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10 Cricket Records That Will Never Be Broken
January 27, 201410 Cricket Records That Will Never Be Broken
For those who witnessed it, Chris Gayle's 30-ball ton in the IPL is a moment for which they won't forget where they were and what they were doing when the master blaster was smashing the ball to all parts.
However, in this day and age of T20 cricket, who is to say that someone like Aaron Finch, Alex Hales or even Gayle himself won't strike an even faster century very soon?
That's why the West Indian's achievement doesn't make it on to this list. But after taking a wander through the annuls of cricket, here, in increasingly formidable order are ten records that are unlikely to be broken...ever.
10. Best 1-Day International Bowling Figures
Considering you get a maximum of 60 deliveries in a modern day ODI, Chaminda Vaas' return against Zimbabwe in 2001 is going to take some beating.
The skillful left-armer took eight wickets for 19 runs.
Or to put it another way: 80 percent of the African team's wickets, as they collapsed to 38 all out off just 15.4 overs.
Even though the opposition were a so-called weaker team, Vaas' ODI record figures are unlikely to be beaten anytime soon.
9. Highest Score by a Nightwatchman
Professional cricketers spend a great deal of their lives bored out of their minds, frustratedly standing in fields watching the opposition bat.
So, it would be interesting to know what was going through the Bangladesh fielders' minds as Australia's nightwatchman Jason Gillespie clocked up a remarkable unbeaten 201 in their 2006 Test match.
"Dizzy" finished his career with a useful tail-ender's average of 19.59, but this almost unbelievable innings in Chittagong will be hard to top.
Especially given that a nightwatchman's primary job is simply to occupy the crease for a few overs at the end of the day.
8. Shortest-Ever Test Match
You would have been disappointed if you had tickets for the fifth day of the 1932 Test match between Australia and South Africa at Melbourne.
And the fourth, and third and even the second day for that matter, as the action was all over in five hours and 53 minutes on a treacherous wicket.
South Africa were dismissed for 36 and 45 and fell to an innings defeat against Australia's huge total of 153 with Bert Ironmonger taking 11 for 24. These days, the match would most likely have been called off.
7. Most Balls Delivered in a Single Innings
Sonny Ramadhin must have needed an ice bath after his Herculean efforts against England in 1957 at Edgbaston.
The spinner managed to churn out a staggering 98 overs in the second innings, the highest-ever amount of deliveries bowled in a single innings.
The nearest anyone has come of late is when Zimbabwe's Ray Price grinded through 79 overs in a 2001 Test match against South Africa.
6. Lowest ODI Economy Rate
Phil Simmons' Test career didn't do the talented all-rounder justice, but the West Indian's name will most likely remain in the record books forever after his incredible return in an ODI against Pakistan in 1992.
Somehow, the Trinidadian got through his entire 10-over spell that yielded four wickets but remarkably conceded just three runs.
Simmons' freak economy rate of 0.30 will surely never be bettered in this T20-inspired age of ultra-aggressive hitting.
5. Most International Wickets
Muttiah Muralitharan's incredible career haul of wickets seems almost impossibly high given the average time at the top for an international cricketer.
With 1,347 victims, 800 in Test matches and 547 in the white-ball formats, the spinner terrorised batsmen for two full decades.
Given that Murali's closest contemporary Shane Warne is still 346 wickets behind the Sri Lankan, it will be some career that even gets close to this total.
4. Best First-Class Match Bowling Figures
Every few years a bowler has a freak match and runs through the opposition team to take every single wicket which falls in that innings.
To do it twice in the same game seems almost unbelievable. But that's almost what Jim Laker did against Australia in 1956 at Old Trafford.
After collecting a more-than-useful nine wickets for 37 in the first innings, the off-spinner went one better in the second effort by taking 10 for 53.
Despite missing out on a perfect return, Laker's colossal match figures of 19 for 90 surely won't ever be beaten.
3. Oldest Test Cricketer
The legendary English all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes could have a hat-trick of unbreakable records.
However, given that the sheer volume of first-class cricket is nowhere near what players used to play, just one record will do for the sake of variation in this list.
The Yorkshireman, who famously started at the bottom of the England batting line-up and finished as opener, is the oldest man, at the ripe old age of 52 years and 165 days, to ever play Test cricket.
In the modern era, with players often finished by their mid-thirties, this record won't be broken.
Rhodes' two other statistical milestones that are unlikely to be broken are the most first-class games played (1,110) and the most first-class wickets taken (over 4,000).
2. Most Career Runs
The legendary Sir Jack Hobbs is one of England's greatest ever batsmen and also the most prolific run-scorer in the history of the sport.
In an epic career that started in 1905 and finished in 1934, the man known as "The Master" scored over 60,000 runs, which included 199 centuries (another record).
There just aren't enough games these days to get near those levels, so these records will last until the end of time.
1. Highest Career Batting Average
The story about Sir Don Bradman's last innings is the stuff of cricketing legend. After a prolific career, the Australian legend needed to score just four runs to finish with a sensational Test average of over 100.
He was bowled for a duck and finished on 99.94, which despite being a minor numerical disappointment, is by far the highest that has ever been achieved.
The second-best Test average from a completed career is Graeme Pollock's 60.97, while currently, Cheteshwar Pujara's flying start at the highest level has seen him make an average of 66.25 runs every innings so far.
But Bradman's talent has simply made him a statistical anomaly that will never be topped by anyone who plays a significant quantity of games.