It is always fun watching batsmen play long innings, making centuries and smashing records. However, imagine a bowler coming out to bat, scoring runs, and breaking batting records. Sometimes, the bowlers are required to perform not just with the ball but bat too. While acting in their capacity as batsmen, bowlers can be crucial to a team’s success. Here are 5 unusual batting records by bowlers in Test cricket.
5 batting records held by bowlers in Test cricket
1. Wasim Akram- Most sixes in a Test inning
Wasim Akram had his spells with the bat, but he was seldom a reliable performer, which limited his playing role to that of a bowler. In 104 Test matches throughout the course of his career, the left-arm bowler scored three centuries. In 1996, when he was captain, Akram recorded the highest Test score of 257* against Zimbabwe. His highest score in a Test match is higher than several halls of fame cricketers. In the Test match, Wasim Akram scored an undefeated 257 from 363 deliveries. It included 22 fours and 12 sixes. It is the most number of sixes hit by a batsman in a Test inning. Since Wasim’s record, five players have hit 11 sixes in a Test inning, but none have been able to match or surpass it.
2. James Anderson- Most not-outs in Test cricket
English bowling legend James Anderson has a major batting record in the longest format of the game despite possessing a mediocre batting career. The left-handed batsman, who went unbeaten 102 times, owns the record for the most not-outs in Test cricket history.
3. Shane Warne- Most Test runs without a century
World-class batsmen were regularly taken by surprise by Shane Warne‘s traditional leg spin deliveries. The renowned Australian spinner also owns the record for amassing the most Test runs without even scoring a century. In 145 Test games, the right-hander scored 3,154 runs. When he hit 99 against New Zealand back in 2001, he fell just one run behind scoring his first International Test century.
4. Umesh Yadav – Fastest innings in Test cricket
Indian pacer Umesh Yadav was sent to score quick runs before an early declaration during the Ranchi Test match against South Africa. In his first two at-bats against George Linde, Yadav crushed both balls and sixes. Umesh is now only the third player in Test cricket history, behind Sachin Tendulkar and Foffie Williams, to strike sixes on the opening two balls of an innings. He scored 31 runs in the end off of just 10 balls, with five maximums accounting for 30 of those runs.
5. Jasprit Bumrah- Most runs scored in an over
On July 2 in Edgbaston, Jasprit Bumrah broke the previous record when Stuart Broad, an England bowler, gave up 35 runs in one over. Bumrah was filling in for the injured Rohit Sharma. He got 29 runs off the bat in an over from Broad that also had five wides and a no-ball hit for six. The previous record for most runs hit in a test over was 28 runs. Only three times in the Test format’s 145-year existence has this occurred.