Great players often in their search or hunt for a hundred get out on 99 and hence, they become part of a list that though strange looking becomes concerned with players dismissed on such a heartbreaking score. And when that happens on more than one occasion, needless to say, this debauchery of sort, for the lack of a better word, becomes part of a list that states it loud and clear: players with most dismissals on 99 in Test cricket.
Now that being said, what is intereting and not appealing to some of these cricketers, however, is that several high octane and redoubtable talents have been found guilty of being out on this number, which is so painfully close to a hundred. But then what does one do - for such are the changing and unpredictable vagaries of the game. That told - let us find out players with most dismissals on 99 in Test cricket.
List of players with most dismissals on 99 in Test cricket
Mike Atherton (2 Times)
You remember him as one among the famous English cricketers who used to bat defensively and could hold on to his own against hostile bowing attacks. You also remember Atherton's focus and valiance for being his own man, like a rock for his team against the bowling heavyweight- the very destructive Allan Donald of South Africa.
But do you know that "Athers" as he is dotingly called back in England happens to be one of the many players with most dismissals on 99 in Test cricket.
He did that twice in his Test career for England, first getting out on 99 vs the Australians and that too, at Lord's (who doesn't like a Lord's century, isn't it) and later on, in getting out on 99 versus South Africa in 1994 at Headingley.
It was Brian McMillan who got Atherton's prized wicket at Headingley.
Simon Katich (2 Times)
Simon Katich for as long as he played, and make no mistake, he played with a sense of bravery and sheer commitment to the Australian cause in no fewer than 56 Test matches and 99 innings. But each time that he came out to bat, you could sense that there was a convincing and talented cricketer for Australia's cause out on the 22 yards. Interestingly, twice in his career he got out for scores of 99 and while one of those occasions came against India in the year 2004 at the Nagpur Test, he would also get out on 99 in 2009 batting at Perth against the West Indies.
A very rock sturdy and talented left hander, Katich, who hailed from Middle Swan, Western Australia struck 4188 Test match runs and one still feels he could have gone much longer in five-day cricket.
Richie Richardson (2 Times)
Unfortunately one of the prime features on the list of players with most dismissals on 99 in Test cricket sees the name of Richie Richardson featured on a panel that no batter anywhere in any part of the world would want to find his name.
But such is life. During the course of his hard hitting, aggressive and bold Test career, which mirrored his fearless attitude in life, the great Richie Richardson got out for the heartbreaking score in Tests not once but twice. Yet again, another batter who got out just one-run shy of a Test hundred but that's how it works at times.
At a Port of Spain test in 1989, he got out desperately close on a hundred and this was against India when Kapil Dev took his wicket. Then, two years later, in 1991 he got out against the Aussies when batting at Barbados on 99. That time, he got out LBW by Mark Waugh.
Sourav Ganguly (2 Times)
The great Indian legend, an icon with the bat, the man described as the "Lord on the off side" and the famous "Prince of Calcutta" as Sir Geoff Boycott used to call him, there have been cricketers all the time but not all have amassed the wealth of respect as a certain Sourav Ganguly.
For his precise timing and the lovely footwork against spinners, in particular, Sourav Ganguly became the don of batting for several years and it was under his instrumental leadeship that India won famous Tests in arduous destinations, such as Australia.
But even the greats have pitfalls, and so did him, having been dismissed on 99 twice in his Test career. Surely one of the players with most dismissals on 99 in Test cricket, Ganguly first made a 99 against Sri Lanka at Nagpur in the year 1997 and then, another 99 against England at Nottingham in 2002.
Who would have ever wanted to get out on that tragic score, certainly not Dada who hated on missing out on a ton!
Misbah-ul-Haq (2 Times)
One of the most talented and stable Test batters from Pakistan of all times, even Misbah got out on 99 twice in his career. The first time that this happened actually takes us back to the year 2011 versus the Kiwis and then later on, he repeated the unwanted figure of 99 against the not so mighty West Indies team in the year 2017. His first dismissal on 99 came at Wellington and the next at Barbados.
