Landmark Feats and Famous Moments

On 31 August 1968 Sobers struck all six balls of an over from Malcolm Nash over the boundary at Swansea. It was the first instance of six sixes in an over in first-class cricket.

Source: Wisden · recall

Nash was a left-arm seamer experimenting with spin that day and paid for it. He stayed good-humoured about the over for the rest of his life.

Source: Wisden · recall

Hitting for maximum off every legal ball of an over had not been done at first-class level before 1968. Later instances by Ravi Shastri and Herschelle Gibbs are measured against it.

Source: Wisden · applied

Davis held the ball near the fence but his momentum took him over the boundary, so six was signalled. The over cost 36, the most then possible off six deliveries.

Source: Wisden · applied

Shastri was playing for Bombay against Baroda at the Wankhede Stadium. He became the second man, after Sobers, to take six sixes off a first-class over.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Tilak Raj bowled left-arm spin and was hit out of the attack in that single over. Like Malcolm Nash before him, he is remembered chiefly for the beating.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Shastri reached 200 in 113 minutes off 123 balls, beating Gilbert Jessop's 1903 mark of two hours for the quickest first-class double-hundred by time. He finished 200 not out.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Sobers and Shastri had hit six sixes in first-class cricket; Gibbs was the first to do it in an international, against the Netherlands at Basseterre in a group game South Africa won easily.

Source: ICC · applied

Daan van Bunge was a batting all-rounder whose leg-spin was a fifth or sixth option. His over to Gibbs is the most expensive possible in the format.

Source: ICC · recall

Yuvraj's fifty came off 12 deliveries, the fastest in international cricket until Nepal's Dipendra Singh Airee took nine balls against Mongolia in 2023; it remains the quickest at a T20 World Cup. The over followed an on-field exchange with Andrew Flintoff.

Source: ICC · applied

Sandham made 325 against West Indies at Sabina Park, the first Test triple-hundred. Aged 39, he was never picked again, and the timeless Test was left drawn when England had to sail home.

Source: Wisden · recall

Don Bradman and Jack Fingleton were both injured and could not bat, so Australia were effectively eight down each innings. The margin, an innings and 579, is still the largest in Test history.

Source: Wisden · applied

Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara put on 624 against South Africa at Colombo, the largest partnership for any wicket in Test history. Sangakkara made 287.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Hanif batted about 970 minutes at Bridgetown to save the match after Pakistan followed on 473 behind. No first-class innings has lasted longer.

Source: Wisden · applied

Gooch made 333 and 123 at Lord's, 456 runs in the match, the most by any batter in a Test. His 333 was then the highest score made in a Test in England.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Gillespie was sent in as nightwatchman against Bangladesh at Chittagong and batted about ten hours for 201 not out, the only double-century by a nightwatchman. He was dropped after the match.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Gayle scored 317 against South Africa in 2005 and 333 against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2010. Only Bradman, Lara, Sehwag and Gayle have two Test triple-hundreds.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Gayle made 175 not out off 66 balls with 17 sixes, still the highest score in any form of Twenty20 and the most sixes in an innings. His hundred came off 30 deliveries.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Baluch made 242 against West Indies at Karachi in 2004, opening the batting, and it is still the highest score in a women's Test. Women's Tests are played rarely, so the mark has stood for two decades.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Agar made 98 batting last on Test debut at Trent Bridge, adding a record last-wicket stand of 163 with Phillip Hughes. He fell two short of a hundred; the previous best by a number eleven was Tino Best's 95.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Tendulkar made 200 not out at Gwalior on 24 February 2010, the first men's ODI double-hundred in the format's 40-year history.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Clark scored 229 not out for Australia against Denmark at Mumbai in December 1997, the first one-day international double-century by any player, man or woman.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Rohit made 264 off 173 balls at Kolkata on 13 November 2014, with 33 fours and nine sixes. No one else has passed 250 in a men's ODI.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Rohit scored 209, 264 and 208 not out between 2013 and 2017. No other man has more than one ODI score of 200.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Gayle made 215 against Zimbabwe at Canberra, the first World Cup double-hundred and, with Marlon Samuels, part of a stand of 372.

Source: ICC · recall

Guptill made 237 not out for New Zealand against West Indies at Wellington in the 2015 quarter-final, the highest score in World Cup history.

Source: ICC · recall

Amiss made 103 against Australia at Old Trafford in the first ODI staged in England. The format was only a year old, having begun at Melbourne in January 1971.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

West Indies were 166 for 9 when Richards, on about 90, was joined by Michael Holding. The pair added 106, Holding making 12, and Richards finished 189 not out.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Anwar made 194 against India at Chennai in 1997. Coventry equalled it with 194 not out against Bangladesh in 2009, months before Tendulkar passed it.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Kishan made 210 off 131 balls against Bangladesh at Chattogram in December 2022, reaching 200 in 126, the quickest in men's ODIs.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

New Zealand were bowled out for 26 in their second innings at Eden Park, losing by an innings. It is still the lowest all-out total in Test cricket.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Australia were dismissed in 18.3 overs on the first morning, Broad taking 8 for 15. England went on to regain the Ashes in that match.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

India were bowled out for 36 in their second innings under lights at Adelaide, no batter reaching double figures. They recovered to win the series 2-1.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

England needed 194 and slumped from 40 for 1 to 40 for 8 by the close, then were all out for 46 next morning; Curtly Ambrose took 6 for 24 in the spell that decided the match.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

South Africa were dismissed for 30 twice, in 1896 and 1924, and for 35 in 1899, all against England on difficult pitches. Their batting caught up with the rest only later.

Source: Wisden · recall

Wilfred Rhodes took 7 for 17 as Australia made 36, but rain on the later days saved them. The series is still remembered for that near-defeat at Birmingham.

Source: Wisden · applied

Canada were dismissed for 36 by Sri Lanka at Paarl, the lowest ODI total at the time. It was later beaten by other associate sides.

Source: ICC · recall

England collapsed to 51, their lowest total since 1994. Days later the second Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua was abandoned after ten balls because the sandy outfield was unsafe, and a replacement Test was staged at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Harmison took 7 for 12 as West Indies were bowled out for 47 at Sabina Park, then their lowest Test total. England won by ten wickets.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

Ireland dismissed England for 85 on day one, then led by 122. England replied with 303, and Ireland were bowled out for 38, Chris Woakes taking 6 for 17.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Spofforth dismissed Royle, MacKinnon and Emmett in successive balls in the first Test played at Melbourne in January 1879. It was the first Test hat-trick.

Source: Wisden · recall

Warne dismissed DeFreitas, Gough and Malcolm in three balls. No bowler had taken a hat-trick in an Ashes Test since Hugh Trumble in 1903-04, also at Melbourne.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Matthews took a hat-trick in each innings at Old Trafford on 28 May 1912, the only man to do so in one Test. They were his only wickets of the match.

Source: Wisden · recall

Pathan removed Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf in the first over of the Karachi Test. No other Test hat-trick has been completed inside the opening over.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Vaas dismissed the top three with the first three deliveries of the innings at Pietermaritzburg, the only bowler to open an ODI match with a hat-trick. Sri Lanka won comfortably.

Source: ICC · applied

Against South Africa at Providence, Malinga dismissed Pollock, Hall, Kallis and Ntini in four straight deliveries across two overs. South Africa, cruising, scraped home by one wicket.

Source: ICC · recall

New Zealand's Brian McKechnie needed six off the final delivery to tie. Australia's captain Greg Chappell told his brother Trevor to bowl it underarm along the pitch, making a six impossible.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · recall

New Zealand's Prime Minister called it the most disgusting incident he could recall in cricket, and Greg Chappell later regretted it. The laws were changed so that underarm bowling is not permitted unless agreed beforehand.

Source: ESPNcricinfo · applied

Mankad ran Brown out at the bowler's end after a warning, during Australia's 1947-48 series against India. In 2022 the dismissal was formally moved to the run-out law, and Deepti Sharma used it to win a match at Lord's.

Source: MCC · applied

Mathews reached the crease against Bangladesh but his helmet strap broke and he was not ready to face within the allowed time. Bangladesh appealed and he was given out, the first such dismissal in international cricket.

Source: ICC · recall