The Thousand-Ball Test Partnerships: An Elusive Record

By Charles Davis

July 2004 in The Cricket Statistician, edited May 2005.

For cricketers at any level, few experiences are more frustrating than bowling and fielding through a very long partnership. Whether or not the runs are flowing, the extended partnership will usually have a heavy influence on a match.

In the Test arena, where a vast array of statistics are available, partnerships are still primarily measured and judged by their output of runs. This is reasonable enough, but the effectiveness (or notoriety) of a partnership can sometimes be measured more in terms of its length than in the runs scored. On the subject of the longest partnerships of all, the record books are largely silent. But there are sufficient alternative sources of information available to produce a complete list of the longest stands.

Partnership lengths can be measured in terms of time, or overs bowled. Given the substantial changes in over rates over the years, the latter is probably a better measurement for comparison purposes, but it is easier to start with partnership times. The longest partnerships in terms of time are given in Table 1.

Table 1. Longest Partnerships Times (Test Matches).

Mins	Runs	Wkt			Ground
753	576	2	RS Mahanama(225)/ST Jayasuriya(340)	SL v In	Colombo	1997-98
620^†	415	3	GR Viswanath(222*)/Yashpal Sharma(140)	In v En	Madras	1981-82
579	399	4	FMM Worrell(197*)/GStA Sobers(226)	WI v En	Barbados	1959-60
547	467	3	MD Crowe(299)/AH Jones(186)	NZ v SL	Wellington	1990-91
540	387	1	GM Turner(259)/TW Jarvis(182)	NZ v WI	Georgetown	1971-72
533	451	3	Javed Miandad(280*)/Mudassar Nazar(231)	Pa v In	Hyderabad	1982-83
520	411	4	MC Cowdrey(154)/PBH May(285*)	En v WI	Birmingham	1957
514	429*	3	JA Rudolph(222*)/HH Dippenaar(178*)	SA v Ba	Chittagong	2002-03
513	231	3	JHB Waite(134)/DJ McGlew(105)	SA v Au	Durban	1957-58
495	385	5	GS Blewett(214)/SR Waugh(160)	Au v SA	Johannesburg	1996-97
472	413	1	MH Mankad(231)/P Roy(173)	In v NZ	Madras	1955-56
472	366	3	Ijaz Ahmed(211)/ Inzamam-ul-Haq(200*)	Pa v SL	Kingston	1998-99
467	335	1	ST Jayasuriya(188)/MS Atapattu(207)	SL v Pa	Kandy	2000-01
467	217	2	S Ranatunga(118)/AP Gurusinha(128)	SL v Z	Harare	1994-95
465	397	3	Javed Miandad(203*)/Qasim Omar(206)	Pa v SL	Faisalabad	1985-86
450	315*	2	JH Kallis(148*)/HH Gibbs(211*)	SA v N	Dhaka	1998-99

^†Consisted of two partnerships. DB Vengsarkar retired hurt after 119 minutes (99runs).

There is a remarkably large gap between Jayasuriya and Mahanama’s 576, stretching over more than two days in Colombo, and the next longest two-man partnership. In fact, given that the Sri Lankan stand leads by a margin of 109 runs, and 174 minutes, over its nearest rivals for the records, it would seem likely that, even if measured in terms of balls bowled, this partnership would retain the mantle of longest.

Surprisingly, this is not the case. While the Jayasuriya/Mahanama stand lasted for an extraordinary 1110 balls (as given in the Wisden Book of Test Cricket), there are, as it happens, rivals dating from the days of higher over rates. Three partnerships stand out. It is unfortunate that original scorebooks for these Tests have (evidently) not survived, but reasonable estimates for their lengths can be made using contemporary newspaper reports. These reports can be summarised as follows:

• Sobers and Worrell, 1959-60: 399 runs for the 4th wicket in 579 minutes. This Test was scheduled for six days of five hours each. Worrell came to the crease 24 minutes before stumps on day 3. On Day 4, 64 overs were bowled on a rain-affected day, while on Day 5, 85 overs were bowled. Sobers was dismissed in the 7th over of Day 6, giving a total close to 156 overs plus those initial 24 minutes. At the prevailing over rate of 100 balls per hour (239.4 overs in 868 minutes for the whole innings), this leads to a reasonably precise estimate of 162 overs, rounded to 970 balls, for the entire partnership.
• May and Cowdrey, 1957: 411 for the 4th wicket in 500 minutes. A scorebook for this Test has recently been found. The partnership lasted 191 overs, or 1146 balls.
• Turner and Jarvis, 1972: 387 for the first wicket in 540 minutes. New Zealand finished Day 3 on 163/0 in 96 overs, and scored a further 247/1 off 116 overs on Day 4. There is no scorebook surviving with sufficient detail to calculate exact figures. However two figures have been found in newspapers: 186 overs, found in the West Indies Cricket Annual of 1972, and 192 overs, given in the Guyana Graphic newspaper. Of the two precise, but conflicting, figures, there are reasons to suggest that the report of 192 overs is the more reliable. Jarvis’ wicket fell 45 minutes before stumps, by which time 209 overs (Graphic) or 212 overs (Jamaica Daily Gleaner) had been bowled. This is an unreasonably short time for the bowling of 23-26 overs implied by the 186-over figure in West Indies Cricket Annual, made more implausible if we use the time of 40 minutes given in that source.

So, in terms of balls bowled, the giant Jaysuriya/Mahanama stand of 1110 balls has been surpassed on two occasions. The record appears to belong to Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis, but there is enough uncertainty to allow that the “true” record-holders could just possibly be May and Cowdrey. Further investigation of other partnerships allows a more complete picture of the longest partnerships to emerge, with the results in Table 2.

Table 2. The Longest Test Partnerships (Balls Bowled)

Balls	Partn.	Wkt			Center
1152	387	1	GM Turner(259)/TW Jarvis(182)	NZ v WI	Georgetown	1971-72
1146	411	4	MC Cowdrey(154)/PBH May(285*)	En v WI	Birmingham	1957
1110	576	2	RS Mahanama(225)/ST Jayasuriya(340)	SL v In	Colombo	1997-98
(970)	399	4	FMM Worrell(197*)/GStA Sobers(226)	WI v En	Barbados	1959-60
924	467	3	MD Crowe(299)/AH Jones(186)	NZ v SL	Wellington	1990-91
892	231	3	JHB Waite(134)/DJ McGlew(105)	SA v Au	Durban	1957-58
877	262	3	DR Jardine(98)/WR Hammond(177)	En v Au	Adelaide	1928-29
843	382	2	M Leyland(187)/L Hutton(364)	En v Au	Oval	1938
(840)	413	1	MH Mankad(231)/P Roy(173)	In v NZ	Madras	1955-56
836	370	3	DCS Compton(208)/WJ Edrich(189)	En v SA	Lord's	1947
805	405	5	DG Bradman(234)/SG Barnes(234)	Au v En	Sydney	1946-47
804	388	4	DG Bradman(304)/WH Ponsford(181)	Au v En	Leeds	1934
784	280	2	WJ Edrich(219)/PA Gibb(120)	En v SA	Durban	1938-39
769	385	5	GS Blewett(214)/SR Waugh(160)	Au v SA	Johannesburg	1996-97
(760)	451	3	J. Miandad(280*)/Mudassar Nazar(231)	Pa v In	Hyderabad	1982-83
759	212	1	RT Simpson(94)/C Washbrook(102)	En v WI	Nottingham	1950
740	429*	3	JA Rudolph(222*)/HH Dippenaar(178*)	SA v Ba	Chittagong	2002-03
(720)^†	415	3	Y. Sharma(140)/GR Viswanath(222*)	In v En	Madras	1981-82
(700)	382	1	WM Lawry(210)/RB Simpson(201)	Au v WI	Barbados	1964-65
698	346	6	DG Bradman(270)/JHW Fingleton(136)	Au v En	Melbourne	1936-37
693	366	3	Ijaz Ahmed(211)/ Inzamam-ul-Haq(200*)	Pa v Pa	Kingston	1998-99
686	335	1	ST Jayasuriya(188)/MS Atapattu(207)	SL v Pa	Kandy	2000-01

Figures in brackets indicate estimates. In most cases no-balls and wides are not included.

^†Three-player partnership.

Longest 7th-wicket stand: 308 off ~600 balls (310mins), Imtiaz Ahmed (209)/Waqar Hassan (189), Pak v NZ, Lahore 1955-56.

Longest 8th-wicket stand: 313 off ~670 balls (426 mins), Wasim Akram (257*)/Saqlain Mushtaq (79), Pak v Zim, 1996-97.

Longest 9th-wicket stands: 105 off ~360 balls (217 mins), NS Yadav (43)/ SMH Kirmani (78), Ind v NZ, Auckland, 1980-81.

Also: 127 off 357 balls (225 mins), Yousuf Youhana (124)/Saqlain Mushtaq (32*), Pak v Eng, Lahore, 2000-01.

Longest 10th-wicket century stand: 120 off ~305 balls (140 mins), WW Armstrong (45*)/ RA Duff (104), Melbourne, 1901-02.

It is remarkable that some relatively low-yielding stands appear high on the list in Table 2. Most notable is the 231-run stand of McGlew and Waite at Durban, which is not among the top 190 highest-scoring partnerships, but ranks as 6th-longest at 892 balls (calculated from a surviving scorebook). McGlew consumed 499 balls for his 105 runs, the first 100 off 480 balls, the slowest Test century for which exact figures are available. [The slowest of all Test centuries, in balls faced, was probably that of Nazar Mohammad against India in Lucknow in 1952-53, but it is difficult to give a precise estimate.]

It is probably unfortunate that the leading partnership, that of Turner and Jarvis, is much more in the “notorious” class than the “heroic” fightback of the May/ Cowdrey, but it can probably be said that the former is more typical of the upper ranks of the list in Table 2. Wisden unleashed some scathing language in its report of that Georgetown match, memorably describing it as “a complete negation of cricket as a game of challenge”. In addition to this interminable partnership, the last 64 minutes of the preceding West Indies innings had also been wicket-free, meaning that the interval between wickets in this match was probably more than 1270 balls, a total surely unrivalled in Test cricket.

Not surprisingly, most of the matches featured in Table 2 ended in draws. The longest partnership in a time-limited match which produced a result is the Mankad/Roy stand of 413 off about 840 balls. Recent Tests are not well-represented in Table 2, with the 600 most recent Test matches producing only four partnerships in the all-time Top 20. This can probably be put down to the faster scoring rates of recent years, and possibly a reduction in batsmen’s levels of patience given the ubiquity of One-Day matches, as well as falling over rates which limit the opportunities for such extremes.

To conclude on a brighter note, the research for this article has also identified the fastest major partnerships, which may be of interest:

• The fastest 400+ stand: 451 off 557 balls (316 mins) Ponsford/Bradman, The Oval, 1934. (81 runs/100 balls.)
• The fastest 300+ stand: 368 off 416 balls (338 mins) Smith/Gibbs, Cape Town, 2002-03. (88.5 runs/100 balls.)
• The fastest 200+ stand: 209 off 186 balls (85 mins) Gregory/Collins, Johannesburg, 1921-22. (112 runs/100 balls.)
• The fastest 100+ stand: 118 off 65 balls (55 mins) NJ Astle/CL Cairns, Christchurch, 2001-02. (182 runs/100 balls.)