List of first-class cricket records
The performances noted in this article include several which occurred in earlier years but it is understood that all were achieved in matches that are retrospectively recognised by most historians or statisticians as first-class (i.e., unofficially so).
Before then, a tie was sometimes declared where the scores were level when scheduled play ended, but the side batting last still had wickets in hand.
Matches where this happens are considered a draw today, and a tie is now recognised only where the scores are level and the side batting fourth is dismissed.
The lowest aggregate for a completed first-class match where the winning side bowled their opponents out twice is 105, MCC v Australians at Lord's, 1878.
[49] The earliest century definitely recorded in a match generally regarded as first-class is the 136 scored by John Small in the 1775 season (see below).
The lowest completed first-class innings to include a fifty is Indians' 66 against Yorkshire at Harrogate in 1932, to which Nazir Ali contributed 52 (78.79%) and his partners 9 (there were 5 extras).
[85] The lowest completed first-class innings to include a century is Nottinghamshire's 143 against Hampshire at Bournemouth in 1981, to which Clive Rice contributed 105* (73.4%) and his partners 35 (there were 3 extras)[86] and Gujranwala's 143 against Bahawalpur at Bahawalpur in 2001–02, to which Rizwan Malik contributed 100* (69.93%) and his partners 41 (there were 2 extras).
[87] The lowest completed first-class innings to include a double-century is Namibia's 282 against Kenya at Sharjah in January 2008, to which Gerrie Snyman contributed 230 (81.56%) and his partners 43 (there were 9 extras).
[88] The lowest completed first-class innings to include a triple century is the Rest's 387 against Hindus at Bombay in 1943–44, to which Vijay Hazare contributed 309 (79.84%) and his partners 59 (there were 19 extras).
[89] The lowest completed first-class total to include a score of 350 is Otago's 500 against Canterbury at Christchurch in 1952–53, to which opener Bert Sutcliffe contributed 385 (77.0%) and his partners 86 (there were 29 extras).
[91] In the 2007 English cricket season, Mark Ramprakash scored a record 30.02% of Surrey's runs excluding extras.
[92] Conversely, the highest completed first-class innings not to include an individual century is 671 for nine declared by Surrey against Kent at Beckenham in 2022.
Many cricketers with short first-class careers fail to ever score a run, and finish with a batting average of 0.00.
[113] The longest sequence of consecutive scoreless innings is 12 by Mark Robinson for Northamptonshire in 1990, whose scores that season were 1*, 0*, 1, 0, 0*, 0*, 0*, 0*, 0*, 0, 0, 0, 0*, 0*, 0 and 1*.
The first occurrence was by Jem Shaw who played chiefly for Nottinghamshire and the All England Eleven between his first-class debut on 26 June 1865 against Surrey with a score of 9,[115] which he did not surpass until scoring 15 in the second innings of his last match of 1870 for “Richard Daft’s XI” against the United North of England Eleven.
[124] The cheapest all-ten (and therefore the best innings bowling analysis in first-class cricket) was achieved by Hedley Verity in 1932 at Headingley, when he took ten for 10 for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire.
[126] The only bowlers to take all ten wickets in an innings more than once were Tich Freeman (three times in 1929, 1930 and 1931), John Wisden (twice, in 1850 and 1851), Vyell Walker (1859 and 1865), Hedley Verity (twice, 1931 and 1932), and Jim Laker (twice, both against the 1956 Australians).
Apart from Laker's, there have only been two instances of seventeen wickets in a match since World War II, by John Davison for Canada against United States of America in an ICC Intercontinental Cup match in 2004,[128] and Kyle Abbott for Hampshire against Somerset in the First Division of the County Championship in 2019.
The earliest known instance of this was by William Bullen, who bowled five batters out when playing for All-England v Hampshire at Sevenoaks Vine in 1774.
It is a notable achievement for a bowler to capture 10 wickets in a match, and the feat is usually highlighted in career statistics.
[137] Five wickets in five balls has never been achieved - one of the closest instances coming in 1925, when CWL Parker struck the stumps with five successive deliveries for Gloucestershire against Yorkshire.
Five wickets in six balls has been achieved five times,[92] by Bill Copson for Derbyshire against Warwickshire in 1937,[140] by William Henderson for North East Transvaal against Orange Free State at Bloemfontein in 1937–38,[141] by Pat Pocock for Surrey against Sussex at Eastbourne in 1972,[142] by Yasir Arafat for Rawalpindi against Faisalabad at Rawalpindi in 2004–05,[143] and by Neil Wagner for Otago against Wellington in 2010–11.
