Worth a ton: Top Aussie Test knocks under 100, Part 4

It has forever been a peculiarity of cricket, a sport so infatuated by numbers, that the difference between 99 and 100 is so much more than just a single run.

Part 1: Gilchrist, Khawaja & Smith | Part 2: Border, Gilchrist & Warne | Part 3: Renshaw/Starc, Harris & Waugh

Batting greatness is often measured in hundreds made as much as runs scored, which can mean the value of some decisive batting performances over the years has been diminished simply because they have fallen short of the magical three figures.

This week, cricket.com.au will look back on Australia's 15 most important sub-100 innings in men's Test matches of the past 40 years, acknowledging the gritty half-centuries and backs-to-the wall innings that won Test matches, saved series and defined careers but don't appear in that all-important hundreds column.

The criteria

When ranking these performances, extra weight was given to those knocks that have taken on a greater significance beyond solely the substance of the innings itself; runs that paved the way for a breakthrough series win, led to a rare Test victory abroad or secured a face-saving draw.

It means performances like Ashton Agar's 98 on Test debut in 2013, while an instant Ashes classic, was not included as it came in a match and series that Australia lost, and Agar himself was dropped just two Tests later.

We've set the qualification time period at the past four decades, since 1982, and considered only sub-100 scores by Australians in men's Test matches.

6) Ian Healy

First Test v West Indies, Barbados, 1995

Batter's score: 74no

Team score at start of innings: 5-194

Team score at end of innings: 346 all out

Percentage of team total: 21.4

Next highest score: 65

Match result: Australia won by 10 wickets

Series outcome: Australia won 2-1 (four matches)

By Adam Burnett

Australia's toppling of the Windies' world domination in 1995 is of course best associated with Steve Waugh's epic double hundred in the fourth Test in Jamaica, and the 231-run stand he shared with his twin Mark (126) along the way.

But it was in the opening match of the series that Ian Healy played one of his country's most under-rated hands, to help his side to a strong first-innings lead, and ultimately a winning position in the match and the series.

After West Indies were bowled out for 195 batting first, the Australians reached the same score five wickets down, at which point Healy was new to the crease.

Image Id: A9372DB9994649D48646B05F034FDA5C

The 'keeper-batter, who made fighting lower-order innings his trademark throughout a storied Test career, partnered with his old mate Steve Waugh, and together they took the score to 230 before Waugh (60) was caught behind off the bowling of Kenny Benjamin.

With the lead a slender 35, there was much work to be done, and the industrious Healy, who never met a back-of-a-length ball he couldn't cut or hook, set about doing it.

The Queenslander found a useful ally in Brendon Julian (31), and together they put on what was later described in Wisden as a "priceless" 60 runs for the seventh wicket.

"Some days I go in and I'm no chance and others they might feed a shot of mine, whether that's the cut shot or flick off the legs, they might get a bit too straight and it feels easy," Healy reflected to cricket.com.au on the 25th anniversary of the series.

Image Id: 139BBFA0703642E6973E511D1F88BD7E Image Caption: Healy's unorthodox batting style unsettled many an opponent // Getty

"It was one of those days. It was quite good fun, which was quite unusual when you're playing these blokes.

"And then when you're ahead, your mind moves from your own batting to winning the match. I got myself into that zone, where it wasn't all about me, it was about how many we could scrape here to have a great chance of winning."

Added Julian: "Heals said, 'We've got to take them on. We can't just nick and nudge them'. Which is what we did."

Healy continued his assault, the punchy right-hander upping the ante by hitting off-spinner Carl Hooper for 10 from two balls to bring up his 50 and then clipping Courtney Walsh off his legs for a maximum over square leg.

Across three hours he carried on, batting until he ran out of partners and scoring 74 of his own runs as the last five wickets added 152.

Image Id: 28EABF19D5814A9EA6DF06FD9C0200BF Image Caption: McGrath seals Australia's famous win in Barbados // Getty

When a young Glenn McGrath took 5-68 to roll the unofficial world champions for 189 in their second dig, it left Australia needing 39 to take a one-nil series lead, which they promptly achieved without losing a wicket.

"Ian Healy's innings was the turning point," reflected Winston Benjamin to cricket.com.au. "We let it slip.

"We were even (when he came in) and I reckon tactically we didn't know what to do. We were found wanting."

5) Peter Nevill

Third Test v New Zealand, Adelaide, 2015

Batter's score: 66

Team score at start of innings: 5-80

Team score at end of innings: 224 all out

Percentage of team total: 29.5

Next highest score: 53

Match result: Australia won by three wickets

Series outcome: Australia won 2-0 (three matches)

By Martin Smith

It's in keeping with Peter Nevill's international career that the most impactful innings he played in his 17 Test matches was overshadowed by events beyond his control.

The quintessential quiet achiever, who retired from professional cricket at the end of last summer, Nevill was a secondary character in the media narrative at both the start and end of his tenure as Australia's Test gloveman.

Nevill slipped into the Test side during the 2015 Ashes, where the absence of Brad Haddin due to the illness of his young daughter, and the fact the incumbent contentiously never returned to Australia's XI, was the major talking point as the gloves changed hands.

Image Id: 6732234D21AC4F0A90A312470A76384C

Two-and-a-half years later, the introverted Nevill was cast aside for the combative Matthew Wade, upon whom the focus of an attempted Australian rebuild would lie.

So the fact Nevill's match-winning and series-saving 66 against New Zealand in the 2015 Adelaide Test was largely overshadowed by other factors seems highly appropriate, although not altogether fair.

Following a thumping win for Australia at the Gabba in Steve Smith's first Test as full-time captain and a high-scoring draw in Perth, Australia had already retained the Trans-Tasman Trophy by the time the two teams arrived in Adelaide for a historic Test match under lights using a pink ball, the first of its kind.

But having posted what appeared to be a below-par score of 202 in their first innings, the Kiwis were seemingly charging towards a series-levelling win when Australia's top-order, still scarred from their Ashes nightmare at Trent Bridge a few months earlier, lost 6-62 in the opening session on the second day.

Floundering at 8-118 with only Nevill, Nathan Lyon and an injured Mitchell Starc remaining, the Black Caps were certain they had claimed Australia's ninth wicket when Lyon swept at spinner Mitchell Santner and the Kiwis appealed for a catch at slip.

Given not out on the field, the decision seemed likely to be overturned when Hot Spot showed a mark on Lyon's bat, indicating the ball had brushed the top edge before landing in the hands of Kane Williamson.

Lyon himself had moved part the way off the field, where he waited for his fate to be confirmed.

But third umpire Nigel Llong inexplicably upheld the on-field decision, sparking disbelief in the commentary box, on social media and from the mild-mannered Kiwis on the field, who did their best to mask their obvious frustration.

The controversy proved pivotal as Nevill, in concert with Lyon and a free-swinging Starc, added 108 runs for the final two wickets to edge the Australians into the lead.

Using resolute defence early in his innings to help stem the bleeding, Nevill grew in confidence as his batting partners chanced their arm, bringing up his fifty from 84 balls and moving Australia into the lead with his 11th boundary.

Somewhat unlucky to be dismissed for 66 when his lofted drive found the man at deep cover, the value of Nevill's innings only grew as the match went on.

One of only two players to score more than fifty for the match, the 22-run first-innings lead that Nevill helped fashion from what looked like being a significant deficit was decisive as Australia hit the winning runs on the third evening with just three wickets in hand.

The final series score read 2-0 to the hosts, but it could well have been 1-1 if not for Nevill's innings – and that controversial umpiring decision that overshadowed the match.

4) Marnus Labuschagne

Second Test v England, Lord's, 2019

Batter's score: 59

Team score at start of innings: 2-19

Team score at end of innings: 4-132

Percentage of team total: 38.3

Next highest score: 42

Match result: Drawn

Series outcome: Drawn 2-2 (five matches)

By Adam Burnett

As the first concussion substitute in Test history, Marnus Labuschagne's re-entry into the five-day game was among the most unlikely ever seen.

But just as surprising was the way the relatively unknown Queenslander handled himself amid the most challenging circumstances, which proved to be the first step on his path to becoming the No.1 Test batter in the world.

Australia were 1-0 up in the 2019 Ashes, but England were coming back hard via their debutant firebrand Jofra Archer.

Image Id: 575F82EB84E64A2F940FA05C8AE25D76

Clocking speeds above 150kph, Archer delivered a withering spell to Steve Smith on day four and, following a sickening blow to the neck, the Australian star was ruled out of the match with a delayed concussion.

The new concussion rule meant players affected could be replaced for the remainder of the match by a 'like-for-like' substitute. Given the record and form of Smith, who was coming off back-to-back hundreds at Edgbaston, plenty mused that his only equivalent had played his final Test 71 years earlier.

But Labuschagne, typically, viewed that as a positive.

"The benefit is, you're coming in for Steve Smith – the best player in the world – so the expectations are low; people aren't expecting you to turn the match," he said.

"But I genuinely had the belief that I could do it at that level, and it was nice to get into the contest and get some runs on the board early."

On the final day, Labuschagne found himself walking to the middle with Australia 2-19 in their second innings – trailing by 247 – and England's pace attack sniffing a series-levelling victory.

From the second ball he faced, he was struck on the helmet grille by a snarling Archer. The crowd gasped and groaned, but Labuschagne bounced back up to his feet and carried on.

"It got me flush, but it was just 'get up and get on with it'," he said. "You get up and try and act cool. Then it was just about trying to refocus and make sure you're watching that ball again. I watched that one pretty close."

Image Id: D49DDCE62C484FDFB16C22EC021FA19F Image Caption: Labuschagne gets to his feet after being struck by Archer // Getty

Just as importantly, the impact that moment had in the Australian dressing-room was immense.

"He got straight back up, looked Jofra straight in the eye and marked centre as if to say, 'come on, I'm up for this'," then captain Tim Paine said on The Test documentary.

"That was a real statement to not only England, but his own teammates.

"We knew he could play, but there's a lot of blokes who could play but haven't quite made it at Test level for whatever reason.

"You could see him growing … our team started to have real confidence in him as well."

Image Id: A2CC2B2382804918BE2B5A94551ED624 Image Caption: Labuschagne stares down Archer // Getty

Over the next two-and-a-bit hours, the relative Test rookie, who had reinvented himself that English summer at Glamorgan via some key technical tweaks, made the whole cricket world sit up and take notice.

With an average of just 26 from his five previous Tests, Labuschagne produced a superb backs-to-the-wall performance featuring some exquisite drives against the quicks and some excellent sweeping off the bowling of Jack Leach.

Despite losing his wicket to a controversial catch with an hour or so remaining in the match, Labuschagne's maiden Ashes innings (59 from 100 balls) even caught the eye of one of the greatest of all time.

"I saw Marnus get hit off the second ball from Jofra Archer and, post that, the 15 minutes he batted, I said, 'This player looks special'," noted the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

Image Id: A2AF0DEB55904B55BE60D18A0DFF2830 Image Caption: Labuschagne's fighting fifty helped Australia escape with a draw // Getty

"There is something about him. His footwork was precise. Footwork is not physical – it's mental. If you're not thinking positively in your mind, then your feet don't move.

"That clearly indicated to me that this guy is mentally strong because if you're not, your feet will not move. His footwork was incredible."

Labuschagne's defiant knock, much of which was made alongside Travis Head (42no from 90 balls), ensured the visitors held on for a draw to keep their nose in front in the series.

And the Queenslander has never looked back, averaging more than 60 with the bat in the 20 Tests since and scaling the top of the Test batting tree.

Return on Friday as we bring you the final part of 'Worth a ton: Top Aussie Test knocks under 100'