Most sixes, fours and boundary runs in Test innings and matches

We have looked at the highest Test scores without sixes and fours. Now we look at the counterpart-scores with the most sixes, fours and boundary runs in Tests.

A basic reference would be the highest Test innings scores:

which most fans are generally aware of, including Sehwag’s 319 in 2008 which is the highest for India

We also look at the lesser-known

Highest Test match scores (adding scores of both innings):

While everyone knows about Lara’s record of 400* and earlier record-holders such as Hayden, Sobers and Hutton the record scores in a match are not so well known. The record is held by Gooch (456) followed by Mark Taylor (426) and Sangakkara (424). Gooch and Sangakkara are the only ones to score a triple century and century in the same Test. The highest for India is the relatively old 344 (124 and 220) by Gavaskar in 1971.

We now look more closely at fours and sixes:

For Test innings:

Most sixes:

Akram’s 12 6s has been the record since 1996. He took the record from Hammond (10) made back in 1933.

Sidhu and Agarwal also appear from India.

Holder, Stokes and Agarwal all scored 8 6s in an innings in 2019.

It is interesting to compare the record for most sixes in a Test match:

The record recently passed to Rohit Sharma with 13 6s in his two centuries against South Africa. Before that, Akram’s 12 (in one innings!) was the match record standing since 1996.

Now we look at the most fours in a Test innings:

This record was made over a half-century ago with Edrich’s 52 (plus 5 sixes) against New Zealand in 1965. Next are Sehwag (47 in a score of 293) and Bradman (46 in 334)

The most fours in a Test match:

Edrich is in third place with 52, after Gooch and VVS Laxman (56 in two innings).

The next question one may ask is regarding the most runs in boundaries in an innings and match. This requires putting the Statsguru results into a spreadsheet for further work. This is what we get:

Most runs in an innings in boundaries:

Here we see that the most is 238 (out of 310) by Edrich, being (52*4)+(5*6) = 238. Next come Hayden (218/380) and Inzamam (206/329) before two by Sehwag (202/293 and 198/319). Sehwag indeed has 4 of the top 10 entries here!

And finally, the most runs in a match in boundaries:

Edrich’s 238 in one innings is surpassed only by Gooch’s 266 (56*4 + 7*6) in his two centuries . Sangakkara is third with 232 (from 319+105) and VVS Laxman fourth with 224 (from 59+281).

To sum up:

Highest innings: 400* by Lara in 2004

Highest total runs in a match: 456 by Gooch in 1990

Most sixes in an innings (12 in 257*) by Wasim Akram vs Zimbabwe in 1996

Most fours in an innings (52 in 310*) by JH Edrich vs New Zealand in 1965

Most sixes in a match (13 in 176+127) by RG Sharma vs South Africa in 2019

Most fours in a match (56 in 333+123, 56 in 59+281) by GA Gooch (1990) and VVS Laxman (2001) respectively

Most runs in boundaries in an innings (238 = 52*4 +5*6) by JH Edrich in 1965.

Most runs in boundaries in a match (266 = 56*4+7*6) by GA Gooch in 1990

Remember that Gooch’s 456 runs in this match is the most in any Test or indeed any first-class match.

Jadeja and Nair’s record feats

It was clear that deciding the Man of the Match for this Test would be somewhat difficult. Finally the Crown Prince won at the expense of the Knight. We look at their records in this Test.

Highest innings by Asian batsmen against England (200 and more):

KK Nair’s 303* is the highest by any Asian batsman against England, surpassing the 274 by Zaheer Abbas in 1971. That remains the record for the highest by an Asian batsman in England. For India, the record is 221 by Gavaskar in 1979.

Nair’s 303* is also the highest for India vs England, surpassing the 235 by Virat Kohli earlier in this series and the 224 by VG Kambli in 1992-93.

Nair also became the third to make a triple century as his maiden century.

These are the highest maiden centuries (250 and above):

A dynamic link for all such scores of 200 and above:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/230132.html

More detailed accounts of the innings of Sobers and Simpson can be seen here:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/make-mine-a-double-no-a-triple/

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/make-mine-a-double-no-a-triple-part-2/

We now move on to Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round feat.

Here we have a complete list of those who scored a fifty and took 10 wickets in a Test:

This has been achieved on 26 occasions by 24 players. Jadeja is the only one to take 3 or more catches as well. The only other Indian to have scored a fifty and taken 10 wickets in a match is Kapil Dev. Only Botham, Imran and Shakib have scored a century and taken 10 wickets in a match. Earlier Davidson scored over 100 runs and took 10 wickets, but did not score a century.

The other main all-round feat is a century and five wickets in an innings, which is slightly more common. It has been achieved on 32 occasions by 25 players, including Mankad, Umrigar and Ashwin (twice).

On only three occasions have these players taken 3 catches as well: Mushtaq (1973), Botham (Feb 1978) and Kallis (2002).

Now for a few other contrived all-round records. Jadeja took 10 wickets in the match and 4 catches (of which one was a c & b). He is one of only 5 to achieve this:

10 wickets and 4 catches in a match:

And he is also part of a small group of 15 players who had an innings tally of 10 or more wickets and catches put together. 5 players have 11.

They are GA Lohmann, JM Noreiga, HJ Tayfield, AE Trott and LC Braund. 10 others including Jadeja have 10.

In Jadeja’s case, the one c & b meant he had a hand in 9 of the 10 wickets which fell. Only Dawson (b Mishra) evaded him.

Tail piece: While Karun Nair is nominally from Kerala, he was born in Jodhpur and has lived mainly in Bangalore.