It is both an invidious and a beguiling task. The urge to rank things runs deep - in cricket, in sport, in life (though it is perhaps something males delight in more). Inevitably, the impulse to disagree is just as hardwired, a patellar reflex of the socialised human brain. You think that is the best...? In compiling Masterly Batting: 100 Great Test Centuries, Patrick Ferriday and Dave Wilson, assisted by an able band of co-conspirators, have struck up a pub debate liable to exercise pedants, inflame nationalists and, perhaps worst of all, provoke the Twitterati to fresh displays of mandrill pomposity. There could be broken glass.This is no back-of-a-beer-mat musing, however. The authors have come tooled up. The research has been rigorous, their soundings far and wide (former Wisden editor John Woodcock is one of the first to be credited in the acknowledgements). In setting out the projects aims, Ferriday is awake to the difficulty, both rousing and daunting. Ranking the 100 greatest Test hundreds - for that is what they have done, or attempted, despite the enigmatic subtitle - is not a matter of irrefutable fact, but rather falls into the category where no such certainty can bring the debate to a crushing and indelible conclusion. And it is precisely these latter cases that are the most stimulating; opinion is reinforced by fact, fact is questioned, opinion reinforced or, where open minds prevail, altered.The danger of having an open mind, of course, is that your brain falls out. But Masterly Batting should find the thoughtful audience it deserves. The methodology is explained in the introduction, with ten categories - size, conditions, bowling attack, percentage, chances, speed, series impact, match impact, intangibles, compatibility - weighed against each other. The precise formula is not revealed but we can assume it is quite exacting, as there are several tied positions. The prospect of sifting through over 2000 possible candidates would leave many to conclude that pure maths was the only way to go, but Ferriday and Wilson have brought humanity to the numbers by stirring in contemporaneous reportage and the wisdom of numerous cricket judges. The order is, in many ways, subordinate to the higher purpose, which is to collate great cricket writing on great cricket feats. Measuring centuries against each other was settled upon as a valid and achievable goal but the effect is to paint vivid pictures of a different kind of century - more than 100 years of Test batting. This is particularly true with regard to the top 25 innings, which are given extended treatment and take up more than half of the book.Never mind the run-making, the keystrokes are just as impressive. There are some fabulous pieces in the book by a variety of writers, including David Frith, Stephen Chalke, Telford Vice and Rob Smyth. Chalke provides a superb portrait of Herbert Sutcliffe, Daniel Harris on Gordon Greenidge fizzes and crackles with an apposite energy, while Vices essay on Jacques Kallis - He has fashioned one of the great careers with the passion he might have brought to mowing the lawn - is full of good lines. Ferriday himself worships thrice at the altar of Brian Lara, while the comic-book vitality of Kevin Pietersens 186 in Mumbai is another example of the multitudes contained within.The result is richly satisfying, a kaleidoscope of dogged rearguards, effervescent counter-attacking and dreadnought destruction. Absence is what makes the heart grow harder. Each reader will come to Masterly Batting in search of particular favourites, some of whom are bound to be disappointed. No Atherton in Johannesburg, no Dravid in Adelaide? It is the relative dearth of Asian representatives that will cause most debate: seven Indian entries, five Pakistani and three Sri Lankan, plus Mohammad Ashraful. Virender Sehwags 293 in Mumbai is the highest ranked, at No. 15, while Ashraful comes well ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, whose single worthy effort - 155 not out against Australia in Chennai - is deemed great enough to creep in at No. 100. This may seem doubly controversial in the prevailing climate of Sachinalia, although it is interesting to note that a similar exercise in 2001, the Wisden 100, found no room for Tendulkar at all.Perhaps a greater oversight is the lack of Asian voices - Rahul Bhattacharya is quoted in the opening pages, but that is as close as an Indian writer gets to the book. The subcontinent stretches far across crickets globe, however, and this might have been better reflected. On the matter of which innings did and didnt make the cut, Ferriday is happy to engage and he would doubtless provide a sound argument for the inclusion of both Kallis hundreds in Cape Town in 2011 when Tendulkars in the same match misses out.But they are still serving at the bar and argument will continue long into the night. In a publishing landscape that is dominated by turgid autobiographies and glossy compilations, Masterly Batting stands out like a Laxman cover drive. And where does Kolkata 2001 rank next to Bradman on a sticky MCG pitch or Mark Butchers Headingley heroics? Time for me to get my coat.Masterly Batting: 100 Great Test Centuries Compiled and edited by Patrick Ferriday and Dave Wilson Von Krumm Publishing 290 pages; ￡15 China NHL Jerseys . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Cheap NHL Jerseys Free Shipping . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. http://www.wholesalenhljerseys.us/ . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. Cheap NHL Jerseys China . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. NHL Jerseys Outlet Store .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. SHANGHAI -- No one from Japan has more than Hideki Matsuyamas three PGA Tour victories. No one from Japan ever won a World Golf Championship.None of this might have been possible if Matsuyama had never left home so quickly.Even after he blew away a world-class field in the HSBC Champions to reach No. 6 in the world, the 24-year-old Matsuyama was not comfortable being mentioned with the five players ahead of him in the ranking or other Japanese players before his time.That starts with Jumbo Ozaki, who won more than 100 tournaments and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame five years ago.But theres one big difference.Ozaki rarely played outside the Japan Golf Tour. His only victory away from home was the 1972 New Zealand PGA Championship. Matsuyama stopped playing a full Japanese schedule after one year, instead coming to America to see how he stacked up against the best.His first PGA Tour victory in 2014 at the Memorial led tournament host Jack Nicklaus to say, I think youve just seen the start of whats going to be truly one of your worlds great players over the next 10 to 15 years.Matsuyama won the Phoenix Open in a playoff over Rickie Fowler earlier this year. And then he played the final 45 holes at Sheshan International for a seven-shot victory Sunday over British Open champion Henrik Stenson and Daniel Berger to become the first Asian to win a World Golf Championship.If I would have just stayed in Japan, I dont think my golf game would have improved as much as it has, Matsuyama said. I needed to go out. I needed to go to America. Winning this week proves to me that I did make the right decision, and it gives me more motivation to win more.Told he was No. 6 in the world, Matsuyama paused from signing tournament flags and said with a smile, That makes me very happy.He speaks limited English, though he understands enough, and so when he heard words suggesting he was No. 1 in Japan, he stopped what he was doing.I dont feel that I am the No. 1 player in Japan, he said. There are so many greats that have paved the way, that have enabled me to be where Im at today.Early in his career, Matsuyama played in Japan with Ozaki. He said he didnt fully grasp Ozakis feats until much later, and believes the legend he calls Jumbo-san has established a standard that no one will ever touch.At least in Japan.Around the world, Matsuyama has been making his mark long before his victory iin Shanghai.ddddddddddddHe won the Asia Amateur in 2010 by five shots to earn a spot in the 2011 Masters, made the cut at Augusta National and tied for 27th. Later that year, at 19 and still going to college, he won the Taiheiyo Masters, one of the top tournaments in Japan. Matsuyama also won another Asia Amateur, and then made another cut at the Masters.Once he finished his college degree in Japan, he won four times as a rookie and finished the year at No. 23 in the world, one spot behind American rookie Jordan Spieth. Perhaps the reason he never received enough attention was that Japan didnt have a history of success away from home.Now it does.He said winning the Memorial showed me that I can compete with some of the best players in the world. The Phoenix Open was validation.And then todays win proves to me I can compete with everyone, he said. It will give me great confidence going forward, especially in the majors.Thats the next stop, and its one reason he wont put himself in the same class as the five players ahead of him in the world ranking -- Jason Day at No. 1, followed by Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Stenson and Spieth. All of them have won majors.Matsuyama finished fifth and seventh at the Masters the past two years. He was in the mix at Muirfield in the 2013 British Open his rookie year before tying for sixth. He shot all four rounds in the 60s at Baltusrol and tied for fourth in the PGA Championship this year.Im thrilled to be No. 6 in the world, he said. But being on the same level as those other players, Ive got to win a lot more to be considered with them.Still to come is the World Cup later this month with Ryo Ishikawa, his close friend who has returned from back injury with five straight top 10s, including a victory. Matsuyama will never face the scrutiny of Ishikawa, who won a Japan Golf Tour event as a 15-year-old amateur and for years received the kind of rock-star treatment at home that only Tiger Woods could appreciate.What makes them different is their youth. Ishikawa is only five months older.All the great players before me came to the United States when they were in their 30s, Matsuyama said. Both of us have come earlier. If theres a difference, its the age we came to the U.S.Its a different path, indeed. But its working. 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