Test cricket’s ‘Nervous 90s’ Hall of Pain: Who tops the list?

It’s been a source of pain for batsmen since the very beginning of cricket. But for some more than others, they’ve experienced it all too often at the highest level.

The ‘Nervous 90s’ have claimed many scalps, some in the cruelest fashion possible, such as being run out on 99, bowled by the part-timer, and more often than not, sent packing due to either a lapse in concentration or too much nervous energy.

When that triple-digit score seems finally reachable, that’s when the wave of nerves hit, and the moment becomes too large for many outstanding batsmen.

In the world of cricket, there is nothing greater than the satisfaction of a Test match ton, but on the flip side, there’s not much worse than falling agonisingly short, in the nervous 90s.

Even the greats of the game have experienced this all-time low more than others — maybe that’s due to the amount of innings they’ve played and the runs they’ve scored. Either way, it shows they’re human.

With nearly 150 years of Test cricket history, here are the five batsmen that have been dismissed the most times in those dreaded nervous 90s.

The batsmen dismissed the most times in the nervous 90s in Test Cricket

1. Sachin Tendulkar (India) – 10

Widely considered the greatest batsmen of the modern era, Tendulkar scored a record 51 Test centuries. And it could’ve been even more, too, had he not falling short a Test-high 10 times.

The former Indian captain played 200 matches, batting 329 innings, at an incredible average of 53.79.

List of personal nervous 90s dismissals:

1. b Anurasiri vs Sri Lanka @ Bengaluru in 1994 — 96
2. c Serwin Campbell b Ian Bishop vs West Indies @ Bridgetown in 1997 — 92
3. c Mark Boucher b Jacques Kallis vs South Africa @ Wankhede in 2000 — 97
4. st James Foster b Ashley Giles vs England @ Benegaluru in 2001 — 90
5. b Michael Vaughan vs England @ Nottingham in 2002 — 92
6. c Asim Kamal b Naved-ul-Hasan vs Pakistan @ Mohali in 2005 — 94
7. lbw Paul Collingwood vs England @ Nottingham in 2007 — 91
8. lbw Marcus North vs Australia @ Mohali in 2010 — 98
9. c James Anderson b Graeme Swann vs England @ The Oval in 2011 — 91
10. c Daren Sammy b Ravi Rampaul vs West Indies @ Wankhede in 2011 — 94

2. Michael Slater (Australia) – 9

Slater is one of Australia’s top five best ever opening batsmen, but was notorious for being dismissed in the nervous 90s.

In a reasonably short Test career, considering his stature within Australian cricket (74 matches), Slater was dismissed nine times in the 90s — leaving him with only 14 Test centuries.

List of personal nervous 90s dismissals:

1. c Tony Blain b Dipak Patel vs New Zealand @ WACA (Perth) in 1993 — 99
2. b Allan Donald vs South Africa @ Sydney Cricket Ground in 1994 — 92
3. lbw Allan Donald vs South Africa @ Durban in 1994 — 95
4. c Nayan Mongia b Harvinder Singh vs India @ Bengaluru in 1998 — 91
5. st Moin Khan b Arshad Khan vs Pakistan @ Karachi in 1998 — 96
6. st Kaluwitharana b Muralidaran vs Sri Lanka @ Galle in 1999 — 96
7. c Ijaz Ahmed b Saqlain Mushtaq vs Pakistan @ Hobart in 1999 — 97
8. c Javagal Srinath b BKV Prasad vs India @ MCG in 1999 — 91
9. c Marlon Samuels b Nagamootoo vs West Indies @ Sydney Cricket Ground in 2001 — 96

3. Rahul Dravid (India) – 9

One of India’s best Test cricketers all-time was right behind Tendulkar in getting out in the nervous 90s, including a heartbreaking introduction to the long form of the game, dismissed for 95 in his first innings.

Scoring a whopping 13,288 Test runs, Dravid normally did no wrong in the middle, besides the occasional nervous 90s ending. Had he converted all those scores into three figures, he would’ve accumulated 45 centuries.

List of personal nervous 90s dismissals:

1. c Jack Russell b Chris Lewis vs England @ Lord’s in 1996 — 95
2. c Carl Hooper b Franklyn Rose vs West Indies @ Georgetown in 1997 — 92
3. c Marvan Atapattu b Chaminda Vaas vs Sri Lanka @ Nagpur in 1997 — 92
4. c Roshan Mahanama b Arjun Ranatunga vs Sri Lanka @ Wankhede in 1997 — 93
5. b Mervyn Dillon vs West Indies @ St John’s in 2002 — 91
6. c Adam Gilchrist b Brett Lee vs Australia @ MCG in 2003 — 92
7. b Blessing Mahwire vs Zimbabwe @ Harare in 2005 — 98
8. b Andrew Flintoff vs England @ Mohali in 2006 — 95
9. c Ricky Ponting b Andrew Symonds vs Australia @ WACA (Perth) in 2008 — 93

4. AB de Villiers (South Africa) – 8

One of South Africa’s favourite players and an instrumental part of the Proteas’ success through the 2000s, AB de Villiers comes in at fourth on the all-time nervous 90s dismissals list.

Playing 114 Tests and scoring 22 centuries, de Villiers could’ve been a part of the illusive ’30 ton club’ had he not falling short on so many occasions.

List of personal nervous 90s dismissals:

1. lbw Ashley Giles vs England @ Centurion in 2005 — 92
2. c Andy Blignaut b Graeme Cremer vs Zimbabwe @ Cape Town in 2005 — 98
3. c James Franklin b Jacob Oram vs New Zealand @ Centurion in 2006 — 97
4. c HAPW Jayawardene b Lasith Malinga vs Sri Lanka @ Colombo in 2006 — 95
5. b Monty Panesar vs England @ The Oval in 2008 — 97
6. c Karunaratne b Thisara Perera vs Sri Lanka @ Centurion in 2011 — 99
7. c Shan Masood b Junaid Khan vs Pakistan @ Abu Dhabi in 2013 — 90
8. c David Warner b Mitchell Johnson vs Australia @ Centurion in 2014 — 91

5. Steve Waugh (Australia) – 8

When you play 168 Test matches, you’re bound to fall short of every batsmen’s favourite milestone a couple times.

Steve Waugh scored a whopping 32 centuries for Australia, getting dismissed in the nervous 90s eight times across his incredible career.

List of personal nervous 90s dismissals:

1. lbw Malcolm Marshall vs West Indies @ GABBA (Brisbane) in 1988 — 90
2. c Jeff Dujon b Courtney Ambrose vs West Indies @ WACA (Perth) in 1988 — 91
3. c Tim Curtis b Angus Fraser vs England @ Old Trafford in 1989 — 92
4. b Waqar Younis vs Pakistan @ Rawalpindi in 1994 — 98
5. b Shayne O’Connor vs New Zealand @ WACA (Perth) in 1997 — 96
6. c Daryll Cullinan b Allan Donald vs South Africa @ MCG in 1997 — 96
7. b Peter Such vs England @ Sydney Cricket Ground in 1999 — 96
8. run out (Gibbs) vs South Africa @ MCG in 2001 — 90

Batsmen ranked 6-16 in nervous 90s dismissals

6. Matthew Hayden (Australia) – 7

7. Alastair Cook (England) – 7

8. Alvin Kallicharran (West Indies) – 7

9. Rohan Kanhai (West Indies) – 6

10. Brian Lara (West Indies) – 6

11. Gordon Greenidge (West Indies) – 6

12. Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa) – 6

13. Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) – 6

14. Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 6

15. Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) – 6

16. Rishabh Pant (India) – 6*

(*) still playing