Craig Ervine of Zimbabwe played a historic knock in the first Test against Afghanistan at Sharjah. He scored a double-century in the second innings of the match to become the third-oldest cricketer to achieve the landmark at 41 years and 82 days.
The last man aged over 40 to score a Test double-century was Graham Gooch. The English batter did it in 1994. Ervine scored 206 runs off 279 balls, taking the team's total to a massive 523/5 as the match ended in a draw.
The two players ahead of Ervine on the list are Eric Rowan and Jack Hobbs. Rowan scored 236 for South Africa against England at Headingley in 1951, when he was aged 42 years and six days. Hobbs scored 211 for England against South Africa at Lord's in 1924, aged 41 years and 195 days. Ervine was 41 years and 78 days old when the match started, and he reached the milestone aged 41 years and 82 days. He was 117 days younger than Hobbs at the start of their respective matches and hence gets placed third on the list.
This brings an end to a drought of 32 years in Test cricket. After Gooch in 1994, no other batter aged over 40 had scored a double-century in the format. Gooch's knock came against New Zealand at Trent Bridge. He started the match aged 40 years and 314 days. Gooch's 210 laid the foundation for England's win by an innings and 90 runs.
{{/usCountry}}This brings an end to a drought of 32 years in Test cricket. After Gooch in 1994, no other batter aged over 40 had scored a double-century in the format. Gooch's knock came against New Zealand at Trent Bridge. He started the match aged 40 years and 314 days. Gooch's 210 laid the foundation for England's win by an innings and 90 runs.
{{/usCountry}}Ervine also ended a drought for Zimbabwean cricket. There had been no double-centuries from a Zimbabwean batter since Andy Flower's unbeaten 232 against India at Nagpur in November 2000. The country has seen more lows than highs in the sport since then, and the 26-year gap before another Test double-century underscores the rarity of the achievement.
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Ervine's double-century takes Zimbabwe to 523/5
The wicket at Sharjah turned out to be a perfect strip for batters. Zimbabwe batted first and posted a mammoth 504, carried by Brendan Taylor's 131 and Brian Bennett's 128. Afghanistan came up with a strong response, posting 514 runs.
In the second innings, Zimbabwe lost early wickets and were struggling at 38/2. A partnership developed, but it did not last long, and soon they were in a spot of bother at 120/3 when Ervine walked in to bat.
The veteran shared a 55-run partnership with Bennett to steady the innings. Then a 140-run partnership between him and Antum Naqvi took Zimbabwe to 315/5. Wessly Madhevere joined him after that, and the duo stitched together an unbeaten partnership of 208 runs.
Ervine completed his century off 166 balls and then accelerated alongside Madhevere to reach the double-century off 275 balls. During the knock, he also went past 2,000 Test runs, becoming the seventh man from Zimbabwe to achieve the feat. Ervine also became the oldest Zimbabwean to score a Test century. The record had belonged to Brendan Taylor for a short while after he scored 131 runs in the first innings.