5 biggest overs in Test cricket in terms of maximum runs scored off one over
As fans of the beautiful game, we will never forget Yuvraj Singh’s magical over against Stuart Broad in the ICC World T20 in 2007 or Chris Gayle’s destruction of the opposition bowlers in the Indian Premier League. Over the past few years, we have seen a lot of big overs in ODI and T20 cricket in terms of runs scored off one over. There is always a record which is broken during every second or third limited-overs match.
But what about Test cricket?
It is not often that we see batsmen score with a high strike rate in a test match. The norm is usually to pace their innings slowly and achieve a high score. There have been a few exceptions to this particular norm over the past few years. Since the inception of T20 cricket, we have seen batsmen change their style of batting in test matches as well; the result of which, the average strike rate of batsmen has considerably increased.
In this article, we look at those batsmen who broke the record of maximum runs scored off one over in Test cricket.
#5 26 runs (Suranga Lakmal to Brendon Mccullum – 55th over, 1st innings)
Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand, 1st Test match, Christchurch, 2014-15)
For the past couple of years, Sri Lanka have been in a transitional phase as a lot of new cricketers have come into the fray for them. Since Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene’s retirement from international cricket, they have not looked the strong and composed side they once were.
Their tour of New Zealand at the end of the calendar year in 2014 gave us a glimpse of their apparent downfall as they had a string of poor results since then.
During the first test at Christchurch, New Zealand were going strong at 212-4 in the 1st innings when Jimmy Neesham joined the captain – Brendon McCullum at the crease. The duo performed as though they were playing a limited-overs match as they counter-attacked the Sri Lankan bowling by hitting them all over the park. McCullum went on to score a quick-fire century off 74 balls and did not look to slow down his innings.
During the 55th over of the innings, Suranga Lakmal had been brought back into the attack to try and remove McCullum. Unfortunately, the tactic did not work as McCullum hit three sixes and two fours in what turned out to be the joint 5th biggest over in Test cricket in terms of most runs scored off one over. McCullum fell agonisingly short of scoring the fastest double-century in Test cricket as he was dismissed for 195.
New Zealand went on to win the match with ease as they thrashed the Lankans by 8 wickets. They eventually went on to win the series as well, winning the 2nd test match by 193 runs.