Brendon McCullum’s 302 is the…..
28th triple hundred in Test cricket
8th triple hundred by a captain
4th triple hundred vs India (Graham Gooch, Sanath Jayasuriya and Michael Clarke are the others to score a triple ton vs India)
3rd triple hundred by a batsman at number 5 (Don Bradman and Michael Clarke being the others)
2nd triple hundred in third innings of a Test (after Hanif Mohammad)
2nd triple hundred on New Zealand soil (after Wally Hammond)
1st triple hundred for New Zealand
McCullum’s 302 is now the highest score by a New Zealand batsman, beating Martin Crowe’s 299 also at Wellington in 1990-91.
McCullum’s 302 followed his 224 at Auckland. He thus became only the fourth batsman after Don Bradman, Wally Hammond and Michael Clarke to score a triple and a double hundred in the same series. Bradman did so on two occasions.
McCullum’s 775-minute epic is easily the longest by a New Zealand batsman in Test cricket. Glenn Turner had batted for 704 minutes against West Indies at Georgetown in 1971-72 scoring 259.
McMullum’s innings is also the longest by any batsman on New Zealand soil. Pakistan’s Shoaib Mohammad had batted for 720 minutes while scoring 163 also at Wellington in 1988-89.
McCullum’s innings is the second longest by any batsman against India after Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya’s 799-minute vigil at Colombo RPS in 1997-98 on the way to scoring 340.
McCullum just failed to beat the longest innings ever by a captain in Test cricket. Brian Lara had batted for 778 minutes during his 400* against England at St.John’s in 2003-04.
McCullum ended the series with 535 runs – the fourth highest run-aggregate by a batsman in a two-match series. The record is held by Sanath Jayasuriya with 571 runs also against India in 1997-98.
Jimmy Neesham became tenth New Zealander to score a century on Test debut. He joined the ranks with Jackie Mills, Bruce Taylor, Rod Redmond, Mark Greatbatch, Mathew Sinclair, Lou Vincent, Scott Styris, Kane Williamson and Hamish Rutherford. Taylor, Williamson and now Neesham are the three to do so against India.
At 23 year 153 days Neesham is the fourth youngest New Zealander to score a century on Test debut after Kane Williamson (20 years 91 days), Bruce Taylor (21 years 237 days) and Lou Vincent (23 years 19 days).
Neesham’s 137* is the highest score for a debutant at number eight. He surpasses Pakistan’s Azhar Mahmood’s 128* against South Africa at Rawalpindi in 1997-98.
New Zealand’s total of 680 for 8 declared is their highest ever in Test cricket, surpassing 671 for four against Sri Lanka also at Wellington in 1990-91.
The seventh wicket partnership of 179 runs between McCullum and Neesham is New Zealand’s second best for this wicket against India, after 186-run stand between Jesse Ryder and Daniel Vettori at Hamilton in 2008-09.
The disparity of 488 runs between New Zealand’s two innings (192 and 680-8d) is the third highest for any side - second innings total more as compared to the first innings. Pakistan had a disparity of 551 against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1957-58. After scoring 106 in the first innings, Pakistan replied with 657 for 8 declared in the second innings. New Zealand had a disparity of 497 runs against Sri Lanka also at Wellington in 1990-91 (174 in the first innings and 671 for four in the second).
Virat Kohli (105*) scored his sixth hundred in 24th Test – his second in four Tests against New Zealand.
India now have not registered a single win in last 14 overseas Tests. They have lost 10 and drawn remaining four.
