Also: What is the highest individual score in the fourth innings of a Test in a win?
Steven Lynch23-Apr-2024We’ve seen all sorts of tall scoring in this IPL, including the highest total and the highest match aggregate – but what are the equivalent records for the lowest? asked Sumit Shah from India
You’re right that the current IPL has seen the competition’s highest total so far (Sunrisers’ 287 for 3 against Royal Challengers in Bengaluru last week), and the highest two-innings aggregate (549 runs in the same match, after RCB replied with 262 for 7).The lowest all-out total in an IPL game remains Royal Challengers’ 49 against Kolkata Knight Riders (who made 131) at Eden Gardens in 2017.The fewest runs in an IPL match with a positive result is 135, also in 2017, set in Mohali, where Kings XI Punjab skittled Delhi Capitals for 67 then knocked off the runs without loss. The smallest aggregate in an IPL match that lasted the full 40 overs is 208, in the game between Chennai Super Kings (116 for 9) and Kings XI Punjab (92 for 8) in Durban in 2009.There were only two balls bowled in a T20 match in Rawalpindi last week. Was this the shortest international game ever played? asked Hamza Ali Shah from Pakistan
The match in question was the first T20I between Pakistan and New Zealand in Rawalpindi last Thursday, which was rained off after just two balls. Before the heavens opened there was time for the New Zealand debutant Tim Robinson to collect two leg-byes off the first delivery and be bowled for a duck by the second.That game was actually the third official men’s international that amounted to two balls. The first was the World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka in Mackay in February 1992, when Kris Srikkanth scored the match’s solitary run before it was abandoned due to rain. This was the only senior men’s international staged at Harrup Park in this Queensland coastal city, although there have been several women’s matches there.The other blink-and-miss-it match was a T20I between England and New Zealand at The Oval in June 2013. Michael Lumb took two off Mitchell McClenaghan’s first delivery but was then caught at slip off the second. Then it rained… and rained, which meant the international captaincy career of England’s James Tredwell lasted just two balls.There have also been 17 men’s internationals (and two women’s) that had no play at all, but count in the records as appearances for the players concerned as the toss was made, which officially starts the match.What is the highest individual score by a batter to win a Test match? asked Vidula Wijesirinarayana from Sri Lanka
Assuming you mean the highest individual score in a fourth-innings chase, there have been two scores of over 200, both by West Indians. Against England at Lord’s in 1984, opener Gordon Greenidge cracked 214 not out as his side made light of a target of 342, strolling home by nine wickets with about an hour to spare after David Gower’s last-day declaration.And in Chattogram in February 2021, Kyle Mayers – who was making his debut – helped haul in an even bigger target (395) with 210 not out as Bangladesh were beaten by three wickets.The next two were actually in the same match: in the Ashes Test at Headingley in 1948, Australia made 404 for 3 in the final innings – a record chase at the time – with Arthur Morris scoring 182 and Don Bradman 173 not out.If you just mean the highest score in any Test win, it’s the 380 by Australia’s Matthew Hayden in an innings victory over Zimbabwe in Perth in 2003. Brian Lara’s 400 not out, the only higher individual score in a Test, came in a drawn game.Laura Wolvaardt’s 184 in Potchefstroom overtook Chamari Athapaththu’s 178 as the highest individual score in a loss in women’s ODIs•Gallo ImagesLaura Wolvaardt made 184 in a one-day international the other day – but ended up losing! Was this the highest score in a losing cause in a women’s ODI ? asked WHO
South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt scored 184 not out – her eighth and biggest international century – in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Potchefstroom last week (she’d also scored 110 not out in the previous match). But it wasn’t enough for victory, mainly because Chamari Athapaththu collected 195 not out (the third highest in women’s ODIs) as Sri Lanka chased down their target of 302 with something to spare.Wolvaardt’s score was indeed the highest score in a losing cause in a women’s ODI, beating 178 not out by… Chamari Athapaththu, against Australia in Bristol during the 2017 World Cup.The record in a men’s ODI is 194 not out, by Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry against Bangladesh in Bulawayo in August 2009.Raman Subba Row, who died last week, made his highest Test score in his final innings. How many people have done this (given a score of over 100)? asked Vipul Shah from the UAE
Left-hander Raman Subba Row, who was England’s oldest Test player before his recent death aged 92, made his highest Test score of 137 in his final innings, against Australia at The Oval in 1961. He then retired, at the early age of 29, although he remained a considerable presence in the game as an administrator.The record for a player making his highest score in his final Test innings belongs to the West Indian Seymour Nurse, who hit 258 against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1968-69: he retired after the match and couldn’t be persuaded to make a comeback. There’s an unlikely name high on the list: after going in as nightwatcher in Chattogram in April 2006, Jason Gillespie lasted long enough to reach 201 not out – but this proved to be the last of his 71 Tests.The others with a higher score than Subba Row in their final Test innings are England’s Maurice Leyland (187 against Australia at The Oval in 1938), Afghanistan’s Asghar Afghan (164 vs Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi in 2020-21), Vijay Merchant of India (154 vs England in Delhi in 1951-52), Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams (151 not out vs Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi in 2020-21), Mahmudullah of Bangladesh (150 not out vs Zimbabwe in Harare in 2021), Australia’s Reggie Duff (146 vs England at The Oval in 1905), and Colin Milburn of England (139 vs Pakistan in Karachi in 1969-69). The West Indian Kenneth “Bam Bam” Weekes also scored 137 in his last Test innings, against England at The Oval in 1939. Williams may yet play again.Others have made higher scores in their final Test, but not their last innings (England’s Andy Sandham holds this record, with 325 – Test cricket’s first triple-century – against West Indies in Kingston in 1929-30).Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions
