Wednesday, April 19, 2006 – Jason Gillespie’s 31st birthday.

The city formerly known as Chittagong, Bangladesh, hosting the 2nd Test between Bangladesh and Australia.

Jason Gillespie, who had taken 3/11 in Bangladesh’s 1st Innings, had come to the crease as a nightwatchman late on Day 1 (April 16) with Australia at 1/67, and after surviving a rain affected Day 2 in which he ran out Ricky Ponting and batted until stumps with Michael Hussey, Dizzy (A genuine No.10 batsmen who averaged 15) batted with Mr Cricket all the way to stumps on Day 3, raising the bat multiple times as he passed his fast bowling compatriots Glenn McGrath (61) and Damien Fleming’s (71*) highest Test scores, Dizzy then raised the bat again as he joined Tony Mann as the only Australians to score a Test match century as a nightwatchman (In all the 6th nightwatchman to score a century), having only scored 2 half centuries in his career prior to that…

Turns out, that was only the start of it.

Then on Day 4, which coincided with his 31st birthday, Gillespie and Hussey came out attacking as the thought of a declaration began, at one point Dizzy even hit a 6 down the ground, another milestone fell as Gillespie passed Mark Boucher’s nightwatchman record score of 125, going on to record a 320-run partnership with Hussey before Mr Cricket was dismissed for 182, at which point Gillespie kept prodding along with Michael Clarke and passed 150, then he started passing the high scores of Australian cricketing legends..

First it was Mark Waugh’s 153, which Brendon Julian happily noted to Waugh on the Fox Sports coverage, then he passed Damien Martyn’s 165, he even passed Hussey’s knock of 182 as he got to lunch on 186 not out…

Then after 4 days at the crease, Gillespie reached the nervous 190s and moved his score on to 197 with Mohammad Rafique on to bowl, at which point the greatest miracle in Australian cricket occurred…

After avoiding an edge on the second ball, Gillespie tickled the third delivery down to the fine leg boundary for 4, and to the delight of Harsha Bhogle on commentary, the Australian dressing room and the entire crowd, Jason Gillespie had brought up a Test match double century as a nightwatchman, and the Australians promptly declared, with Gillespie’s timeless knock finishing on 201 not out, 425 balls, 574 minutes, 26 fours, 2 sixes.

Australia promptly declared on 4/581, a lead of 384, and ultimately bowled the hosts out for 304 before Lunch on Day 5 to win by an innings, which was the 7th consecutive win in their record streak of 16 consecutive Test victories.

Gillespie was named Player of the Match and Player of the Series for his 231 runs and 8 wickets in the 2 Tests, in what turned out to be his final Test match as he was injured while fielding for South Australia a few months later, and was also squeezed out by the likes of the returning Glenn McGrath and Stuart Clark and the emergence of Mitchell Johnson.

Also two other random facts about the match – It was South Australian spinner Dan Cullen’s only Test match for Australia, he took 1/29 in the 1st Innings and 0/25 in the 2nd, and Gillespie’s knock was the last Test century by a South Australian until Travis Head’s maiden Test century against Sri Lanka in Canberra in February 2019.

Still, it will always be known that Jason Gillespie has a higher Test score than some of the following Australian cricketing greats:

Steve Waugh (200)

David Boon (200)

Michael Hussey (196)

Ian Chappell (196)

Travis Head (Current highest score 175)

Damien Martyn (165)

Mark Waugh (153 not out)

Sir Donald Bradman scored a duck in his last Test innings… Jason Gillespie scored 201 not out in his last Test innings.

Gillespie is also one of only 4 players to take at least 250 Test wickets and score a Test double century, alongside Wasim Akram, Ian Botham and Jacques Kallis.

As of April 19, 2026, it is still the last century by a nightwatchman in Test cricket.