Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

is played between international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

teams who are Full Members of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC). Unlike

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s, Test matches consist of two

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

per team, with no limit in the number of overs. Test cricket is

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

, so statistics and records set in Test matches are also counted toward first-class records. The duration of Tests, currently limited to five days, has varied through Test history, ranging from three days to timeless matches. The earliest match now recognised as a Test was played between

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in March 1877; since then there have been over 2,000 Tests played by 13 teams. The frequency of Tests has steadily increased partly because of the increase in the number of Test-playing countries, and partly as cricket boards seek to maximise their revenue. Cricket is, by its nature, capable of generating large numbers of records and statistics. This list details the most significant team and individual records in Test cricket. , the most successful team in Test cricket, in terms of both wins and win percentage, is Australia, having won 414 of their 866 Tests (47.80%). Excluding teams who have only played a small number of Tests, the least successful team is

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. Australian

Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...

, widely considered the greatest batsman of all time, holds several personal and partnership records. He scored the most runs in a series, has the most double centuries and was a part of the record 5th wicket

partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...

. His most significant record is his

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 99.94. One of cricket's most famous statistics, it still stands almost 40 runs higher than any other batsman's career average. Don Bradman is the only player in the world to have scored 5000 runs against a single opposition: 5028 runs against England. In the Manchester Test of 1956, England

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered relatively slowly but with rapid rotation, giving it the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. A bowler who uses this technique is called a spinner, a spin b ...

Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yorks ...

took 19

wickets In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at each end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a ...

for 90 runs (19–90) which set not only the Test record for best match figures but also the first-class one. In taking 10–53 in the second innings he became the first bowler to capture ten wickets in a Test match innings, and his

analysis Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

remains the best innings figures. Indian

leg spinner Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins from ...

Anil Kumble Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricketer, captain, coach and commentator who played Test cricket, Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. A right-arm leg sp ...

was the second bowler to take 10 wickets in an innings, claiming 10–74 against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in 1999. In December 2021, New Zealand spinner,

Ajaz Patel Ajaz Yunus Patel (born 21 October 1988) is a New Zealand cricketer who plays for Central Districts in domestic cricket. He emigrated with his family from Mumbai when he was eight years old, and was formerly a left-arm seam bowler. Patel is a sl ...

became the third bowler to take 10 wickets in an innings.

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

batsman

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...

has the highest individual score in Test cricket: he scored 400

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

against England in 2004 to surpass the innings of 380 by

Matthew Hayden Matthew Lawrence Hayden (born 29 October 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer. His career spanned fifteen years. Hayden was a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman who, along with opening partners Ju ...

six months earlier. Lara had held the record before Hayden, with a score of 375 against England 10 years earlier. Pakistan's

Misbah-ul-Haq Misbah-ul-Haq Pride of Performance, PP Sitara-e-Imtiaz, SI (; born 28 May 1974) is a former Pakistani cricket coach and former international cricketer. Misbah captained Pakistan national cricket team, Pakistan in all formats and is former head ...

holds the record of the fastest Test half century, scoring 50 runs from 21 balls. The record for the fastest Test century is held by New Zealand's

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a former New Zealand cricketer, and the current head coach of the England men's cricket team in all formats. Representing New Zealand, he captained the team in all formats. McCullum was renow ...

, who scored 100 runs from 54 balls in his final Test match. The trend of countries playing more Test matches in the modern era means that the aggregate lists are dominated by modern players. Sri Lankan spinner

Muttiah Muralitharan Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan (born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, businessman and former professional cricketer. Averaging over six wickets per Test match, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the ...

became the highest Test wicket-taker in December 2007, when he passed

Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...

's total of 708 wickets. Within a year, the equivalent batting record of highest run-scorer had also changed hands:

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

surpassed the tally of 11,953 runs by Brian Lara. The record for most dismissals by a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

is held by

Mark Boucher Mark Verdon Boucher (born 3 December 1976) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Boucher is regarded as one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen of all time, and holds the record for the ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

while the record for most

catches Catch may refer to: In sports * Catch (game), children's game * Catch (baseball), a maneuver in baseball * Catch (cricket), a mode of dismissal in cricket * Catch or reception (gridiron football) * Catch, part of a rowing stroke * Catch wrestlin ...

by a fielder is held by

Rahul Dravid Rahul Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is a former cricket player, ex-captain and ex-coach of the Indian national cricket team. Known for his outstanding batting technique, Dravid scored 24,177 runs in international cricket and is widely re ...

Listing criteria

In general the top five are listed in each category (except when there is a tie for the last place among the five, when all the tied record holders are noted).

Listing notation

;Team notation * (300–3) indicates that a team scored 300 runs for three

wicket In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three Stump (cricket), stumps and two Bail (cricket), bails at each end of the Cricket pitch, pitch. The Fielding (cricket), fielding team's playe ...

s and the innings was closed, either due to a successful run chase or if no playing time remained * (300–3 d) 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 ;Batting notation * (100) indicates that a batsman scored 100 runs and was

out Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

* (100*) indicates that a batsman scored 100 runs and was

;Bowling notation * (5–100) indicates that a bowler has captured 5 wickets while conceding 100 runs ;Currently playing * indicates a current Test cricketer ;Seasons * Domestic

cricket season Top-class cricket is almost always played outdoors, on uncovered pitches, and rain prevents play, so the seasons in each country are geared to coincide with the driest months of the year. The hours of daylight and the temperature are also factors ...

s in Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, South Africa,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and the

may span two calendar years, and are by convention said to be played in (''e.g.'') "2008–09". A cricket season in England is described as a single year. ''e.g.'' "2009". An international Test series may be for a much shorter duration, and

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

treats this issue by stating "any series or matches which began between May and September of any given year will appear in the relevant single year season and any that began between October and April will appear in the relevant cross-year season". In the record tables, a two-year span generally indicates that the record was set within a domestic season in one of the above named countries.

Team records

Team wins, losses and draws

Result records

Greatest win margins (by innings)

Greatest win margin (by runs)

Matches that finished with scores level

Narrowest win margin (by wickets)

Narrowest win margin (by runs)

Victory after following-on

Most consecutive wins

Team scoring records

Most runs in an innings

Fewest runs in a completed innings

Highest fourth-innings totals to win

Aggregate scoring records

Highest match aggregate

Individual records

Individual records (batting)

Career

=Most career runs

=Most career runs – progression of record

=Most career runs at each batting position

=Highest career batting average

Series

=Most runs in a series

Innings

=Highest individual score in a single innings

=Highest individual score – progression of record

=Most runs in a match

=Innings as captain

=Innings carrying the bat

Calendar year

=Most runs in a calendar year

Highest scores at each batting position

Most runs in an over

Centuries

=Most Test centuries

=Fastest Test centuries

=Most Test double centuries

=Fastest Test double centuries

=Most Test triple centuries

=Most Test quadruple centuries

Half-centuries

=Most Test 50+ scores

=Fastest Test half-centuries

Most fours in career

Most sixes in career

Ducks

Individual records (bowling)

Most wickets in a career

Most wickets in a career – Progression of record

Fastest to multiples of 50 wickets

Best career bowling average

Best career strike rate

Most 5 wickets in an innings

Most 10 wickets in a match

Series

Innings

=Best figures in an innings

=Best figures in an innings – progression of record

Match records

Innings as captain

Match records as captain

Individual records (fielding)

Most catches in Test career

Individual records (wicket-keeping)

Most dismissals

Most catches

Most stumpings

Most dismissals in an innings

Individual records (as an all-rounder)

10 wickets and a century in a Test match

Most 5 wickets in an innings and a century in the same Test match

Individual records (other)

Most matches played

Most matches played as captain

Most matches won as captain

Most Player-of-the-Match awards

Most Player-of-the-series awards

Partnership records

Highest partnerships

Highest partnership (for each wicket)

Highest overall partnership runs by a pair

References

External links

Records – Test matches
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Test Records
Cricket-Records.com

Wisden {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Test Cricket Records *

Test cricket records Test cricket is played between international cricket teams who are List of International Cricket Council members#Full Members, Full Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Unlike One Day Internationals, Test matches consist of t ...