Middle-order batsman and former captainJoe Root holds several England Test cricket records. Making his Test debut in 2012, as of December 2024[update] he has scored 12,972 runs – making him the second England player to score 10,000 Test runs.[9] He has made a record 65 half-centuries and 36 centuries,[10] and was one half of the highest England Test partnership of 454. As a slip fielder, holds the England record for the most catches taken with 207.[11] Captaining his side from 2016 until standing down in 2022, Root holds the record for the most matches played as English captain with 64.[12]
The most successful Test wicket-taker for England is James Anderson,[13] who made his Test debut in 2003 and retired in 2024. He played in a total of 188 Test matches and took 704 wickets,[14] both records for England.[15] He has also picked up five wickets in an innings on 32 occasions, which is the most for the national side.[16] The corresponding record for taking ten wickets in a match is held by Sydney Barnes, who achieved this feat seven times. He also holds the Test record for the most wickets taken in a series, having removed members of the opposing side 49 times during the England tour of South Africa in 1913–14.[17][18]Alan Knott is England's most successful wicket-keeper, having taken 269 dismissals.[19] England claims two age records: James Southerton as the oldest player to make his Test debut, at 49, and Wilfred Rhodes, aged 52, as the oldest cricketer to ever play in a Test match.[20][21]
Key
The top five records are listed for each category, except for the team wins, losses and draws and the partnership records. Tied records for fifth place are also included. Explanations of the general symbols and cricketing terms used in the list are given below. Specific details are provided in each category where appropriate. All records include matches played for England only, and are correct as of December 2024[update].
Key
Symbol
Meaning
†
Player or umpire is currently active in Test cricket
*
Player remained not out or partnership remained unbroken
As of December 2024[update], England have played 1,083 Test matches resulting in 400 victories, 355 draws and 328 defeats for an overall winning percentage of 36.9, the third highest winning percentage of Test playing teams.[8] England has played the highest number of Test matches, ahead of Australia which has competed in 867.[8] England is undefeated against Zimbabwe and Ireland, and has defeated Bangladesh on all but one occasion.[22] England played the debut Test matches of Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies – winning all of them except against Australia.[23]
The highest innings total scored in Test cricket came in the series between Sri Lanka and India in August 1997. Playing in the first Test at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, the hosts posted a first innings total of 952/6d. This broke the longstanding record of 903/7d which England set against Australia in the final Test of the 1938 Ashes series at The Oval. This in turn broke England's 849 all out against the West Indies in 1930.[34]
The highest successful run chase came in the West Indies victory over Australia in May 2003 at the Antigua Recreation Ground. Set 418 for victory in the final innings, the hosts achieved the target for the loss of seven wickets. England's highest successful chase came in the fifth Test of the 2021 series against India at Edgbaston (held over until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). England reached the target of 378 runs with seven wickets in hand, having successfully chased a target of over 300 runs in Test matches on only four previous occasions.[36][37]
The lowest innings total scored in Test cricket came in the second Test of England's tour of New Zealand in March 1955. Trailing England by 46, New Zealand were bowled out in their second innings for 26 runs.[39] The equal twelfth-lowest score in Test history is England's total of 45 scored in their first innings against Australia in the first Test of the 1886–87 Ashes series.[40]
In 1938, Wally Hammond led England to victory over Australia by an innings and 579 runs, the greatest winning margin by an innings in Test cricket.[42][43]
A Test match is won when one side has scored more runs than the total runs scored by the opposing side during their two innings. If both sides have completed both their allocated innings and the side that fielded last has the higher aggregate of runs, it is known as a win by runs. This indicates the number of runs that they had scored more than the opposing side. If one side scores more runs in a single innings than the total runs scored by the other side in both their innings, it is known as a win by an innings and runs. If the side batting last wins the match, it is known as a win by wickets, indicating the number of wickets that were still to fall.[44]
Greatest win margins (by innings)
The fifth Test of the 1938 Ashes series at The Oval saw England win by an innings and 579 runs, the largest victory by an innings in Test cricket history. The next largest victory was Australia's win against South Africa in the first Test of the 2001–02 tour at the Wanderers Stadium, where the tourists won by an innings and 360 runs.[43]
The greatest winning margin by runs in Test cricket was England's victory over Australia by 675 runs in the first Test of the 1928–29 Ashes series. The next two largest victories were recorded by Australia including defeat over England in the final Test of the 1934 Ashes series by 562 runs.[46]
England have won a Test match by a margin of 10 wickets on 21 occasions, the third highest behind Australia on 30 and the West Indies on 28.[45][47][48][d]
England's narrowest win by runs was against Australia in the second Test of the 2005 Ashes series at Edgbaston. Set 282 runs for victory in the final innings, Australia were bowled all out for 279 to give victory to the hosts by two runs.[55] This was the second-narrowest win in Test cricket, with the narrowest being the West Indies' one-run win over Australia in 1993.[57]
Archie MacLaren led the English team that lost the fourth Test of the 1902 Ashes series by a margin of three runs and won the fifth Test by a margin of one wicket.[59][60] This record still stands over a century later as England's narrowest win by wickets though they have subsequently lost a Test by one run.[58][61]
England have won by a margin of one wicket on four occasions, the most recent being the third Test of the 2019 Ashes series at Headingley. This match saw the hosts achieving their highest successful run chase in Test cricket of 359 runs,[62] one of only fifteen one-wicket victories in Test cricket.[58][63]
England suffered their greatest defeat by an innings at The Gabba in the first Test of the 1946–47 Ashes series, the first Test match to be played in Australia after the Second World War.[64][65] Going down to the hosts by an innings and 332 runs, this is the fourth-heaviest defeat in Test cricket history.[43]
The first Test of the 1928–29 Ashes series saw Australia defeated by England by 675 runs, the greatest losing margin by runs in Test cricket. The results were reversed in the fifth and final Test of the 1934 Ashes series at The Oval where the tourists defeated the hosts by 562 runs, England's greatest defeat by runs.[46]
Plum Warner was the captain of the English team that lost the first Test against South Africa in January 1906 by a margin of one wicket, the narrowest loss for England by wickets.[61][77]
Only two matches in 147 years of Test cricket have been decided by a margin of one run. First was the fourth Test of the West Indian tour of Australia in 1992–93 where the visitors secured victory, which was equalled in England's loss in the second Test of their 2023 tour to New Zealand at Basin Reserve, Wellington. England had made New Zealand follow-on, but a second innings of 483 from the home team set a target of 257. This was also only the fourth time that a team made to follow-on had won a Test.[57][78]
Test cricket has seen fifteen matches decided by a margin of one wicket, with England being defeated in one of them.[63] The first Test of the 1905–06 series against South Africa at Old Wanderers saw the home side chase down the target of 284 runs in the final innings.[79]
Len Hutton has scored the highest individual Test score (364) for England.[81]
Batting records
Most career runs
A run is the basic means of scoring in cricket. A run is scored when the batsman hits the ball with his bat and with his partner runs the length of 22 yards (20 m) of the pitch.[82]
The final Test of the 2003–04 series of the Wisden Trophy, contested between England and the West Indies, at the Antigua Recreation Ground saw Brian Lara of the West Indies set the highest Test score with 400 not out.[83]Len Hutton's score of 364 runs against Australia during the final Test of the 1938 Ashes series at The Oval is the sixth highest individual score in Test cricket and the highest by an England player. Wally Hammond's 336, scored against New Zealand in 1933, is the third highest not out Test innings and the ninth highest overall.[84] Hutton's, Hammond's and Andy Sandham's 325 against the West Indies in 1930 were Test record scores at the time they were scored.[85]
Herbert Sutcliffe has the highest completed career batting average for England with 60.73.[87]
A batsman's batting average is the total number of runs they have scored divided by the number of times they have been dismissed.[88]
Australia's Don Bradman, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time, finished his Test career with an average of 99.94.[89] With 60.73, Herbert Sutcliffe is one of only five batsmen to finish his international career with an average above 60.[90]
Qualification: 20 innings. Last updated: 17 December 2024[87]
Most half-centuries
A half-century is a score of between 50 and 99 runs. Statistically, once a batsman's score reaches 100, it is no longer considered a half-century but a century.[91]
Sachin Tendulkar (India) has scored the most half-centuries in Test cricket with 68, and is followed by Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) with 66. England's Joe Root has 64 fifties to his name.[92]
A century is a score of 100 or more runs in a single innings.[94]
Tendulkar has also scored the most centuries in Test cricket with 51. South Africa's Jacques Kallis is next on 45 and Ricky Ponting with 41 hundreds is in third. The highest ranked England player is Joe Root in fifth place, with 36 centuries.[95]
Wally Hammond has scored the most double centuries for England with seven and holds the England record for the most runs scored in a series with 905 runs during the 1928–29 Ashes series.[96][97]
A double century is a score of 200 or more runs in a single innings.
Bradman holds the Test record for the most double centuries scored with twelve, one ahead of Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara who finished his career with eleven. In third is Brian Lara of the West Indies with nine. England's Wally Hammond, India's Virat Kohli and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka have all reached the mark on seven occasions.[96]
A duck refers to a batsman being dismissed without scoring a run.[103] Former West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh has scored the highest number of ducks in Test cricket with 43, followed by England's Stuart Broad with 39. James Anderson, with 34 scoreless innings, is seventh on the list.[104]
Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan holds the record for taking the most wickets in Test cricket with 800, followed by Australia's Shane Warne who previously held the record with 708.[106][107]James Anderson of England is third on the list with 704 Test wickets to his name, having passed Australia's Glenn McGrath to become the fast bowler with the most Test wickets in September 2018.[14][108]Stuart Broad, with 604, is the second-highest England Test wicket-taker and fifth overall, after becoming the second fast bowler to overtake McGrath's total of 563 wickets in September 2022.[106][109] Of genuine all-rounders, no England player has taken more wickets than Ian Botham, who also scored 5,200 Test runs.[110][111]
Bowling figures refers to the number of the wickets a bowler has taken and the number of runs conceded.[112]
There have been three occasions in Test cricket where a bowler has taken all ten wickets in a single innings – Jim Laker of England took 10/53 against Australia in 1956, India's Anil Kumble in 1999 returned figures of 10/74 against Pakistan and in 2021Ajaz Patel of New Zealand took 10/119 against India. George Lohmann, one of sixteen bowlers who have taken nine wickets in a Test match innings, sits fourth on the list taking figures of 9/28 against South Africa in 1896.[113]
A bowler's bowling figures in a match is the sum of the wickets taken and the runs conceded over both innings.
No bowler in the history of Test cricket has taken all 20 wickets in a match. The closest to do so was English spin bowlerJim Laker. During the fourth Test of the 1956 Ashes series, Laker took 9/37 in the first innings and 10/53 in the second to finish with match figures of 19/90.[115]Sydney Barnes's figures of 17/159, taken in the second Test of the 1913–14 South African tour, is the second-best in Test cricket history.[116]
George Lohmann holds the record for the best Test career bowling average and strike rate, with figures of 10.75 and 34.1, respectively.[118][119]
A bowler's bowling average is the total number of runs they have conceded divided by the number of wickets they have taken.
Nineteenth century English medium pacer George Lohmann holds the record for the best career average in Test cricket with 10.75. J. J. Ferris, one of fifteen cricketers to have played Test cricket for more than one team,[120] is second behind Lohmann with an overall career average of 12.70 runs per wicket. Billy Barnes is third on the list, finishing his Test career with an average of 15.54.[118]
Qualification: 2,000 balls. Last updated: 30 July 2018[121]
Best career strike rate
A bowler's strike rate is the total number of balls they have bowled divided by the number of wickets they have taken.[103]
As with the career average above, the top two bowlers with the best Test career strike rate are George Lohmann and J. J. Ferris, with Lohmann on 34.1 and Ferris with an overall career strike rate of 37.7 balls per wicket.[119]
Qualification: 2,000 balls. Last updated: 28 February 2023[122]
Best career economy rate
William Attewell finished his career with an economy rate of 1.31, a Test cricket record.[123]
A bowler's economy rate is the total number of runs they have conceded divided by the number of overs they have bowled.[103]
English bowler William Attewell, who played 10 Tests between 1884 and 1892, holds the Test record for the best career economy rate with 1.31. Cliff Gladwin, with a rate of 1.60 runs per over conceded over his 8-match Test career, is second on the list.[123]
Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan has taken the most five-wicket hauls in Test cricket with 67 throughout his career followed by Shane Warne achieving 37. James Anderson is the highest ranked England player in sixth, with 32.[126]
A ten-wicket haul refers to a bowler taking ten or more wickets in a match over two innings.
As with the five-wicket hauls above, Muttiah Muralitharan leads Shane Warne in taking the most ten-wicket hauls in Test cricket with Muralitharan having taken 22 to Warne's 10. Sydney Barnes of England is in equal sixth with three other bowlers, each achieving the feat on seven occasions.[127]
The worst figures in a single innings in Test cricket came in the third Test between the West Indies at home to Pakistan in 1958. Pakistan's Khan Mohammad returned figures of 0/259 from his 54 overs in the second innings of the match.[128][129] The worst figures by an England player are 0/169 that came off the bowling of Tich Freeman in his final Test appearance.[130][131]
The worst figures in a match in Test cricket were taken by South Africa's Imran Tahir in the second Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in November 2012. He returned figures of 0/180 from his 23 overs in the first innings and 0/80 off 14 in the third innings for a total of 0/260 from 37 overs.[133] He claimed the record in his final over when two runs came from it – enough for him to pass the previous record of 0/259, set 54 years prior.[134][135][136]
The wicket-keeper is a specialist fielder who stands behind the stumps being guarded by the batsman on strike and is the only member of the fielding side allowed to wear gloves and leg pads.[140]
Most career dismissals
A wicket-keeper can be credited with the dismissal of a batsman in two ways, caught or stumped. A fair catch is taken when the ball is caught fully within the field of play without it bouncing after the ball has touched the striker's bat or glove holding the bat,[141][142] while a stumping occurs when the wicket-keeper puts down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground and not attempting a run.[143]
South Africa's Mark Boucher has taken the most dismissals in Test cricket as a designated wicket-keeper with 555, followed by Adam Gilchrist of Australia on 416. England's Alan Knott, who took 269 dismissals during his 95-Test match career, is eighth on the list. He is followed by his compatriots Matt Prior and Alec Stewart in tenth and eleventh with 256 and 241 dismissals respectively.[144]
Matt Prior sits second behind Alan Knott for the most Test dismissals and catches taken by an England wicket-keeper.[19]
Boucher also leads Gilchrist in the number of catches taken as a designated wicket-keeper in Test cricket, 532 to 379. Alan Knott, with 250 catches to his name is ninth on this list. He is again followed by Prior and Stewart in tenth and eleventh with 243 and 227 catches respectively.[145]
Four wicket-keepers have taken seven dismissals in a single innings in a Test match—Wasim Bari of Pakistan in 1979, Englishman Bob Taylor in 1980, New Zealand's Ian Smith in 1991 and most recently West Indian gloveman Ridley Jacobs against Australia in 2000.[149]
The feat of taking 6 dismissals in an innings has been achieved by 25 wicket-keepers on 33 occasions including 7 Englishmen on 11 occasions.[150]
Caught is one of the nine methods a batsman can be dismissed in cricket.[g] A fair catch is defined as a fielder catching the ball, from a legal delivery, fully within the field of play without it bouncing when the ball has touched the striker's bat or glove holding the bat.[141][142] The majority of catches are caught in the slips, located behind the batsman, next to the wicket-keeper, on the off side of the field. Most slip fielders are top order batsmen.[155][156]
India's Rahul Dravid holds the record for the most catches in Test cricket by a non-wicket-keeper with 210, followed by England's Joe Root with 207.[157]
Alastair Cook, pictured in 2016, holds the record for the consecutive career matches in Test cricket with 159.[164]
Former English captain Alastair Cook holds the record for the most consecutive Test matches played with 159.[164] Cook equalled the previous record of 153, set by Australia's Allan Border, during the first Test of the two-match series against Pakistan in May 2018[165] and broke it by playing in the second Test of the same series.[166] Former English captain Joe Root brought his run of 77 consecutive Tests to an end when he missed the first Test against the West Indies in July 2020, due to the birth of his second child.[167][168]
Graeme Smith, who led the South African cricket team from 2003 to 2014, holds the record for the most matches played as captain in Test cricket with 109. Allan Border, who captained Australia from 1984 to 1994 is second with 93 matches. Joe Root, is seventh on the list with 64 matches as of January 2023[update].[169]
The youngest player to play in a Test match is claimed to be Hasan Raza at the age of 14 years and 227 days. Making his debut for Pakistan against Zimbabwe on 24 October 1996, there is some doubt as to the validity of Raza's age at the time.[170][171] The youngest cricketer to play Test cricket for England was Rehan Ahmed who was 18 years and 126 days old when he debuted in the third Test of the series against Pakistan in December 2022.[172][173]
James Southerton is the fifth oldest cricketer to play in a Test match and was the oldest to make his debut.[20][21]
Oldest players on debut
At 49 years and 119 days, James Southerton of England, playing in the very first Test match in March 1877, is the oldest player to make his debut in Test cricket. Second on the list is Miran Bakhsh of Pakistan who at 47 years and 284 days made his debut against India in 1955.[20]
Wilfred Rhodes, pictured here aged 25, is the oldest cricketer to ever in play in a Test match at the age of 52.[21]
England all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes is the oldest player to appear in a Test match. Playing in the fourth Test against the West Indies in 1930 at Sabina Park, in Kingston, Jamaica, he was aged 52 years and 165 days on the final day's play. The second-oldest Test player is Bert Ironmonger who was aged 50 years and 327 days when he represented Australia for the final time in the fifth Test of the 1932–33 Ashes series at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[21]
In cricket, two batsmen are always present at the crease batting together in a partnership. This partnership will continue until one of them is dismissed, retires or the innings comes to a close.
Highest partnerships by wicket
A wicket partnership describes the number of runs scored before each wicket falls. The first wicket partnership is between the opening batsmen and continues until the first wicket falls. The second wicket partnership then commences between the not out batsman and the number three batsman. This partnership continues until the second wicket falls. The third wicket partnership then commences between the not out batsman and the new batsman. This continues down to the tenth wicket partnership. When the tenth wicket has fallen, there is no batsman left to partner so the innings is closed.
The highest Test partnership by runs for any wicket is held by the Sri Lankan pairing of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who put together a third wicket partnership of 624 runs during the first Test against South Africa in July 2006. This broke the record of 576 runs set by their compatriots Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama against India in 1997. New Zealand's Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe hold the third-highest Test partnership with 467 made in 1991 against Sri Lanka. The English pairing of Joe Root and Harry Brook together scored 454 for the fourth wicket against Pakistan in 2024 to place themselves fourth on the list.[181]
An umpire in cricket is a person who officiates the match according to the Laws of Cricket. Two umpires adjudicate the match on the field, whilst a third umpire has access to video replays, and a fourth umpire looks after the match balls and other duties. The records below are only for on-field umpires.
Aleem Dar of Pakistan holds the record for the most Test matches umpired with 145, as of March 2024[update]. The currently active Dar set the record in December 2019 overtaking West Indian Steve Bucknor's mark of 128 matches.[185] They are followed by South Africa's Rudi Koertzen who officiated in 108. The most experienced Englishman is David Shepherd who is fifth on the list with 92 Test matches umpired. Dickie Bird, who previously held the record with 66 Tests, is currently seventeenth as of December 2024[update].[183][186]
^The other teams to have won a Test match by a margin of 10 wickets are Pakistan (13),[49] Sri Lanka (10),[50] India (9),[51] South Africa (9)[52] New Zealand (5)[53] and Zimbabwe (1).[54]
^The other teams to have lost a Test match by a margin of 10 wickets are Afghanistan (1),[67] Bangladesh (6),[68] Sri Lanka (7),[69]Zimbabwe (8),[70] Pakistan (9),[71] Australia (10),[72] South Africa (12),[73] New Zealand (13),[74] the West Indies (16),[75] and India (18)[76]
^Williamson, Martin (23 January 1998). "The birth of Test cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
^"Sir Donald Bradman player profile". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2018. Sir Donald Bradman of Australia was, beyond any argument, the greatest batsman who ever lived and the greatest cricketer of the 20th century. Only WG Grace, in the formative years of the game, even remotely matched his status as a player.
^ ab"Law 33 – Caught". Marylebone Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
^ ab"Law 5 – The Bat". Marylebone Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2020. Laws 5.6.2.2 and 5.6.2.3 state that the hand or the glove holding the bat shall be regarded as the ball striking or touching the bat.
^"Law 39 – Stumped". Marylebone Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
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