Thirimanne’s record

So England ultimately won the series against Sri Lanka 2-0, but there were some periods in both Tests where it seemed that the hosts had a chance of winning.

In the second Test, Lasith Embuldeniya took 7 wickets in the first innings and went on to take his first “tenner” in the match. It may have escaped notice that Lahiru Thirimanne took 5 catches as a fielder in the first innings, all of them off Lasith’s bowling.

See the scorecard: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/england-in-sri-lanka-2020-21-1242951/sri-lanka-vs-england-2nd-test-1243016/full-scorecard

There are several instances of non-keepers taking 5 catches in an innings:

However, Lahiru Thirimanne is the only one who took all 5 catches off the same bowler.

There are a few instances of a fielder taking 4 catches off the same bowler, as that of J Blackwood doing so against Sri Lanka off the bowling of KC Brathwaite. (That was a fluke instance as he never took 4 wickets in an innings in any other Test).

There is at least one instance for India. AL Wadekar took 4 catches off BS Bedi in an innings at Christchurch in 1967-68.

While Lasith took a further 3 wickets in England’s second innings, Thirimanne failed to take another catch. However, his 5 catches off the same bowler may also be a match record in all Tests.

Review of India-West Indies Tests (2019)-1

After India won this away series 2-0, the series record was:

India won 22, West Indies won 30, 46 drawn in a total of 98 Tests.

In India: India won 13, WI 14, 20 drawn in a total of 47 Tests

In West Indies: India won 9, WI 16 and 26 drawn in a total of 51 Tests.

India got the full 120 points here. This is the WTC standing on September 3:

We can see that neither England nor Australia can catch up after their series concludes.

We now go on to individual records, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (750 or more):

Gavaskar has scored the most centuries (13) and the next is 8 by Richards and Sobers.

Gavaskar also has the most 50+ scores (20) followed by Lloyd with 19 and Dravid with 18.

Bravo and Kohli are the only current players here.

Highest innings (150 or more):

Both sides have not recorded a score above 150 since 2016 (200 by Kohli).

Best batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 30.00):

Sobers is far above the others. Darren Bravo is the only current player here. He also became the second batsmen to warrant a concussion substitute in the second innings. Blackwood batted in this place, making this the first Test scorecard with 12 batsmen.

Best strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, all instances):

As in many of the older series, full details of balls faced are not available for matches before the 2000s. But it seems clear that no one would have surpassed Sehwag. Kohli and Ashwin (!) have the highest among current players.

To be continued