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500+ Runs in a Test Series on 2+ Occasions

A

AndrewB

International Vice-Captain
Coronis said:
Though sometimes players played less than a full series we have these records

Most runs in X match series

6 - 839 Taylor 1989 Ashes
5 - 974 Bradman 1930 Ashes
4 - 769 Smith 2014/15 B/G Trophy
3 - 752 Gooch 1989 India vs England
2 - 571 Jayasuriya 1997 India vs Sri Lanka

The numbers could possibly be off for the 2 test series, I had to make the cutoff before the first WTC since it was endless scrolling through those records on statsguru. Unsure of the highest score in a one-off test.
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Inzamam scored 329 in what became a 1-match series due to the later matches being cancelled (Pakistan v NZ 2002).
Najmal Hossain Shanto scored 270 for Bangladesh v Afghanistan in their Test last year.
 
mr_mister

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
The_CricketUmpire said:
Kumar Sangakarra is another interesting one, he only scored 500+ runs in a Test series once - 516 runs against Pakistan in 2011. Very very good batsman still as we know.

The "500+ runs" milestone in a Test series is like a Grand Slam for a Test batsman. A bit like when a batsman scores 1000+ Test runs in a calendar year.....its a big achievement.

These are probably two elements which are at times forgotten about when assessing/ranking Test batsman, sometimes we get too focused on their batting averages when we should really take in all factors including the two I mentioned above.
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3+ tons in a series is another cool achievement
 
A

AndrewB

International Vice-Captain
Incidentally, it's not hard to get Statsguru to show the most runs for a player playing 2 Tests in a series - you then just have to check that they didn't miss Tests in a longer series:
two_match_series.png
 
Coronis

Coronis

International Coach
And a list for bowlers too

6 test series - 42 Alderman 1981 Ashes
5 test series - 49 Barnes 1913/14 England vs South Africa
4 test series - 33 Valentine 1950 West Indies vs England
3 test series - 35 Lohmann 1895/96 England vs South Africa
2 test series - 23 Herath 2014 Pakistan vs Sri Lanka
1 test series - 16 Muralitharan 1998 Sri Lanka vs England

If we want to exclude Lohmann (and the Triangular Tour with Barnes’ 34 feels iffy) Hadlee had 33 in the 85/86 Trans-Tasman Trophy
 
Q

Qlder

International Debutant
Amazingly Hammond has the 2md most runs in a 2 test series where he only batted twice making 227 and 336* vs NZ in 1933. Gave him 563 runs @ 563.00 (without searching, pretty sure that'd have to be the highest average for any series)
 
The_CricketUmpire

The_CricketUmpire

U19 Captain
Ali TT said:
In fairness to Sangakkara, he probably didn't play many series of more than 3 tests. And when Sachin played I think India didn't play many 5 test series and it was only in the last few years of his career that he played many 4 test series.
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He played in 24 Test series where the duration for those series was 3 matches. More than enough and only did it once

Test Cricket - Most Runs in Series

Test Cricket - Batsmen scoring most runs in a series
www.howstat.com
 
Coronis

Coronis

International Coach
The_CricketUmpire said:
He played in 24 Test series where the duration for those series was 3 matches. More than enough and only did it once

Test Cricket - Most Runs in Series

Test Cricket - Batsmen scoring most runs in a series
www.howstat.com
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“Only did it once” is a bit harsh considering only three batsmen has scored 500+ twice in 2/3 test series, 2 of them being openers.
 
Q

Qlder

International Debutant
The_CricketUmpire said:
I wouldn't say it's harsh...I'm just saying what the stats are saying. Still a very good player.
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Stats are not saying that. Your spreadsheet has players making 500 runs in 6 Tests being compared equally to players making 500 in 2 Tests. It's interesting, but it's not comparable stats.
 
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Coronis

Coronis

International Coach
So related to this somewhat since India are playing their first 5 test series against Australia in 30 years had me thinking about series lengths for teams. Obviously Australia and England have always had 5 test series and now India’s jumped into that fold. Most other teams these days only play 3 test series unfortunately.

India - Had a 12 year gap (02-14) before India played a 5 test series again, but have been consistently since against England, and now presumably Australia.

South Africa - Last 5 test series was vs England in 04/05, played 4 test series against members of the big 3 up until 19/20 vs Australia

West Indies - Last 5 test series vs England in 08/09 (6 years after their previous one) Last 4 test series in 2016 vs India, 9 years after their previous one.

New Zealand - Last 5 test series vs West Indies in 71/72 (just before Hadlee’s debut!), had played three 5 match series in the 50’s and one in the 60’s. Last 4 match series was vs England in 1999, 15 years after their previous two.

Pakistan - Last 5 test series was in 92 vs England. Mostly played 5/6 tests vs England and India. Only played three 4 test series this century, all against England, the last one in 2016.

Sri Lanka - Never played a 4 or 5 test series. Played their first 3 test series for over 5 years against England this year.

Zimbabwe - Never played 4 or 5. Since returning to tests from their hiatus they only played one 3 test series vs Bangladesh in 14/15.

Bangladesh - Never played 4 or 5. In fact that 3 test series against Zimbabwe was their last as well, only having 2 other series against Pakistan in the 00’s.

Ireland - Played one 2 test series against Sri Lanka last year.

Afghanistan - Played one 2 test series against Zimbabwe in 20/21.
 
centurymaker

centurymaker

Cricketer Of The Year
The_CricketUmpire said:
Yeah it says a lot. To not even score 500+ once in a series.
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Back in the day, in a 3 match series, a middle order batter would only get about 4 innings or sometiems 5 innings in the series. And about 6 or so innings in a 4 test series. Whereas now, you usually get almost all your innings as game moves so quickly.

So need to look at number of innings played per series! (as there were fewer innings per series in the past)

How many innings it actually took to achieve 500 runs in the series is far more important:

12 innings in the series (6 tests)
11 innings
10 innings
9 innings
8 innings
7 innings
6 innings
5 innings
4 innings

If someone is getting series with 9+ innings every year or two, you'd expect them to get multiple 500 run series easily. It's not rocket science. So stop being delusional.
 
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