Records Galore
At Colombo in 1996-97 India won the toss and batted first. Having scored 537/8 they declared trying to bowl Sril Lanka out for under 337. How wrong they were! Sri Lanka scored 952/6 (a test record) with Sanath Jayasuriya (340) and Roshan Mahanama (225) putting on 576 runs (a test record and 1 run short of the first-class record). They also became the only pair to bat through 2 full days of test cricket.

At the other end of the spectrum, New Zealand were dismissed by England for 26 at Auckland in 1954-55 - a test record for the lowest team total.
The highest first-class score in 1107 by Victoria vs New South Wales in 1926-27. The lowest score by a full team is 12 - by Northamptonshire vs Gloucestershire in 1907!
Alec Bedser took 14/99 in a test against England in 1953 - the best bowling figures by a bowler in a losing cause.
Ricky Ponting holds the equivalent batting record scoring 242 in a losing cause against India at Adelaide in 2003-04.
Australia's Clarrie Grimmet and India's Dilip Doshi are the only bowlers to take 100 test wickets having started their international careers after the age of 30.
Mario Zagallo of Brazil won the football world cup both as a player and as coach. Geoff Marsh has achieved the same feat in cricket, winning in 1987 as a player and in 1999 as coach.
One of the greatest bowlers in history, Hedley Verity took 10/10 against Nottinghamshire in 1932 - the best bowling figures in first-class history. It is also the only ten-for to include a hat trick. He died during WW-II after having being take prisoner in Italy.
Who is the worst bowler is test cricket? Well that's a toughie! Statistically speaking it is Rawl Lewis of the West Indies whose three match test career saw a bowling average of 318 (the worst in test history) at a strike rate of 585. However, Roger Wijesuriya of Sri Lanka has the worst strike rate of 586 - though he has a better average of 294!
Ken Suttle of Sussex played in 423 consecutive first-class matches between 1954 and 1969 - the longest streak by any cricketer.
Western Province bowler, Bob Crisp is the only bowler to have taken 4 wickets in 4 balls twice in his first-class career.
In 1899, 13-year old Arthur Collins scored 628* in a junior match for Clarke's House at Clifton College. This remains the highest score in any form of cricket. He then took 11 wickets to help his team beat North Tower by an innings and 688 runs! Collins never played first-class cricket and was killed in WW-I.
The record for the highest partnership in any form of cricket is held by two slightly better known players. Sachin Tendulkar (329*) and Vinod Kambli (349*) put on an unbeaten stand of 664 for their school in the Harris Shield tournament.
Women's Cricket - Janette Brittin of England scored 1935 runs for England in 27 tests, making 5 test centuries - both world records. Kiran Baluch of Pakistan scored 242 against the West Indies in 2003-04, a world record.
Charles Bannerman scored the first test century. Billy Murdoch, who played for both Australia and England scored the first test double century (he also hit the first ever six in test cricket). Andy Sandham of England scored the first triple century (in what was his last test match), and Brian Lara has scored the only quadruple century.
Five batsmen have been left stranded on 99* in a test match. Strangely enough this is a fairly recent phenomenon. The unlucky batsmen are Geoff Boycott, Steve Waugh, Alex Tudor, Shaun Pollock and Andrew Hall. While four of them managed test centuries, 99* is the highest test score for Alex Tudor. Mike Atherton once declared England's innings and left Grame Hick stuck on 98*. Andy Flower of Zimbabwe was left on 199* against South Africa (he added 142 in the second innings for good measure), and the greatest of them all Sir Don Bradman was once left stranded on 299*.

Published by Unknown on 02:06. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0