Piling glory: Top five highest team totals ever in domestic cricket
Multi-day cricket is a format that gives the teams unrestricted opportunity to score as many runs as they can in their innings. Though teams have to make calculated decisions on what score should be enough to ensure a win, and not stretch the innings too far that match ends in a draw. In this article, we are going to list out the five highest innings totals by teams in domestic cricket.
5. New South Wales: 918 vs South Australia
In the Sheffield Shield match played in 1901, South Australia could score only 157 runs in their first innings. In response, New South Wales piled up a mountain of runs as they scored 918 runs in 208 overs. For them, a total of 5 batsmen scored centuries, while 2 players hit half-centuries. The centurions were Frank Iredale, Monty Noble, Syd Gregory, Reggie Duff and Les Poidevin. South Australia got all out for 156 runs in the second innings and lost the encounter by an innings and 605 runs.
4. Hyderabad – 944/6 vs Andhra, 1994
The record for the highest innings total on Indian soil belongs to Hyderabad which they created back in Ranji Trophy 1994. The Andhra team scored 263 runs in the first innings of this match with Narender Singh picking 5 wickets. Then, the Hyderabad team posted a huge total of 944/6 in 211 overs with the help of a triple ton from Maturi Sridhar who scored 366 runs off 523 balls.
Vivek Jaisimha and Noel David also had an important contribution with both scoring double hundreds. This match finally ended in a draw as Andhra scored 180/7 till the end of the fifth day’s play.
3. Sindh – 951/7 vs Balochistan, 1974
The record for the highest innings score on Pakistan Soil belongs to the Sindh side. They posted a total of 951/7 against Balochistan in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy 1974. For them, captain Aftab Baloch played a mind-boggling knock of 428 runs which included 25 fours. Bashir Shana and Javed Miandad were the other vital players who scored tons for the team. The opposition side could only score 93 and 283 runs against Sind in their first and second innings respectively and were defeated by an innings and 575 runs.
2. Victoria – 1059 vs Tasmania, 1923
The second-highest total in domestic cricket belongs to the Victoria team who scored a mammoth 1059 runs in an innings in a 1923 first-class match. For them, captain Bill Ponsford was the hero as he smacked 429 runs with the help of 42 fours.
The Tasmania team had earlier scored 217 runs in the first innings and later got all out for 176 runs in the second innings. Victoria won this match by an innings and 666 runs.
1. Victoria – 1107 vs New South Wales, 1926
Victoria posted a record total of 1107 runs in the Sheffield Shield match played against New South Wales in 1926. The NSW team had earlier scored 221 runs in their first innings. For Victoria, Bill Ponsford smashed a magnificent triple century scoring 352 runs with the help of 36 fours. Jack Ryder missed out on a triple ton as he was dismissed for a score of 295 runs. Captain Bill Woodfull and Stork Hendry also scored hundreds for the team as they clamped 1107 runs in 190.7 overs at a run rate of over 5.
In the second innings, NSW team were dismissed for 230 runs and lost the match by a huge margin of an innings and 656 runs.
