List of first-class cricket records
This list of first-class cricket records itemises some record team and individual performances in first-class cricket. The list is necessarily selective, since it is in cricket's nature to generate copious records and statistics. Both instance records and season and career records are included.
Officially, there was no "first-class cricket" in Great Britain before 1895 or in the rest of the world before 1947. 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. Some matches have not been universally accepted as first-class for statistical purposes and there are thus variations in published cricket statistics, mainly because of the different proposals that have been made for the starting date of the statistical records, ranging from the 17th century to 1895.
Records shown here are quoted by either CricketArchive or Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, unless otherwise stated.
Notation
;Team notation- 300–3 indicates that a team scored 300 runs for three wickets and the innings was closed, either due to a successful run chase or if no playing time remained.
- 300-3d indicates that a team scored 300 runs for three wickets, and declared its innings closed.
- 300 indicates that a team scored 300 runs and was all out.
- 100 indicates that a batter scored 100 runs and was out.
- 100* indicates that a batter scored 100 runs and was not out.
- 100* against a partnership means that the two batters added 100 runs to the team's total, and neither of them was out.
- 5–100 indicates that a bowler captured 5 wickets while conceding 100 runs.
Team records
Team scoring records
Greatest margins of victory by an innings
Qualification: Innings and 550 runs.Greatest margins of victory by runs
Qualification: 575 runs.Victory without losing a wicket
Ties
There have been 33 ties in first-class cricket since 1948. 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.Highest totals
Qualification: 900.Lowest totals
Qualification: 15.Highest totals in the fourth innings
Qualification: 510.Individual records
Individual records (batting)
Highest individual score
The highest individual score in first-class cricket is 501* scored by Brian Lara for Warwickshire in 1994. There have been ten other scores of 400 or more, including another by Lara and two by Bill Ponsford.Scorecards began to be kept regularly from the 1772 season which is now seen as the commencement of the statistical first-class record, though historical first-class cricket began a century earlier. There is no certainty of a complete statistical record of any season until well into the 19th century, which is why Roy Webber and others have been reluctant to begin their first-class cricket statistics before the 1864 season, notwithstanding the official commencement of first-class cricket in 1895.
The earliest century definitely recorded in a match generally regarded as first-class is the 136 scored by John Small in the 1775 season. There can be little doubt that centuries had been scored before this but the records are either lost or the known details are incomplete. Some of the main instances of high scoring prior to 1772 are as follows:
- 1744 – John Harris scored 47 for Slindon v. London at the Artillery Ground in the match which has left the oldest known scorecard. This is the earliest match from which individual scores are known. The oldest known team scores date from 1731.
- 1745 – Richard Newland scored 88 for England v. Kent at the Artillery Ground, almost certainly in the second innings of the match, but there is a slight possibility that it was his match total. This is the highest known score recorded prior to the introduction c.1760 of the pitched delivery and the straight bat.
- 1767 – two Hampshire batters recorded a first-wicket partnership of 192 against Surrey, but there is no record of their individual scores, although at least one of the batters probably made a personal century. It is the earliest known century partnership.
- 1768 – John Small scored "above seven score notches" for Hampshire v Kent, but it is not known if this was his match total or his performance in the second innings. If it was his match total, he could still have made a century in either innings.
- 1769 – John Minshull scored the earliest century in all classes of cricket of which there is a definite record: he made 107 for Duke of Dorset's XI v Wrotham at Sevenoaks Vine, but the match is generally considered a minor one.
- 78 – John Small for Hampshire v England at Broadhalfpenny Down in 1772. This was the highest score recorded in the earliest match now designated first-class by some statisticians and remained the highest known score through the 1772 season.
- 88 – William Yalden for Surrey v Hampshire at Broadhalfpenny Down in 1773.
- 95 – Joseph Miller for Kent v Hampshire at Sevenoaks Vine in 1774.
- 136 – John Small for Hampshire v Surrey at Broadhalfpenny Down in 1775. This is the earliest known century in a first-class match. Small's colleague Richard Nyren scored 98 in the same innings so they both beat Miller's score.
- 167 – James Aylward for Hampshire v England at Sevenoaks Vine in 1777.
- 170 – Lord Frederick Beauclerk for Homerton v Montpelier at Aram's New Ground in 1806. This match is considered a minor one in the opinion of some statisticians but several other matches involving either team are rated first-class. Its inclusion in Scores and Biographies is significant and it is first-class on that basis.
- 278 – William Ward for Marylebone Cricket Club v Norfolk at Lord's in 1820. Again, there is some doubt among certain statisticians about the status of Norfolk but the match's inclusion in Scores and Biographies is significant.
| Runs | Player | Match | Venue | Season |
| 344 | W. G. Grace | Kent v Gentlemen of MCC | Canterbury | 1876 |
| 424 | Archie MacLaren | Somerset v Lancashire | Taunton | 1895 |
| 429 | Bill Ponsford | Victoria v Tasmania | Melbourne | 1922–23 |
| 437 | Bill Ponsford | Victoria v Queensland | Melbourne | 1927–28 |
| 452* | Don Bradman | New South Wales v Queensland | Sydney | 1929–30 |
| 499 | Hanif Mohammad | Karachi v Bahawalpur | Karachi | 1958–59 |
| 501* | Brian Lara | Warwickshire v Durham | Birmingham | 1994 |
Most runs in a career
Qualification: 40,000.Highest career average
Qualification: 20,000 runs, average 54.The highest first-class batting career average of all is 207.00, by Norman Callaway, who aged 18 scored 207 in his only first-class innings on his début for New South Wales against Queensland in 1914–15. He died during the Second Battle of Bullecourt in 1917.
Most runs in a season
Most runs in an over
High proportion of team's runs
It is not unusual for a batter to dominate the scoring while he is at the wicket; it is more unusual for a batter to dominate his side's completed total if they are all out.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 and his partners 9.
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* and his partners 35 and Gujranwala's 143 against Bahawalpur at Bahawalpur in 2001–02, to which Rizwan Malik contributed 100* and his partners 41.
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 and his partners 43.
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 and his partners 59.
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 and his partners 86.
The highest percentage of runs scored in any completed innings is 83.43% by Glenn Turner who scored 141* out of Worcestershire's 169 against Glamorgan at Swansea in 1977. The remaining batters scored 27 and there was one extra.
In the 2007 English cricket season, Mark Ramprakash scored a record 30.02% of Surrey's runs excluding extras. In 16 matches he scored 2,026 runs at an average of 101.30, while his teammates managed 4,721 between them at an average of 26.08.
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. Seven batters passed 50, and the top score was Ollie Pope's 96.