8 greatest calendar years in Test batting history

Test cricket is replete with instances where the individual brilliance of a player has had a massive impact on the outcome of the game.

Charles Bannerman scored 165 in Australia's 45-run win against England in the first-ever Test match in Melbourne in 1877. Bannerman scored two-thirds (165/245 = 67.34%) of Australia's runs in the first innings.

Almost a century and a half later, it remains a record for the highest percentage of runs scored by any player in a completed Test innings. It is one of the longest-standing records in the format.

Forty-six years later, Charles Russel of England became the first player to score centuries in both innings of a Test match in a winning cause, when he did so against South Africa in the 1923 Durban Test.

In later years, when more teams joined the Test bandwagon, Test series and tours became more frequent. However, it was not until 1976, almost a century after the first Test was played, that a player scored over 1500 runs in a year. Although there had been players who had tallied 1000 Test runs in a year, it was the first time the 1500-run mark had been breached.

The threshold of 1500 runs is the marker of a genuinely excellent year by a Test batsman, with the game witnessing only a handful of such instances in its eventful 143-year history.

On that note, let us take a look at the eight occasions Test cricket saw 1500 or more runs scored by a batsman in a year.

Note: The instances are in descending order of the player's average during the year.

#8 Sunil Gavaskar (1979): 1555 runs

Sunil Gavaskar was already an established player in the Indian Test team when the year 1979 saw the original 'Little Master' break more new ground.

The man from Bombay, now called Mumbai, had scored centuries in both innings of a Test on two separate occasions. Gavaskar achieved the feat against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1971, and Pakistan in Karachi in 1978. In the process, Gavaskar joined an elite group of only five players to have accomplished the milestone.

A few weeks after his Karachi heroics, as 1978 made way for 1979, Gavaskar scored centuries in both innings of the third Test in Calcutta (now called Kolkata) against the West Indies.

The twin three-figure knocks in the game made Gavaskar the first of three players to register two centuries in a Test match on three occasions. His fourth hundred of the series arrived in the fifth Test in Delhi as Gavaskar won his first series as captain.

In the four-match tour of England later that year, Gavaskar scored half-centuries in all but one of the six innings in the first three Tests. With India trailing 0-1 in the series, Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan closed Day 4 of the fourth Test at the Oval at 76 without loss, as the visitors eyed an improbable 438-run target for a series-levelling win.

On the fifth day, the opener became only the third player to score a fourth innings double century. Gavaskar's sparkling knock of 221 took the visitors to the precipice of a famous win.

However, a late flurry of wickets meant that the highest successful run-chase in Test history was not to be, and a draw ensued. For his 542 runs in the series, the right-hander was named one of the Wisden cricketers of the year.

#7 Ricky Ponting (2005): 1544 runs

The Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, made a rousing start to the year, ushering in 2005 with a majestic 207 against Pakistan in Sydney.

After failing to get a fifty in the first two Tests away in New Zealand, the right-hander was soon among the runs. Ponting smashed a century and an unbeaten 86 in the third Test in Auckland as Australia took the three-match series 2-0.

In one of the most memorable Ashes series in recent memory, the Australian captain struggled for runs in the first two Tests. Ponting's men won the first Test at Lords before falling short by two runs in a thriller in Edgbaston.

In an enthralling third Test at Old Trafford, Australia were asked to chase an unlikely target of 423 runs to take the series lead. Ponting could not have chosen a more opportune moment to make a return to form, thwarting England's victory charge with a brilliant patient knock of 156. The captain fell with just four overs of play left in the day.

The hosts, needing a wicket to take the win, went for the kill but were thwarted by the Australian last-wicket pair of Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath as a thrilling draw ensued.

Ponting's indifferent form, though, resurfaced in the next two games of the series as England overturned a 0-1 series deficit to reclaim the Ashes with a 2-1 series win.

A one-off Test against a World XI in Sydney saw the Australian captain score 46 and 54, dismissed by Andrew Flintoff on both occasions. In a subsequent three-match home series against the West Indies, Ponting scored centuries in both innings of the first Test in Brisbane, a feat he would repeat two more times in his illustrious career.

The then 31-year old scored a pair of half-centuries in the drawn first Test against the visiting South Africans in Perth. A century in the second Test in Melbourne saw Australia take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Ponting's 1533 runs during the year, scored at a healthy average of 67.1, made him the first player in Test history to score over 1500 Test runs in a year on multiple occasions. Fifteen years later, he remains the only player to do so. The Australian captain scored the most Test runs in a calendar year since a certain Viv Richards in 1976.

The Tasmanian's run tally for the year was a record by any captain in Test history, before he was surpassed by the player just ahead of him on this list.

#6 Graeme Smith (2008): 1656 runs

Entrusted with captaining the South African team after playing only eight Tests, Graeme Smith became the youngest Test captain of the Proteas when he led the team against Bangladesh after the 2003 World Cup.

Smith is the only player in Test history to have skippered in over 100 Tests (109) and win on at least 50 occasions (53). Incidentally, the South African's 29 Test losses as captain is the most in the annals of the game.

The big left-hander amassed consecutive double centuries in the 2003 away series in England as he tallied 1198 Test runs that year. It was to get better five years later, as Smith registered the most prolific year with the bat by any captain in Test history.

Smith opened the year with innings of 85 and 147 against the visiting West Indies in the Newlands and Kingsmead Tests respectively. The captain (232) then shared a world-record 415-run opening-wicket partnership with Neil McKenzie (226) against Bangladesh in Chittagong. It marked only the second time in Test history that both openers of a team scored double centuries in the same innings.

In the ensuing three-match series in India, Smith scored half-centuries in the drawn first Test in Bengaluru, and the third Test in Kanpur where the hosts won by eight wickets to force a share of the spoils.

The South African captain then embarked on his second tour of England. Smith wasn't as prolific as he was in 2003, but did score a century in the drawn first Test at Lords.

The Proteas won by ten wickets in the next Test in Headingley before Smith's unbeaten 154 in the third Test in Birmingham enabled South Africa to chase down a 281-run target. With the win, the visitors won their first Test series in England in over four decades.

Following a knock of 157 against Bangladesh at the Manguang Oval, Smith scored a second-innings hundred at the WACA in Perth where South Africa successfully chased a lofty 414-run target. It was the highest total chased down on Australian soil and the fourth-highest overall.

In the next Test at Melbourne, the captain's innings of 75 meant that South Africa won their first-ever Test series on Australian soil. In the process, Smith, who has the most runs (8659) in Test history as a captain, became the first player in 32 years to score over 1600 runs (1658) in a year, doing so at a healthy average of 72.

Only two players have ever scored more Test runs in a year than Smith did in 2008. Unsurprisingly, both are situated above Smith in this list. However, Smith's tally of runs in 2008 is the most by a Test captain during a calendar year.

#5 Sachin Tendulkar (2010): 1562 runs

It is only prudent that the player with the most appearances, runs, and centuries in Tests - a certain Sachin Tendulkar- appears in this list of the eight most prolific years by a batsman in Test history.

Having scored over 1000 Test runs in a year on five previous occasions, Tendulkar achieved the same for the sixth time in 2010 at the age of 37. The little master opened the year with an unbeaten century in the first Test in Chittagong. He then followed up with another century in the next Test in Dhaka as India convincingly wrapped up the two-match series.

Despite Tendulkar's second innings hundred, India lost the first Test against South Africa in Nagpur. However, another century from the little maestro in the next Test in Kolkata did not go in vain as the hosts registered an innings win to force a share of the series spoils.

A three-figure knock in a fifth consecutive Test was not to be as Tendulkar was dismissed by Lasith Malinga for 84 in the second innings of the first Test in Galle. Tendulkar, however, responded with a sparkling double century in Colombo, before scoring a second-innings fifty. India won the third Test to force a share of the spoils in the three-match series.

It was then the turn of the visiting Australians to suffer at the hands of Tendulkar. After falling to part-time spinner Marcus North two short of a century in the first Test in Mohali, the Mumbaikar produced a double century and an unbeaten fifty in the next Test in Bengaluru.

With his sixth hundred of the year coming at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Tendulkar created a new record for most Test hundreds in a calendar year by an Indian player. Only two other players in the annals of the game had scored more centuries in a year than Tendulkar, but the right-hander was not done for the year just yet.

The all-time highest run-scorer in Test history endured a rather lean three-match home series against New Zealand, scoring a half-century in four innings before creating more history in the latter part of the year.

Tendulkar scored a sparkling unbeaten 111 in the first Test in Centurion, becoming the first player in Test history to score 50 hundreds, but was powerless to avert an innings defeat against Dale Steyn and co.

With 19 runs in the next Test in Kingsmead, Tendulkar also surpassed his idol Sunil Gavaskar for the most Test runs in a year by an Indian player.

The right-hander's 1562 runs during the year, compiled at an impressive average of 78.1, is the fifth-highest by any player in Test history.

However, Tendulkar takes the honour of being the oldest player to score over 1500 runs in the longest format of the game in a calendar year, which is another feather in his cap.

#4 Viv Richards (1976): 1710 runs

Almost a century after the first-ever Test was played in 1877 between Australia and England in Melbourne, Viv Richards became the first player to break the threshold of 1500 Test runs in a calendar year. The big West Indian scored an impressive 1710 runs at an average of exactly 90 in 11 Tests he played in 1976.

Having scored less than 500 runs in ten games during his first two years of Test cricket, in 1974-75, Viv Richards in 1976 provided a dazzling reminder of his potential as a batsman in the longest format of the game.

The right-hander, regarded by many to be one of the best batsmen to have played Test cricket, started the year by scoring a second-innings hundred in the fourth Test against Australia in Adelaide. Richards then scored 50 and 98 in the next Test at the MCG, but couldn't avert a fourth defeat in the series as Australia went on to take the series 5-1.

Following the humbling defeat down under, West Indies hosted India in a four-match series. Richards scored a hundred in each of the first three matches, but despite his heroics, it was the visitors who chased down 406 in the third Test in Port of Spain to restore parity. The big West Indian then scored a 64 in the fourth Test in Antigua as the hosts took the series with a ten-wicket win.

Richards' final assignment of the year was a four-match tour of England. In the drawn first Test at Trent Bridge, the right-hander scored the first double hundred (232) of his illustrious career. After missing the second Test at Lords due to glandular fever, Richards scored a century at Old Trafford and a fifty at Headingley. The West Indies won both Tests to seal a memorable series win.

The then 27-year-old was not done for the series though. More punishment awaited the Englishmen at the hands of Richards in the fifth Test at the Oval. The right-hander blasted a career-best 291 to become the first player in Test history to register 1700 runs in a calendar year.

Richards' record of 1710 runs in 1976 stood for exactly three decades till the player above him on this list surpassed the big West Indian.

#3 Mohammad Yousuf (2006): 1788 runs

Mohammad Yousuf produced a year to remember in 2006 when the Pakistan middle-order batsman broke Viv Richards' three-decade-old record for the most Test runs in a calendar year.

In a dream twelve-month period, Yousuf managed a stunning conversion rate of 75% each time he went past fifty during the year. This is evident in his stats for the year that read nine centuries and three fifties. It is still a record for the most Test hundreds in a year by any player.

It was the only year in his career that Yousuf, formerly called Yousuf Youhanna, scored over 1000 Test runs in a year. But such was the right-hander's dominance during the year that he scored over 450 runs more than second-placed Kevin Pietersen, who scored 1343 runs in 2006.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Yousuf also had the best average by a Test batsman that year. The Lahore-born player's Bradman-esque average of 99.33 in 2006 was almost 11 percentage points ahead of Australian captain Ricky Ponting's 88.9.

It all started with a daddy hundred (173) in a high-scoring rain-marred drawn game against the visiting Indians at his home ground, the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Yousuf followed up with another century in the next Test in Faisalabad that also ended in a stalemate.

The third Test in Karachi saw the series burst into life. Following the wickets of Imran Farhat and stand-in skipper Younis Khan, the in-form Yousuf was bowled first ball by Irfan Pathan as the left-armer completed the first first-over hat-trick in Test cricket. The right-hander, however, made amends for his first-innings failure by scoring an innings of 97 as Pakistan took the series with a convincing 341-run win.

Following a rare failure in the one-off away Test against Sri Lanka, Yousuf was soon back amongst the runs. The right-hander scored his fourth career double hundred (202) in a drawn first Test at Lord's before his low return in the next Test at Old Trafford coincided with Pakistan's innings defeat.

Despite Yousuf regaining his form with a sparkling 192 in Leeds, the hosts wrapped up the series with a game to spare. In the fourth Test at the Oval marred by a ball-tampering controversy, Yousuf struck his third hundred of the series as the visitors forfeited the match by refusing to take the field.

The right-hander's sublime form with the bat continued when the West Indies arrived for a three-match series. Yousuf struck a century apiece in the first two Tests in Lahore and Multan respectively as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the series. His 191 in the drawn second Test in Multan marked the first time a batsman was thrice dismissed in the 190s during a year.

In a sparkling end to a run-filled year, the then 32-year-old struck centuries in both innings of the third Test in Karachi to break more records. Yousuf's century in the first innings took him past the quartet of Viv Richards (1976), Aravinda de Silva (1997), Ricky Ponting (2006) and Sachin Tendulkar (2010) for most Test centuries (7) in a year by a player.

By ending the year with a rich haul of 1788 runs, the right-hander broke Richards' 30-year old record of most Test runs (1710) in a calendar year. Surely, Yousuf ought to have been placed at the very top in this list.

However, two other players produced slightly better 'Test years' with the bat than the Pakistan middle-order batsman. This duo, both from the same country, constitute our top two.

#2 Ricky Ponting (2003): 1503 runs

One of Australia's most successful Test captains, Ricky Ponting, is the only player to make a second appearance on this list. Ponting started 2003 with a rare twin failure with the bat in the fifth Test of the 2002-03 Ashes series in Sydney as England avoided a series whitewash by winning the Test.

Earlier in the series, the right-hander had scored knocks of 123 and 155 in the first two Tests of the series in Brisbane and Adelaide respectively, as Australia won both games convincingly to take a 2-0 lead.

Following the Ashes series win, Ponting performed well in the ensuing VB series. He also tasted success in his first World Cup as captain as the defending champions successfully defended their title by winning all their 11 games in that campaign.

Ponting carried his good limited-overs form into the tour of the West Indies, scoring a century in the first Test in Georgetown. The second Test in Port of Spain saw the Tasmanian bag his first double century in Tests.

Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series by taking the third Test in Bridgetown. With Ponting missing the fourth Test in St. Johns, West Indies saved face by pulling off the highest successful chase in Test history, chasing down a 418-run target with three wickets to spare.

The right-hander had modest returns in the first two home Tests of the season against Bangladesh in Darwin and Cairns. During his innings of 169 in the second Test against Zimbabwe in Sydney, Ponting achieved the milestone of 5000 Test runs. However, the year was to get better still for the Australian.

A strong Indian team arrived on Australian shores for a four-match series. Ponting warmed up to the task at hand by scoring half-centuries in each innings of the drawn first Test in Brisbane.

In the second Test in Adelaide, Ponting amassed 242 as Australia piled on a mammoth 556. It was an innings good enough to have won the game for the hosts, but it was not to be. India rode on the brilliance of a certain Rahul Dravid, who scored a double of his own and then an unbeaten 73, to script a memorable win as the visitors took a surprise lead in the series.

Ponting, in the process, created a new record for the highest Test score by a player in a losing cause. He also became one of only seven players in the game to score a double century and a duck in the same Test. Ponting's 242 was the highest score by a player who failed to open his account in the other innings of a Test, until Shoaib Malik scored 245 and 0 against England in Abu Dhabi in 2015.

The Australian vice-captain, though, had better luck with his majestic 257 in the third Test in Melbourne, and the hosts levelled the series with a facile nine-wicket win.

By hitting the winning runs at the MCG, Ponting became the first Australian player to register 1500 Test runs in a year, ending 2003 with 1503 runs, at a fabulous average of 100.2. During the same game, the captain-in-waiting of the Australian Test team emulated Don Bradman's record of three Test match double hundreds in a calendar year.

#1 Michael Clarke: 1595 runs (2012)

Michael Clarke was already in a rich vein of Test form as the Australian captain in 2011, but he took it a notch higher in 2012. He started off the year with an unbeaten 329 against a hapless Indian bowling attack in the second Test in Sydney. It marked the first triple hundred by an Australian player since Matthew Hayden scored 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003.

After missing out in the second Test at the WACA in Perth, Clarke smashed a majestic 210 in the fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval as Australia completed a resounding 4-0 series whitewash against the outclassed visitors.

In an underwhelming away tour of the West Indies, considering his Bradmaneque start to the year, Clarke scored his only half-century in the first Test at the Kensington Oval. Following five consecutive innings without a fifty in the series, the right-hander's average for the year dropped below 100 for the first time.

His average for the year would soon shoot into three figures as Clarke greeted the visiting South Africans with successive innings of 259 not out and 230 in Brisbane and Adelaide respectively. In the process, the then 31-year-old emulated compatriots Don Bradman and Ricky Ponting as the only players in Test history to score three double centuries in a calendar year.

However, despite Clarke's twin doubles, Australia failed to win either Test. With the home captain's form tailing off in the third Test in Perth, South Africa scripted a 309-run win to take the series.

Clarke would end the prolific year on a high note, though, raking up half-centuries in both innings in the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Bellerive Oval. In his last Test of the year in Melbourne, the Australian captain scored a hundred for the fifth time in the year, failing to get at least a double hundred for the first time.

With a tally of 1595 runs garnered at a mind-boggling average of 106.3, it marked only the second instance in Test history that a player scored over 1500 runs in a year at a three-figure average.

It is precisely for this reason that Michael Clarke gets the honour of the best season by a batsman in Test history, even though three other players have scored more runs in a year than the Australian.