history of test cricket

A record of a test cricket game that is difficult to beat

Despite test cricket being around for over a century, there are still some test cricket records categories that have yet to be broken.

However, talking about all the records in the history of test cricket matches, there have been great players in cricket who showed their extraordinary talent by their performances in cricket.

Test Cricket is the top level of international cricket and is considered more prestigious than one-day Internationals. ODI matches usually take place over one day, and the game is completed in this period.

The concept of a Test Cricket match is that it should be more even and, therefore, each team plays two innings per match, over four to five days.

Records Started With First Match

The first test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England (AUS) at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australia won the match by four wickets, with the match lasting five days.

After that, Australia started to dominate test cricket matches, winning most matches played against England and winning the Test series against them seven times up to 1930.headingley cricket ground

In 1948, England won the first test match at Headingly Cricket Ground in Leeds and became the top side. In 1969, a cricket revolution occurred when teams from other countries started to win against Australia and England.

In 1972, England hosted a test match against the West Indies Cricket team, an up-and-coming force in test matches.

The match was played at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester, England, winning by five wickets, with Desmond Haynes taking 4 for 43 to seal victory for the West Indies. Test cricket is often the purest form of the game, and many records attest to that.

Batting Records

The records are broken down into batting, bowling categories.

  • Highest Test score by an individual batsman in 1092 runs.  This record was established by Don Bradman of Australia when he was playing against England at Brisbane in 1930/31.
  • The highest score single-handed by an individual batsman not dismissed in the first inning is 362 not out.  Bob Simpson from Australia England at Birmingham in 1972.
  • The highest Test score single-handed by an individual batsman dismissed in the first innings is   187 runs. Brian Lara of West Indies scored it versus England at St John’s in 1994/95. He also has scored the most runs in a single by making 400 runs out of 582 balls.
  • The longest innings in Test cricket lasted 10 hours 25 minutes. The most runs scored in a test match innings was scored by Bradman, who made 304
  • Sachin Tendulkar of India holds the record for the most Test centuries scored by an individual.
  • Mark Waugh of Australia and Adam Gilchrist of Australia hold the highest first-wicket partnership in test cricket of 399 runs.
  • The highest run rate in test cricket was achieved by Sri Lanka when they scored 625/7 against South Africa.
  • The highest batting innings in test cricket was by Sachin Tendulkar of India when he scored 334 runs against England.

Bowling Averages

  • The best Bowling Average for a minimum of 100 wickets is with Muttiah Muralitharan (20.93)
  • Best Bowling Average, qualification- 10 wickets – Shane Warne (25.64)
  • Most 10 Wicket Innings – Richard Hadlee
  • Quickest 10 Wicket Innings Match – Muttiah Muralitharan against Zimbabwe with eight overs and 22 balls for seven wickets.
  • Fewest Wickets to take 100 Test Wickets – Shane Warne (286 test matches)
  • Most Wickets in a Series – Glenn McGrath (49 wickets in 6 test matches against Zimbabwe, 2003–04)
  • Most Wickets in a Match – Muttiah Muralitharan (9 wickets for 70 runs against Zimbabwe, 2001–02).

Records Established By Sir Donald BradmanDon Bradman in cricket history

The legendary batsman from Australia, Sir Donald Bradman, has contributed a lot to cricket. He was the greatest batsman of test cricket and had many records.

He has Highest Career Average in Test Cricket that is 99.94Highest Career Average for a Series for Donald Bradman is 452 runs at a batting average of 201.33 in 1930-31. He has scored the most runs in series and matches.

With all these records, it is very hard for any other cricket player to beat his records. Also, nowadays, with more demand for ODI and T-20s, test matches are organized less than the earlier times.

So young players are more interested in playing a shorter version of cricket than in the test match. But they do not know that the purest and classic format of cricket is Test Match.

To succeed in test cricket is very hard as it is the very skillful format of cricket where you have to give every ounce of effort to win the match.