Test records that will never be broken

We mentioned oldest test debutant. Though with our NSP that may be broken a few times in the next couple of years.

Bradman wrote:We mentioned oldest test debutant.  Though with our NSP that may be broken a few times in the next couple of years.

I'll break that record if I can convince Bacchus to hold off until June 11 to pick me

When McCullum breaks Gilly's record (100) for Test zaks, in his next Test match, having just equalled it ... well, that is a record that may remain unbroken. There's nobody on the horizon at the present time, and Tests are becoming less commonplace, not more commonplace.

lardbucket wrote:When McCullum breaks Gilly's record (100) for Test zaks, in his next Test match, having just equalled it ... well, that is a record that may remain unbroken. There's nobody on the horizon at the present time, and Tests are becoming less commonplace, not more commonplace.

Warner?

lardbucket wrote:When McCullum breaks Gilly's record (100) for Test zaks, in his next Test match, having just equalled it ... well, that is a record that may remain unbroken. There's nobody on the horizon at the present time, and Tests are becoming less commonplace, not more commonplace.

The surprise is the guy in 4th place.

lardbucket wrote:When McCullum breaks Gilly's record (100) for Test zaks, in his next Test match, having just equalled it ... well, that is a record that may remain unbroken. There's nobody on the horizon at the present time, and Tests are becoming less commonplace, not more commonplace.

Southee has a chance. 55 6s already in 73 innings.

Sixes are becoming more commonplace though. If the ICC is serious about evening up the contest between bat and ball soon, it may well stand forever.

tricycle: I don't think Southee will be around anywhere near long enough.

Bradman: sixes per test may be becoming more common, perhaps even by a factor of two, but Test matches themselves seem to have peaked in frequency. If bowlers get a leg up from the ICC, with bat width restrictions etc, I expect McCullum's record to last a long time.

Six years on and I'm thinking of this again.

Hard to see anyone getting near 15000 runs or 200 matches again. Kohli or Root might get past 10000 or 150 matches if their health holds up.

What about 800 wickets? Stuart Broad must have half an eye on retirement in the next few years: even if he were to bowl til he turns 40 he'd probably only be at 700 wickets. Same can be said for Jimmeh.

OP Tipping wrote:Six years on and I'm thinking of this again.

Hard to see anyone getting near 15000 runs or 200 matches again. Kohli or Root might get past 10000 or 150 matches if their health holds up.

What about 800 wickets? Stuart Broad must have half an eye on retirement in the next few years: even if he were to bowl til he turns 40 he'd probably only be at 700 wickets. Same can be said for Jimmeh.

It's weird to think that Steve Smith may not even get to 100 Tests.

OP Tipping wrote:Six years on and I'm thinking of this again.

Hard to see anyone getting near 15000 runs or 200 matches again. Kohli or Root might get past 10000 or 150 matches if their health holds up.

What about 800 wickets? Stuart Broad must have half an eye on retirement in the next few years: even if he were to bowl til he turns 40 he'd probably only be at 700 wickets. Same can be said for Jimmeh.

Anderson and/or Broad could make 200 Tests, but think Chuck’s record is out of reach.

Root looks the only likely threat to aggregate run-scoring records, given the amount of Tests England play. Depends on his back and how much he prioritises the shorter formats.

Test runs - active players (target: Tendulkar 15921)

Root 8714 (age 30)
Taylor 7564 (37)
Kohli 7547 (32)
Smith 7540 (32)
Warner 7312 (34)
Williamson 7230 (30)
Azhar Ali 6579 (36)
Mathews 6236 (34)
Pujara 6267 (33)
Karunaratne 5176 (33)

That’s everyone above 5k right now. Only Root is even in the Bon Jovi category (half way there…) and nobody under 30 on the radar.

And the highest Test runscorer currently aged under 30? Given Ben Stokes has just reached that milestone, it’s… Kraigggg Brathwaite. 4141 runs @ less than 33. Just ahead of the Snoozie minnow-basher Latham, the only other “youngster” in the 4k club.

I suspect it will be a long time before anyone apart from the current “big four” threatens to reach 10,000 or beyond.

beamer wrote: and nobody under 30 on the radar.

The sonar is picking up

MR Marsh 1260 (29)

Is he still only 29? Seems to have been invoking the fury of Aussies on here for decades…

Test wickets - active players (target: Muralitharan* 800. Or, if you prefer, Warne* 708 )

Anderson 617 (38)
Broad 523 (35)
Ashwin 413 (34)
Lyon 399 (33)
Southee 314 (32)
Sharma 306 (32)
Boult 292 (32)
Starc 255 (31)
Yasir Shah 235 (35)
Wagner 229 (35)
Roach 223 (33)
Jadeja 221 (32)
Shakib 215 (34)
Rabada 213 (26)
Hazlewood 212 (30)

Poor Sachin. These modern day pretenders wouldn't even get a whiff of his exhaust pipe if not for the diabolical number of tests India played at his peak formative years in the 90s.

Played only 52 tests in 9 years between 1990 to 2000 with only two years in that decade (97 and 99) featuring more than 10 tests. There was one year where he played 2 tests and another where he got 3 - with one of the rained out.

Jimmeh would have to go through a real purple patch for the next two years to push Chuck's record. At 38 that seems very, very unlikely. He might push Warnie's legitimate* Test record total wickets.

Similarly, no-one is gonna get near SRT's record. I did an analysis of Ricky Ponting's batting when he was at his peak (around late 2006) when his average hit 60. He had played 107 Tests to that point and had made 9,190 runs.

If he continued to average 60 per innings, to get to 15,922 (past SRT) he would've needed to play another (assuming 0 not outs) 112 innings or 60 Tests (allowing for one innings Tests). So 107 + 60 Tests = 167 to past SRT, but achieving his peak career average to do it.

Ponting played 168 Tests, and ended up tallying 13,378 runs at 51.85. A great record, but clearly shy of the great SRT.

Ponting clearly tailed off slowly but surely after hitting his career peak in late 2006. Towards the end of his career he tailed off badly. In his last 26 Tests he averaged just 33.75 (half of what he needed to surpass SRT). It just shows how someone needs to maintain brilliance couple with longevity to do what SRT did.

I can't see it being equalled.

Of course, Bradman would have scored 26,908 runs had he played 200 Tests and maintained his standards…

Regarding another of SRT’s records, Kohli has a shot at the all-formats 100 international hundreds, with 70 to his name already. Though his is a lot more skewed towards the JAMODIs, with an astonishing 43 in 245 innings in that format. That’s 1 in 6. In 50 over cricket

beamer wrote:Of course, Bradman would have scored 26,908 runs had he played 200 Tests and maintained his standard

Aye beams. Bugger WWII.

skully wrote:

beamer wrote:Of course, Bradman would have scored 26,908 runs had he played 200 Tests and maintained his standard

Aye beams. Bugger WWII.

Yeah, and all those countries that were inexcusably slow off the mark to join in the Test cricket party…

Could he have averaged nearly 100 had he played in the subcontinent etc. not to mention juggling it all with the modern-day limited overs circus? We can only guess.

Ha!!

One wonders what DGB would've done to early Test attacks from Pakistan, NZ, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

And one more… Test caps - active players (target: Tendulkar 200)

Anderson 162 (38)
Broad 148 (35)
Taylor 108 (37)
Root 105 (30)
Sharma 102 (32)
Lyon 100 (33)
Kohli 92 (32)
Mathews 90 (34)
Azhar Ali 87 (36)
Pujara 86 (33)
Warner 86 (34)
Williamson 85 (30)

Most capped under 30, again Brathwaite, with 70.

skully wrote:Ha!!

One wonders what DGB would've done to early Test attacks from Pakistan, NZ, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Not forgetting the Irish! Though Boyd Rankin might have had his number…

Did he ever face the proto-Yarps? They were the only non-Ashes team active in his era I believe.

Perhaps more interesting to consider how a player of his level of superiority over the rest would perform statistically in this era, as opposed to playing all the teams in their weak early state…

s Team
Title Span Mat Inns NO Runs HS Avg 100s 50s 0s
vs England 1928-1948 37 63 7 5028 334 89.78 19 12 6
vs India 1947-1948 5 6 2 715 201 178.75 4 1 0
vs South Africa 1931-1932 5 5 1 806 299* 201.50 4 0 0
vs West Indies 1930-1931 5 6 0 447 223 74.50 2 0 1