Cricket: Records

Cricket is a sport that lends itself easily to statistics, and this website could not hope to provide a comprehensive list of cricket records. Instead, we just aim to cover the ones that are most likely to come up in quizzes.

Batting

Leading run scorers – Tests

		Name	Country	From	To	Matches	Inns	Runs	Highst	Avge
1		Sachin Tendulkar	India	1989	2013	200	329	15,921	248*	53.78
2		Ricky Ponting	Australia	1995	2012	168	287	13,378	257	51.85
3		Jacques Kallis	South Africa	1995	2013	166	280	13,289	224	55.37
4		Rahul Dravid	India	1996	2012	164	286	13,288	270	52.31
5		Alastair Cook	England	2006	2018	161	291	12,472	294	45.35
6		Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	2000	2015	134	233	12,400	319	57.40
7		Brian Lara	West Indies	1990	2006	131	232	11,953	400*	52.88

Other national bests:

13		Younis Khan	Pakistan	2000	2017	118	213	10,099	313	52.05
46		Ross Taylor	New Zealand	2007		101	178	7,238	290	46.10

These details were last updated in October 2020. At that time, the leading run scorer among those still playing Test matches was Hashim Amla (South Africa), with 9,282.

For the latest details (supplied by ESPN CricInfo), please click here.

Leading run scorers - ODIs

The top seven:

		Name	Country	From	To	Matches	Inns	Runs	Highst	Avge
1		Sachin Tendulkar	India	1989	2012	463	452	18,426	200*	44.83
2		Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	2000	2015	404	380	14,234	169	41.98
3		Ricky Ponting	Australia	1995	2012	375	365	13,704	164	42.03
4		Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	1989	2011	445	433	13,430	189	32.36
5		Mahela Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	1998	2015	448	418	12,650	144	33.37
6		Virat Kohli	India	2008		248	239	11,867	183	59.33
7		Inzamam–ul–Haq	Pakistan	1991	2007	378	350	11,739	137*	39.52
8		Jacques Kallis	South Africa	1996	2014	328	314	11,579	139	44.36

Leading scorers for other countries:

12		Chris Gayle	West Indies	1999		301	215	10,480	215	37.83
25		Ross Taylor	New Zealand	2006		232	216	8,574	181*	48.44
34		Eoin Morgan	England	2006		242	225	7,598	148	39.57

These details were last updated in October 2020. At that time, the batsmen in 9th, 10th and 11th place were all Indian: Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and MS Dhoni. Dhoni was still playing at this time.

Chris Gayle overtook Brian Lara's ODI total for the West Indies in 2019. Lara scored 10,405 runs in 299 matches (289 innings), and in October 2020 he was right behind Gayle in 13th place.

For the latest details (supplied by ESPN CricInfo), please click here.

Other

364 for England v Australia, The Oval, 1938			Len Hutton
365 for West Indies v Pakistan, Kingston, 1958			Garfield Sobers
375 for West Indies v England, St John's, 1994			Brian Lara
380 for Australia v Zimbabwe, Perth, 9–10 October 2003			Matthew Hayden
400 for West Indies v England, St John's, 10–12 April 2004			Brian Lara
Highest first class innings (Brian Lara, Warwickshire v. Durham 1994)			501
15,921 runs in 200 Tests for India, 1989–2013			Sachin Tendulkar
11,953 runs in 131 Tests for West Indies, 1990 – 2006			Brian Lara
11,174 runs in 156 Tests for Australia, 1978–94			Allan Border
10,927 runs in 168 Tests for Australia, 1985–2004			Steve Waugh
10,122 runs in 125 Tests for India, 1971–87			Sunil Gavaskar
Highest innings score in an ODI (England v. Pakistan, at Trent Bridge, August 2016)			444

Bowling

Leading wicket takers – Tests

		Name	Country	From	To	Matches	Inns	Wkts	Runs	Avge
1		Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	1992	2010	133	230	800	18,180	22.72
2		Shane Warne	Australia	1992	2007	145	273	708	17,995	25.41
3		Anil Kumble	India	1990	2008	132	236	619	18,355	29.65
4		Jimmy Anderson	England	2003		156	291	600	16,078	26.79
5		Glenn McGrath	Australia	1993	2007	124	243	563	12,186	21.64
6		Courtney Walsh	West Indies	1984	2001	132	242	519	12,688	24.44
7		Stuart Broad	England	2007		143	263	514	14,216	27.65
8		Dale Steyn	South Africa	2004		93	171	439	10,077	22.95
9		Kapil Dev	India	1978	1994	131	227	434	12,867	29.64
10		Rangana Herath	Sri Lanka	1999	2018	93	170	433	12,157	28.07
11		Richard Hadlee	New Zealand	1993	1990	86	150	431	9,611	22.29
12		Shaun Pollock	South Africa	1995	2008	108	202	421	9,733	23.11
13		Harbhajan Singh	India	1998	2015	103	190	417	13,537	32.46
14		Wasim Akram	Pakistan	1985	2002	104	181	414	9,779	23.62

These details were last updated in October 2020, when three of the above players were still playing Test matches. Apart from those three, the leading wicket taker among those still playing Test matches at that time was Nathan Lyon (Australia) with 390.

For the latest details (supplied by ESPN CricInfo), please click here.

Leading wicket takers – ODIs

The top nine:

		Name	Country	From	To	Matches	Inns	Wkts	Runs	Avge	Econ
1		Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	1993	2011	350	341	534	12,326	23.08	3.93
2		Wasim Akram	Pakistan	1984	2003	356	351	502	11,812	23.52	3.89
3		Waqar Younis	Pakistan	1989	2003	262	258	416	9,919	23.84	4.68
4		Chaminda Vaas	Sri Lanka	1994	2008	322	320	400	11,014	27.53	4.18
5		Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	1996	2015	398	372	395	13,632	34.51	4.62
6		Shaun Pollock	South Africa	1996	2008	303	297	393	9,631	24.50	3.67
7		Glenn McGrath	Australia	1993	2007	250	248	381	8,391	22.02	3.88
8		Brett Lee	Australia	2000	2012	221	217	380	8,877	23.36	4.76
9		Lasith Malinga	Sri Lanka	2000		226	220	338	10,936	28.87	5.35
10		Anil Kumble	India	1990	2007	271	265	337	10,412	30.89	4.30

Other countries' best:

13		Daniel Vettori	N. Zealand	1997	2015	295	277	305	9,674	31.71	4.12
21		Jimmy Anderson	England	2002	2015	194	191	269	7,861	29.22	4.92

These details were last updated in October 2020. The leading wicket taker among those still playing ODIs at that time was Mashrafe Mortaza of Bangladesh, who was in 20th place with 270 wickets from 220 matches.

For the latest details (supplied by ESPN CricInfo), please click here.

Other

First bowler to take 100 Test wickets (England, 1895)		J. Briggs
First to take 200 Test wickets (Australia, 1936)		Clarrie Grimmett
First to take 300 Test wickets (England, 1964)		Fred Trueman
First to take 400 Test wickets (New Zealand, 1990)		Richard Hadlee
First to take 500 Test wickets (West Indies, 2001)		Courtney Walsh
Second bowler, and the first spinner, to take 500 Test wickets (Australia, 2004)		Shane Warne
First to take 600 wickets (Australia, 2005)		Shane Warne
First to take 700 wickets (Australia, 2006)		Shane Warne
First to take 800 Test wickets (Sri Lanka, 2010); overtook Warne's record of 708 Test wickets in 2007; overtook Wasim Akram's record of 502 ODI wickets in 2009		Muttiah Muralitharan
Third bowler to take 600 wickets		Anil Kumble

First English bowler to take 400 Test wickets (2015), first to take 500 (2017), and the first to take 600 (2020)

James (Jimmy) Anderson

Innings

Highest total in a Test match (Sri Lanka v. India, 1997–8)		952–6 dec.
Lowest innings score in a Test match (New Zealand v. England, Auckland, 1954–5)		26
South Africa's lowest innings score in a Test match (v. England, 1896 and 1924)		30
Australia's lowest innings score in a Test match (v. England, 1930)		36
India's lowest innings score in a Test match (v. England, 1974)		42
England's lowest innings score in a Test match (v. Australia, Melbourne, 1887)		45
England's lowest innings score in a Test match since 1887 (v. West Indies, 1994)		46
West Indies lowest innings total (v. England, 2004)		47
Lowest innings score in a one–day international (Pakistan, 1993)		43

Results

Closest Test win (West Indies beat Australia, Adelaide 1993)		1 run
Closest Test win in England (England beat Australia, Edgbaston, 2005)		2 runs
Previous closest Test win in England (Australia beat England, Old Trafford, 1902)		3 runs
England's previous closest Test win (v. Australia, Melbourne, 1982)		3 runs

© Haydn Thompson 2017–19