As he approaches his 50th Test, the gritty Australian opener has out-performed even the late, great Don, Trevor Marshallsea writes.

It happened once in Bridgetown, Barbados, once in St John's, Antigua, and once again in Hamilton, New Zealand, but it has never happened since.

Those who were there may not have realised at the time, but they were seeing something which has become a distinct cricketing rarity: Justin Langer was bowled.

You can say what you like about Langer, but one thing you can't do, it seems, is bowl the bugger out.

In a phenomenal record of protecting his wicket, Langer has been bowled only three times in the 75 occasions he has been dismissed in Test matches.

It is an achievement that stands the 31-year-old alone in the history of Test cricket, and one he can reflect on with pride as he brings up a remarkable half century of Tests in two weeks at Cape Town. Langer has been bowled in just 4 per cent of his Test dismissals. None of the 351 batsmen to have played 50 Test innings or more in the history of the game can boast a better record.

Another Australian, Graeme Wood, is next on the list with a 4.7 per cent ratio. In this category, Langer puts some of the greats to shame. Don Bradman was bowled in 33 per cent of his dismissals, and for Allan Border it was one in four.

While Langer has beaten some of the best bowlers in the world, it will pain him that Carl Hooper's inoffensive offies bowled him both times in the West Indies. Chris Cairns can boast about being the last man to get through Langer's defences, almost two years ago in April 2000.

Those who don't love cricket stats may scoff, but what Langer's record shows is the same determined streak that will lift him to 50 Tests next week, despite being counted out time and again since making his debut nine years ago.

There are those who maintain he is boring, a batsman more limited than some of his teammates, or more cruelly someone who quite often hasn't deserved to be in the side.

But while it is taking a while for many fans to abandon those preconceptions (hatched in what he admits were his early, more conservative days), in his indomitable way Langer has proved them all wrong as he has fought back from being dropped on no fewer than four occasions, most recently and most painfully at the start of the Ashes tour last year.

With his wide eyes, a squeaky voice that often sounds as if everything amazes him, and small stature - in civvies he sometimes looks as if he's wearing his big brother's clothes-Langer comes across as a bit of a Boy Scout among teammates such as the hard-bitten bulldog Steve Waugh, glamour boys Shane Warne and Brett Lee, or his mate Matthew Hayden. In his first 25 Tests, Langer made just 1,306 runs at an average of 32.65. From his 26th to his 48th appearance, a period where maturity as a Test player should arrive, he averaged 58.80 from 2,058 runs. Among Australian players, only Bradman with 3,432, and Bob Simpson with 2,315 scored more in that period of their careers.

Through those 23 Tests, before the current match at the Wanderers, Langer has made nine of his 12 Test hundreds. Of Australian players, only Bradman made more in that phase of his career, with 15.

It has lifted Langer's record through his 48 Tests before this one to 3,364 runs at 44.85. Steve Waugh had only made 2,312 at 36.70 to that stage, while Border was behind with 3,256.

It is with deserved satisfaction that Langer looks ahead to his 50th Test, though he accepts it will be in keeping with a career in which some of his own milestones have been overshadowed by those of his teammates, much like Arthur Morris's 196 at The Oval in 1948, which went largely forgotten because one of his colleagues had made, of all things, a duck. Of course it was Bradman.

"It took me a long time to get there, but I'm very proud of 50 Test matches," Langer said. "It will also be Warnie's 100th Test, so I guess it will be like when I made my first Test hundred, and Mark Taylor got 334. I'll be Arthur Morris again I think.

"My first couple of years in Tests I guess I was so keen to stay in there that I wasn't as confident as I am now, but I've worked hard on my technique. It hasn't been a conscious effort to be more aggressive, I just think it's natural development.

"I'm proud of how I've come on in the second half of my career. That's why I was so disappointed when I got dropped in England last year.

"It took a bit of time to get my head around that, but looking back I'm glad I was dropped. It's helped my perspective on the game.

"It gives you good incentive to keep working hard on your game, and keep working hard on your concentration. Hopefully my record now is speaking for itself. That's all I can do."