former England captain got this chance during the 1968 home Ashes series at the age of 35. The 3rd game of the series in 5-match Test series was hosted by Birmingham’s Edgbaston which marked to be the 100th Test appearance of Colin Cowdrey. The English team was 0-1 down in the series ahead of the 3rd Test where they elected to bat first after the first day was washed out.

#OnThisDay in 1932, Colin Cowdrey – the first man to play 100 Tests – was born.

His Test career spanned an astonishing 20 years ? pic.twitter.com/MmgJRGHZHY

— ICC (@ICC) December 24, 2019

Cowdrey made most of his milestone match scoring 104 from 247 balls during his 244-minute stay. Cowdrey led from the front and reached his century on the 3rd day morning to help his team to post 409/10. The right-handed batsman also became the 2nd player to breach the 7000-run mark in Test cricket during his hundred.

Australia, in reply, stumbled from 121/1 and got bowled out for just 222 runs as the track showed signs of slowness and help for the spin bowlers. Cowdrey did not bat in the second essay and let his batters last 42 overs before declaring the innings. England made 142/3 and set a target of 330 in front of the visiting team with little over a session left in the match.

Australia made 68/1 in 28.2 overs before the match was settled in a draw. The 4th Test of the series also ended in a draw but the final match went in England’s favour which helped them to draw the series. Seven players after Cowdrey were lucky enough to smash a century in their career’s 100th Test appearance. Ricky Ponting went further by scoring twin tons in career’s 100th match in this format.