In 2,590 Test match­es, start­ing with the first Test be­tween Aus­tralia and Eng­land in 1877 and con­tin­u­ing through the lat­est game be­tween Zim­bab­we and South Africa, there have been 97 record­ed in­stances of a bat­ter scor­ing cen­turies in both in­nings of a Test match, com­mon­ly called ‘twin cen­turies.’

The first bat­ter to reach this im­pres­sive mile­stone was Aus­tralian War­ren Bard­s­ley, against Eng­land at The Oval in Lon­don in 1909. Bard­s­ley scored 136 in the first in­nings and 130 in the sec­ond.

The most re­cent play­er to achieve ‘twin cen­turies’ is In­dia’s Rishabh Pant in the re­cent­ly com­plet­ed 2,587th Test against Eng­land at Head­in­g­ley, Leeds, with scores of 134 and 118. Among the 79 play­ers from nine Test-play­ing coun­tries, 18 are from Aus­tralia, 12 from Eng­land, and 10 each from Pak­istan and the West In­dies. Aus­tralians have achieved this feat 25 times, Eng­land 13 times, and the West In­dies 12 times.

In the West In­dies' sec­ond Test se­ries against Eng­land and the first in the Caribbean af­ter gain­ing Test sta­tus in 1928, George Headley (Ja­maica) be­came the sixth play­er and the first West In­di­an to score twin cen­turies, help­ing the West In­dies se­cure their first Test win by 289 runs in the third Test match at Bour­da, George­town, Guyana. In the first in­nings, Headley scored 114, and Clif­ford Roach made 209, adding 192 runs for the sec­ond wick­et as the West In­dies were bowled out for 471.

Eng­land faced a 326-run deficit af­ter be­ing bowled out for 145, with fast bowlers George Fran­cis claim­ing four wick­ets for 40 runs and Baron Con­stan­tine tak­ing four wick­ets for 35. Chas­ing 617 to win, Eng­land's bat­ters, de­spite Pat­sy Hen­dren's 123, fell to the pace of Baron Con­stan­tine, who took 5 for 87. Headley re­peat­ed this feat in the first Test against Eng­land in 1939 at Lord’s; how­ev­er, it was in a los­ing ef­fort. Bat­ting at num­ber three, Headley scored 106 in the West In­dies' first in­nings of 277 and made 107 not out in their sec­ond in­nings of 225.

In the third Test match against In­dia at Eden Gar­dens in 1948, Bar­ba­di­an Ever­ton Weekes be­came the sec­ond West In­di­an bat­ter to score twin cen­turies in the same Test. Bat­ting first, the West In­dies scored 366, with Weekes mak­ing 162 and Clyde Wal­cott 54. In­dia re­spond­ed with 272, with John God­dard tak­ing 3 for 34, Ger­ry Gomez 3 for 65, and Wilf Fer­gu­son 3 for 66. With a first in­nings lead of 94 runs, the West In­dies de­clared their sec­ond in­nings at 9 for 336. Wal­cott top-scored with 108, and Weekes scored 101. Chas­ing 431 to win, the match end­ed in a draw as In­dia was 3 for 325, with Mush­taq Ali scor­ing 106, fol­low­ing his first in­nings of 54.

Fel­low Bar­ba­di­an Clyde Wal­cott achieved the feat of scor­ing twin cen­turies twice dur­ing Aus­tralia’s tour of the Caribbean in 1965. In the sec­ond Test at Queen’s Park Oval, Wal­cott scored 126, form­ing a third-wick­et part­ner­ship of 242 runs with Ever­ton Weekes, who scored 139 as the West In­dies to­talled 382.

In the sec­ond in­nings, Wal­cott scored 110 in a part­ner­ship of 127 with Weekes, who re­mained un­beat­en on 87 when the match end­ed in a draw with the West In­dies at 4 for 273. Aus­tralia, in their on­ly in­nings, scored 600 for 9 de­clared, with cen­turies from open­ers Col­in Mc­Don­ald (110) and Arthur Mor­ris (111), and Neil Har­vey scor­ing 133. In the third Test at Sabi­na Park, Ja­maica, Wal­cott’s 155 and 110 couldn’t stop Aus­tralia from win­ning by an in­nings and 82 runs.

The West In­dies scored 357 and 319, while Aus­tralia piled up 8/758 de­clared, fea­tur­ing five cen­turies: Neil Har­vey (204), Ron Archer (128), Col­in Mc­Don­ald (127), Richie Be­naud (121), and Kei­th Miller (109). Wal­cott fin­ished the se­ries with 824 runs, the sixth-high­est in Test crick­et, and the sec­ond-high­est for a West In­di­an bat­ter af­ter Vi­vian Richards' 829 runs in four Tests against Eng­land in 1976.

Af­ter set­ting the record for the high­est Test score with 365 not out in the third Test at Sabi­na Park, Ja­maica, Garfield Sobers be­came the fourth West In­di­an twin cen­tu­ri­on in the fourth Test against Pak­istan at Bour­da, George­town, in 1958. Af­ter dis­miss­ing Pak­istan for 408, with Roy Gilchrist tak­ing 4 wick­ets for 102 runs and Col­lie Smith 3 for 74, Wal­cott scored 145 runs, and Sobers 125 as the West In­dies made 410. Lance Gibbs, with 5 wick­ets for 80 runs, and Roy Gilchrist, with 2 for 66, lim­it­ed Pak­istan to 318 all out. Chas­ing 317 to win, Con­rad Hunte scored 114, Sobers re­mained not out on 109, and Ro­han Kan­hai con­tributed 62 as the West In­dies se­cured the vic­to­ry. Sobers fin­ished the se­ries with 824 runs, the 7th high­est in Test crick­et.

In the fourth Test of Frank Wor­rell's first se­ries as West In­dies cap­tain at Ade­laide, Aus­tralia, in 1961, Ro­han Kan­hai was the top scor­er with 117 runs as the West In­dies scored 393. Af­ter dis­miss­ing Aus­tralia for 366, Kan­hai was again the top scor­er with 115 runs as the West In­dies de­clared their sec­ond in­nings at 6/432, set­ting Aus­tralia a tar­get of 460 runs to win.

De­spite ef­forts from Hall with three wick­ets for 62, Wor­rell with 3/27, and Sobers with 2/87, an un­beat­en 10th-wick­et part­ner­ship of 66 runs be­tween Ken McK­ay, who was 62 not out, and Lind­say Kline, who was 15 not out, pre­vent­ed the West In­dies from win­ning as Aus­tralia fin­ished at 9/273.