Published: Jul 01, 2015, 07:00 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 13, 2015, 05:38 PM (IST)
England scored 408 for 9 after losing wicket on the first ball of the One-Day International (ODI) against New Zealand. It was the highest total after losing wicket on the first ball in ODIs. Bharath Seervi lists the highest such totals in Test cricket as well.
England scored 408 for 9 against New Zealand at Edgbaston on June 9, 2015 after losing Jason Roy off the first ball of the match. It was also the first ball Roy faced in his ODI career. It also remains the only occasion when a team scored 400 after losing a wicket in the first ball.
Let us look at the corresponding list in Test cricket. The highest total in Tests also involved the same teams as in ODIs — England and New Zealand. England scored 560 for 8 at Christchurch in 1932-33 after losing Herbert Sutcliffe off the first ball of the match. READ: Everything about nervous 190s in Test cricket
There have been two totals in excess of 450 after the team lost their first wicket on the first ball of the match: Australia scored 494 against England at Headingley in 1926, and India amassed 465 for 8 against Pakistan at Jaipur in 1986-87. READ: Both openers scoring ducks in the fourth innings of a Test
A recent instance of a team scoring big after a first-ball wicket was New Zealand’s 429 after losing Tim McIntosh at Dunedin in 2009-10. They won the Test by 32 runs. The table below lists the highest totals in this case. READ: The leading run-getters in Test cricket for each team
Teams scoring 350 after losing a wicket on the first ball of the match
| Total | Team | Against | Venue | Season | Result |
| 560/8 | England | New Zealand | Christchurch | 1932-33 | Draw |
| 494 | Australia | England | Headingley | 1926 | Draw |
| 465/8 | India | Pakistan | Jaipur | 1986-87 | Draw |
| 429 | New Zealand | Pakistan | Dunedin | 2009-10 | Won by 32 runs |
| 416 | Bangladesh | West Indies | Gros Islet | 2004 | Draw |
| 406/8 | South Africa | West Indies | Cape Town | 1998-99 | Won by 149 runs |
| 358/9 | India | New Zealand | Napier | 1989-90 | Draw |
| 387 | India | Bangladesh | Chittagong | 2007 | Draw |
| 358 | England | Australia | The Gabba | 1936-37 | Won by 322 runs |
– None of the above teams lost the corresponding Tests.
– The highest total after losing a wicket off the first ball of a Test that resulted in a defeat was West Indies’ 287 against England at Durham in 2007.
– The lowest total after losing wicket in the first ball of the match is England’s 75 against Australia at MCG in 1894-95. Interestingly, England won the Test by 94 runs.
– There are four team scores between 300 and 350 after losing a wicket on the first ball of the match.
Footnote Trivia: Batsman dismissed first ball of a Test most times
The dubious record of getting out first ball of a Test match most number of times is with Sunil Gavaskar and Hannan Sarkar — thrice each. The bowler taking a wicket of the first ball of a Test most times is Pedro Collins — thrice. On all three occasions, Collins had got the wicket of Sarkar. READ: Test cricket records: The “oldest” to everything
Overall, Gavaskar has been dismissed first ball of an innings five times in his Test career — the most by any batsman.
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)
