D Elgar of South Africa scored 136 in the fourth innings of The Oval test against England. His knock was in a losing  cause as South Africa lost the game by 239 runs. D Elgar became the third South African batsman to witness his fourth innings century in a losing cause.

 

He became the second South African batsman to witness his fourth innings century in a losing cause against England. The first South African batsman was HW Taylor. His fourth innings century – 102 against England at Durban in Feb 1923 was in a losing cause. It is interesting to note that it took 94 years for a South African batsman to witness the fourth innings century in a losing cause.

 

No	Player	Runs	Inns	Team	Oppn	Ground	Start Date
1	HW Taylor	102	4	SAF	Eng	Durban	16 Feb 1923
2	RA McLean	113	4	SAF	NZl	Cape Town	01 Jan 1962
3	D Elgar	136	4	SAF	Eng	The Oval	27 Jul 2017

 

HW Taylor was the second batsman in the annals of test cricket to witness his fourth innings hundred in a losing cause. JB Hobbs was the first batsman to witness his fourth innings century in a losing cause. He has scored 123 against Australia at Adelaide in Jan 1921.D Elgar’s 136 against England at The Oval provide the 73^rd occasion of a batsman’s fourth innings century going in vain in the annals of test cricket. All such occasions are tabulated below.

 

No	Player	Runs	Inns	Team	Oppn	Ground	Start Date
1	JB Hobbs	123	4	Eng	Aus	Adelaide	14 Jan 1921
2	HW Taylor	102	4	SAF	Eng	Durban	16 Feb 1923
3	H Sutcliffe	115	4	Eng	Aus	Sydney	19 Dec 1924
4	FE Woolley	123	4	Eng	Aus	Sydney	19 Dec 1924
5	H Sutcliffe	127	4	Eng	Aus	Melbourne	01 Jan 1925
6	EH Hendren	123	4	Eng	Win	Georgetown	21 Feb 1930
7	DG Bradman	131	4	Aus	Eng	Nottingham	13 Jun 1930
8	M Leyland	111*	4	Eng	Aus	Melbourne	01 Jan 1937
9	C Washbrook	114	4	Eng	Win	Lord’s	24 Jun 1950
0	JB Stollmeyer	104	4	Win	Aus	Sydney	25 Jan 1952
11	W Watson	116	4	Eng	Win	Kingston	15 Jan 1954
12	AA Baig	112	4	Ind	Eng	Manchester	23 Jul 1959
13	PR Umrigar	118	4	Ind	Eng	Manchester	23 Jul 1959
14	RB Kanhai	110	4	Win	Eng	Port of Spain	28 Jan 1960
15	RA McLean	113	4	SAF	NZl	Cape Town	01 Jan 1962
16	ML Jaisimha	101	4	Ind	Aus	Brisbane	19 Jan 1968
17	GS Sobers	113	4	Win	Aus	Sydney	14 Feb 1969
18	SM Nurse	137	4	Win	Aus	Sydney	14 Feb 1969
29	BE Congdon	176	4	NZl	Eng	Nottingham	07 Jun 1973
20	V Pollard	116	4	NZl	Eng	Nottingham	07 Jun 1973
21	FC Hayes	106*	4	Eng	Win	The Oval	26 Jul 1973
22	APE Knott	106*	4	Eng	Aus	Adelaide	25 Jan 1975
23	IVA Richards	101	4	Win	Aus	Adelaide	23 Jan 1976
24	DW Randall	174	4	Eng	Aus	Melbourne	12 Mar 1977
25	Asif Iqbal	135	4	Pak	Win	Kingston	15 Apr 1977
26	SM Gavaskar	113	4	Ind	Aus	Brisbane	02 Dec 1977
27	AR Border	105	4	Aus	Pak	Melbourne	10 Mar 1979
28	GA Gooch	116	4	Eng	Win	Bridgetown	13 Mar 1981
29	GN Yallop	114	4	Aus	Eng	Manchester	13 Aug 1981
30	AR Border	123*	4	Aus	Eng	Manchester	13 Aug 1981
31	AJ Lamb	113	4	Eng	Win	Lord’s	16 Jun 1988
32	Ijaz Ahmed	121	4	Pak	Aus	Melbourne	12 Jan 1990
33	M Azharuddin	106	4	Ind	Aus	Adelaide	25 Jan 1992
34	PV Simmons	110	4	Win	Aus	Melbourne	26 Dec 1992
35	GA Gooch	133	4	Eng	Aus	Manchester	03 Jun 1993
36	Moin Khan	117*	4	Pak	Srl	Sialkot	22 Sep 1995
37	ST Jayasuriya	112	4	Srl	Aus	Adelaide	25 Jan 1996
38	Mohammad Wasim	109*	4	Pak	NZl	Lahore	21 Nov 1996
39	SL Campbell	113	4	Win	Aus	Brisbane	22 Nov 1996
40	SR Tendulkar	136	4	Ind	Pak	Chennai	28 Jan 1999
41	ME Trescothick	117	4	Eng	Pak	Manchester	31 May 2001
42	NJ Astle	222	4	Eng	Eng	Christchurch	13 Mar 2002
43	AB Agarkar	109*	4	Ind	Eng	Lord’s	25 Jul 2002
44	BC Lara	122	4	Win	Aus	Port of Spain	19 Apr 2003
45	ST Jayasuriya	131	4	Srl	Aus	Kandy	16 Mar 2004
46	Shahid Afridi	122	4	Pak	Win	Bridgetown	26 May 2005
47	Yuvraj Singh	122	4	Ind	Pak	Karachi	29 Jan 2006
48	AN Cook	116	4	Eng	Aus	Perth	14 Dec 2006
49	S Chanderpaul	116*	4	Win	Eng	Manchester	07 Jun 2007
50	Younis Khan	126	4	Pak	SAF	Karachi	01 Oct 2007
51	KC Sangakkara	192	4	Srl	Aus	Hobart	16 Nov 2007
52	Mohammad Ashraful	101	4	Ban	Srl	Dhaka	26 Dec 2008
53	MJ Clarke	136	4	Aus	Eng	Lord’s	16 Jul 2009
54	MEK Hussey	121	4	Aus	Eng	The Oval	20 Aug 2009
55	DL Vettori	140	4	NZl	Srl	Colombo (SSC)	26 Aug 2009
56	Mushfiqur Rahim	101	4	Ban	Ind	Chittagong	17 Jan 2010
57	Shakib Al Hasan	100	4	Ban	NZl	Hamilton	15 Feb 2010
58	Junaid Siddique	106	4	Ban	Eng	Chittagong	12 Mar 2010
59	DPMD Jayawardene	105	4	Srl	Aus	Galle	31 Aug 2011
60	BRM Taylor	117	4	Zim	NZl	Bulawayo	01 Nov 2011
61	DA Warner	123*	4	Aus	NZl	Hobart	09 Dec 2011
62	IJL Trott	112	4	Eng	Srl	Galle	26 Mar 2012
63	H Masakadza	111*	4	Zim	Ban	Harare	25 Apr 2013
64	BA Stokes	120	4	Eng	Aus	Perth	13 Dec 2013
65	S Dhawan	115	4	Ind	NZl	Auckland	06 Feb 2014
66	CJL Rogers	107	4	Aus	SAF	Port Elizabeth	20 Feb 2014
67	MM Ali	108*	4	Eng	Srl	Leeds	20 Jun 2014
68	V Kohli	141	4	Ind	Aus	Adelaide	09 Dec 2014
69	AD Mathews	110	4	Srl	Ind	Colombo (SSC)	28 Aug 2015
70	DM Bravo	116	4	Win	Pak	Dubai (DSC)	13 Oct 2016
71	Asad Shafiq	137	4	Pak	Aus	Brisbane	15 Dec 2016
72	RL Chase	101*	4	Win	Pak	Roseau	10 May 2017
73	D Elgar	136	4	SAF	Eng	The Oval	27 Jul 2017

 

D Elgar’s 136 against England at The Oval provide the sixteenth occasion of a batsman’s fourth innings century going in vain against England in the annals of test cricket. All such occasions are tabulated below.

 

No	Player	Runs	Inns	Team	Oppn	Ground	Start Date
1	HW Taylor	102	4	SAF	Eng	Durban	16 Feb 1923
2	DG Bradman	131	4	Aus	Eng	Nottingham	13 Jun 1930
3	AA Baig	112	4	Ind	Eng	Manchester	23 Jul 1959
4	PR Umrigar	118	4	Ind	Eng	Manchester	23 Jul 1959
5	RB Kanhai	110	4	Win	Eng	Port of Spain	28 Jan 1960
6	BE Congdon	176	4	NZl	Eng	Nottingham	07 Jun 1973
7	V Pollard	116	4	NZl	Eng	Nottingham	07 Jun 1973
8	GN Yallop	114	4	Aus	Eng	Manchester	13 Aug 1981
9	AR Border	123*	4	Aus	Eng	Manchester	13 Aug 1981
10	NJ Astle	222	4	Eng	Eng	Christchurch	13 Mar 2002
11	AB Agarkar	109*	4	Ind	Eng	Lord’s	25 Jul 2002
12	S Chanderpaul	116*	4	Win	Eng	Manchester	07 Jun 2007
13	MJ Clarke	136	4	Aus	Eng	Lord’s	16 Jul 2009
14	MEK Hussey	121	4	Aus	Eng	The Oval	20 Aug 2009
15	Junaid Siddique	106	4	Ban	Eng	Chittagong	12 Mar 2010
16	D Elgar	136	4	SAF	Eng	The Oval	27 Jul 2017