Who was the first South African to score 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year?
(29 October 2001) A thousand runs in a calendar year is a monumental feat in any form of cricket. In the cut-throat, high-stakes world of Test cricket, then, it becomes an all-the-more memorable achievement. The first man to savour the joy of crossing this landmark was a dashing and debonair Englishman, Denis Compton. An icon in every sense of the word, Compton compiled 1,159 runs, with a highest of 208, in the nine Tests and 15 innings that he played in his golden year in cricket – 1947. He was followed to the summit by his great friend and on-field rival, the peerless Sir Donald Bradman, who repeated the feat in his farewell year – 1948. The following years saw that very famous accumulator of runs, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, cross the landmark as many as four times. Other Indians too have achieved this honour; among them is Mohinder Amarnath, who remains the fastest to accomplish the feat – he scored his 1,000th run of 1983 on May 3. It was a full 15 years after this that the first and,
