Indian?legend Sachin Tendulkar has never scored 500 runs in a series. The Waugh brothers of Australia, Steve and Mark, along with West Indian Shiv Chanderpaul have only achieved the feat once.
It’s a treasured milestone that has proved to be a tough assignment for many.
All four of these men have played over 100 Tests, in the case of Tendulkar, nearly 200. that is why the efforts of Seymour Nurse have to be saluted.
In just 29 Tests, which included three five-test sereies, Nurse scored over 500 runs twice. On the tour of England in 1966, Nurse cracked a hundred at Leeds en route to amassing 501 runs in the series.
One does not need to play in a five-Test series to score 500 runs as Nurse proved on his farewell tour in New Zealand in 1969. In the first of the three matches, he scored 168 in Auckland and then his crowning glory came in the final Test at Christchurch when he made a career-best 258.
Nurse, who turns 80 on Sunday, is a Barbadian treasure, who made the most of the limited opportunities that were presented to him in the 1960s. He did not earn his first Test cap till he was 26, making 70 on debut against England at Sabina Park in 1960.
The former Empire master batsman was 31 and playing only his eighth match when he made his maiden hundred, an impressive 201 at Kensington Oval off an Australian attack led by Graham McKenzie, Neil Hawke and Peter Philpott.
Nurse’s main batting rival at the time, Guyana’s Basil Butcher, who turned 80 in September, never scored 500 runs in a series, but passed 400 runs in a series four times. Butcher was a fine player who made six of his seven Test tons overseas, scoring two hundreds in Australia, England and India.
Two fine series against Australia led Richie Benaud to consider him the most difficult of all West Indians to get out.
Tendulkar has played more Tests than anyone else (198), scored more hundreds (51), but it is a bit of a surprise that he has never reached the 500-run landmark in a series. He has played three five-Test series, one in Australia and two in the Caribbean, but never got close on either of these occasions.
In fact, the little Indian master had his best series on the four-match tour of Australia in 2007-08, when he ended the series with 493 runs led by hundreds spearheaded by an unbeaten 154 at Sydney and 153 at Adelaide off an attack comprising Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark.
Steve Waugh has played in six five-Test series and three six-Test series, but the only time he had 500 runs in a series was in his breakout tour of England in 1989 when he made his maiden hundred at Leeds in his 27th match. In that series, he ended with 506 runs.
The last time the West Indies won a series against India was at home in 2002, which is the only time that
Chanderpaul and compatriot Carl Hooper topped 500 runs in a series. Both scored three tons with Hooper scoring 579 runs and Chanderpaul 562. Chris Gayle, who managed just 206 runs in that series, has played three five-Test series, but has never passed 400 runs.
The all-time greats made smooth sailing of slamming 500 runs in a series. Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara have done it seven times while Sir Garry Sobers and Sunil Gavaskar achieved the feat six times.