Runs plentiful in Indian domestic game

By Andrew Hignell

The week before the start of England’s four-Test series with India has seen some remarkable batting performances in the domestic first-class competition there.

In particular, the recent Ranji Trophy matches at Gahunje and Surat both aggregated more than 1,200 runs with the wickets taken by the hard-pressed bowlers in each of these first-class contests costing in excess of a hundred runs apiece.

The contest at Gahunje between Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh aggregated 1,433 runs, with just 15 wickets falling, each at a cost of a fraction over 110 runs. At Surat, the wickets came for just one run less as the game, involving Gujarat and Saurashtra, saw 1,316 runs being scored and just a dozen wickets tumbling – each therefore costing 109 runs.

As the list below shows, the world record for the highest cost per wicket in a first-class match when so many runs have been scored remains the contest between Cambridge University and the 1950 West Indians at Fenner’s – a game which saw 1,324 runs being scored, but just seven wickets falling, at a cost of 189 runs each.

Four-day County Championship matches from the last few years also feature prominently on this list, including the contest at Edgbaston in 1994 when Brian Lara scored his world record 501 not out, as well as the game in 2005 between Middlesex and Glamorgan when, during the final afternoon, the scoreboard at the picturesque Southgate ground blew a fuse and became blank - an electronic raspberry in response to the torrent of runs scored by batsmen from both teams!


Cost            Total runs
per wkt        and wkts

189.14          1324/7            Cambridge University v West Indians at Fenner’s, 1950
155.25          1242/8            Saurashtra v Mumbai at Rajkot, 1996-97
136.00          1224/9            Surrey v Leicestershire at The Oval, 2009
127.61          1659/13          Somerset v Middlesex at Taunton, 2007
125.90          1385/11          Tasmania v Queensland at Hobart, 1995-96
120.21          1683/14          Middlesex v Glamorgan at Southgate, 2005
114.81          1263/11          Somerset v Sussex at Taunton, 2009
113.83          1366/12          Warwickshire v Durham at Edgbaston, 1994
110.23          1433/13          Maharashtra v Uttar Pradesh at Gahunje 2012-13
109.66          1316/12          Gujarat v Saurashtra at Surat 2012-13

*Andrew Hignell is Glamorgan Cricket's official scorer and statistician




Date: 13/11/2012 11:55:00 by Andrew Hignell
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