Taking the bar higher..... History of Records.

How does it feel like reaching a summit, the highest point scaled so far? I don't look for answers here.
But, more tricky, you have reached a level, or are nearing one. But then, there is someone else breathing down your neck, he can potentially overtake you. The scenario is more complicated, that you have to keep outscoring your opponent to stay on top.

Cricket records have often seen such tussles between the (as people call them) legends of the era. Shane Warne and Muralitharan ran close to each other for a long time in a race to break record for the highest wicket taker until Warne retired. Tendulkar and Ponting had a run for the most centuries (I remember there was an article titled "Run Sachin, Run" because Pointing was quickly catching up). The four great all rounders from the seventies also had their bit in the run towards the highest wicket taker record.

This article is about the progress of the four common man statistics, Most Runs, Most Wickets, Most Hundreds and the Highest Individual Score.

Most Runs

The first batsman to break into the 1000 runs club and set a world record was Arthur Shrewsbury of England. His record of 1277 test runs stayed till 1902 when the then Australlian captain Joe Darling broke it, and took the cumulative record to 1293. His teammate Syd Gregory, who bettered the record the very next month, ended the test with a close-enough aggregate of 1282. Darling didn't play the next two tests in the series gave opportunity for Gregory to break the record. But then, there were two other players, Clem Hill (Australia) and Archie MacLaren (England) who were closing in pretty quickly, they both had scores around 1200 to be in touching distance. What followed was a race between Gregory, Hill and MacLaren in 1902. It would have been interesting read in the newspapers if the interest in statistics was anywhere close to what we have today, with each match potentially bringing up a new leader. Though Darling lost out on the race, the other three were on the run, till August 1902 with Gregory winning once more, MacLaren taking honors thrice and Hill challenging on each match. Finally, Clem Hill claimed it once for all, touching 1610 from where MacLaren or Gregory couldn't beat Hill. Hill ended his career with 3412 runs in 1912, leaving Gregory far behind. Victor Trumper, another Australian had reached closer, but ended with 3163 career runs.

And it took Sir Jack Hobbs, the English great, to break it 12 years later, when he finally broke Hill's record. From then on, there were no "changing of hands", just that new players came, conquered and continued till retirement. During his tenure, Hobbs hardly had any competition for his record, when he retired in 1930, he had an aggregate of 5410 runs, the closest was still the record that was set by Hill in 1912. Bradman had just over 1400 runs then. BTW, that was one record which Bradman never achieved. (For the records, Jack Hobbs still holds the record for most runs and most centuries in first class cricket, with a whopping 61,760 runs and 199 centuries.)

Wally Hammond, who was closing in on 2000 runs when Hobbs retired, was the next to better the record. Hobbs' record also stayed for 12 years. Hammond took the bar higher to 7249, which even the contemporary greats, Sir Don Bradman and Sir Len Hutton couldn't break. Bradman ended his career with 6996 runs while Hutton retired after scoring 6971 runs.

The English continued to be on the top when Colin Cowdrey broke Hammond's record to be the highest run getter in 1970. At that time, Sobers too was gaining ground, he was just around 500 runs adrift from Cowdrey. Sir Gary Sobers did, in fact, overtake Cowdrey just before he retired, the first player outside of England and Australia to be on top. Sobers ended his career with 8032 runs when he retired in 1974, and was the first to break into the 8000 club.

England did get back the honours through Geoff Boycott, when he got there in 1981, ending a 9 year streak of Sobers' record. However, he had Sunil Gavaskar catching in quickly. Gavaskar was also running for the most centuries record (which we will come to later), but he still was a good 2500 runs away. There were a couple of other big names too, who were big run getters, Rohan Kanhai and Greg Chappel as well, around the 6000 test runs mark. It took another 25 tests and 5 more centuries for Sunil Gavaskar to break Boycott's record in 1983, the same series with West Indies (after the world cup win) where he broke Bradman's record of 29 hundreds. And Sunil Gavaskar was the first to touch the 9000 and 10,000 runs marks. He was at the top for around 9 years before Border came in. Allan Border broke Gavaskar's record in 1993, and ended his career with 11,174 runs. There was none close by when Border got there, the only other player was Javed Miandad.

The second West Indian to be on top was Brian Lara. Lara got there in 2005, but by then, the cricket world was also talking about Sachin Tendulkar to be the one to break it. Sachin was some 1000 runs behind in the race when Brian Lara broke the record. Lara played his last test in 2006, ending with 11,953 runs.
Sachin Tendulkar brought back the crown to India in 2008, when he became the first to reach 12,000 runs. From then on, he has been holding it. Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting had completed 10,000 runs by that time, but couldn't beat Tendulkar.

Till recently, Alister Cook was expected to be the batsman to break Tendulkar's record, before he announced his retirement in 2018.
Among the current test players, the top scorer is Hashim Amla with 9022 runs. Joe Root, David Warner, Virat Kohli, Ross Taylor and Steve Smith all have scored more than 6000 runs so far.

A look at how the record has changed hands, numbers given in brackets are the career total runs the respective player has scored.

1180 - A Shrewsbury snr in Jul-1893 (1277)
1293 - J Darling in Jan-1902 (1657)
1299 - SE Gregory in Feb-1902 (2282)
1401 - AC MacLaren in Jun-1902 (1931)
1562 - C Hill in Aug-1902 (3412)
3497 - JB Hobbs in Dec-1924 (5410)
5528 - WR Hammond in Jun-1937 (7249)
7256 - MC Cowdrey in Nov-1970 (7624)
7591 - GS Sobers in Mar-1972 (8032)
8090 - G Boycott in Dec-1981 (8114)
8123 - SM Gavaskar in Nov-1983 (10122)
10161 - AR Border in Feb-1993 (11174)
11204 - BC Lara in Nov-2005 (11953)
12037 - SR Tendulkar in Oct-2008 (15921)



Most Wickets.

Johnny Briggs, the England left arm spinner, was the first bowler to reach the 100 test wickets mark. However, by the end of the test, which England lost by an innings, Charlie Turner, the Australian fast bowler (who was able to bowl in both the innings) had just sneaked past to finish the test with 101 wickets, thus being on the top of the list. However, that test turned out to be Turner's last test, so Briggs had more opportunity to go past him, and Briggs did so in the very next test.

George Lohmann, regarded as one of the finest bowlers of his era was just about catching up. With an amazing tally of 35 wickets in a 3 test series against South Africa in 1896 Feb-March, at an average of 5.8 (including a spell of 8 for 7), Lohmann got to the top. Lohmann played just one more test after the series, to end up with a tally of 112 wickets, at an average of 10.76 and a strike rate of 34.20. Both these remain the lowest for any bowler who has taken more than 20 test wickets.
Briggs soon overtook Lohmann and finished his career with 118 test wickets.

Next to get into the topper list was the Australian off spinner Hugh Trumble, who took the tally to 141 wickets.
At that time, Syd Barnes was not in the picture, and he did not play any test between 1903 and 1907. But what followed in the next 23 tests was incredible. Barnes took an remarkable 163 in this period, that's more than 7 wickets per test. In total, his tally stayed at 189 wickets from 27 tests, in the process becoming the first bowler to breach the 150 wickets mark.

Clarrie Grimmett, the Australian leg-break bowler, started his career much after Barnes had retired. Barnes' record stayed for 22 years before Grimmett got to the top. He was also the first bowler to reach the 200 wickets mark. Grimmett ended his career with 216 wickets.
Sir Alec Bedser was a post-war cricketing great, who took nearly 2000 first-class wickets in his cricketing career. Bedser overtook Grimmett's record in 1953 and by the time he retired, he had 236 wickets to his credit.
Brian Statham, the English fast bowler, was in race with Fred Trueman, also English, for the mark of 250 test wickets. Trueman ultimately won the race, but it was Statham who overtook the record set by Bedser. Statham briefly remained to be the highest wicket taker, Trueman overtook him for the 250th wicket, thanks to a series in New Zealand which Statham didn't play. Trueman was also the first player to reach the 300 wickets mark. Trueman retired with 307 wickets to his name.
Like Sobers for batting, the first time the crown went out of England and Australia was through a West Indian. Lance Gibbs, a spinner from the test team which had many renowned fast bowlers, overtook the 307 set by Trueman to end with 309.
In the era of fiery fast bowlers, dominated by West Indies, Australia too had their array, Lillee, Thomson, Pascoe... Dennis Lillee started off as a tearaway fast bowler, but injuries couple of years into his test life almost put a stop to his career. He was forced to remodel his bowling, but what followed was a masterclass of swing and cricket awareness, adding another 300 odd wickets. He formed a potent bowling combination with Jeff Thomson, and by the time he ended his career, he had a world record of 355 wickets to his name.
And yes, that was the golden era of allrounders. All the four great allrounders, Botham, Hadlee, Imran and Kapil had more than 200 wickets when Lillee retired, with Botham leading the way with 277 wickets. It was very clear that any one could overtake Lillee to set a new benchmark (well, everyone did overtake Lillee)
As expected, Ian Botham reached there first, in the test against New Zealand at the Oval in 1986 (he didn't play the first two tests along with a full series against India, if my memory serves me right). It was a "I was there" moment for me, I was glued to the radio to hear the commentary when Botham left Lillee behind. Botham ended his career with 383 wickets.
But Sir Richard Hadlee got past Botham before he retired. Both were tied at 373 wickets when New Zealand toured India. And, as it was, Arun Lal fell to Hadlee to claim his 374th wicket (technology helped me to see it live on TV). He surged well past Botham to finish on top with 431 wickets, and be the first player to reach 400 wickets mark.
Kapil Dev was the next to hit the mark. He went on, a bit slow towards the end, to get to the 432 mark. He retired soon after, completing 434 wickets. Imran Khan retired after the World Cup win in 1992, with a total tally of 362 test wickets.
Six year later, the West Indian soft/fast bowler and captain, Courtney Walsh caught up with Kapil and extended his tally to hit the 500 mark first.
While Walsh was quietly but noticeably picking up wickets, two of the greatest spinners of all time were in a race to greater numbers. Shane Warne had more than 350 wickets in his kitty while Muralitharan was gaining ground pretty quickly with 250+ wickets to his name. Once Walsh retired, it soon became a battle between the two, no others were even near. Murali reached there first in 2004, beating Walsh's tally of 519 wickets, but the same year Warne overtook Murali. Warne managed to stay first till he hung his boots, being the first player to touch the 550, 600, 650 and 700 mark. At some point of time, there was a widening gap between Warne and Murli, but Murali soon caught up to reduce it, with almost 675 wickets against Warne's final tally of 708. Murali duely broke it in 2007 and extended it to 800 when he retired in 2010.

This is how the bowlers from various era got to the summit.
101 - CTB Turner in Feb-1895 (101)
103 - J Briggs in Mar-1895 (118)
109 - GA Lohmann in Mar-1896 (112)
113 - J Briggs in Jan-1898 (118)
126 - H Trumble in Jan-1904 (141)
150 - SF Barnes in Dec-1913 (189)
193 - CV Grimmett in Jan-1936 (216)
218 - AV Bedser in Jul-1953 (236)
241 - JB Statham in Jan-1963 (252)
250 - FS Trueman in Mar-1963 (307)
309 - LR Gibbs in Jan-1976 (309)
315 - DK Lillee in Dec-1981 (355)
357 - IT Botham in Aug-1986 (383)
378 - Sir RJ Hadlee in Nov-1988 (431)
432 - N Kapil Dev in Feb-1994 (434)
435 - CA Walsh in Mar-2000 (519)
521 - M Muralitharan in May-2004 (800)
537 - SK Warne in Oct-2004 (708)
713 - M Muralitharan in Dec-2007 (800)

Highest Individual Scores

Unlike cumulative scores, highest scores are one-off events. On any given day (or two), any of the current lot can break the record, and get beaten the next day itself. When Lara scored his epic 375, many thought that the record will stay for quite some time, but within a dacade Mathew Hayden broke it, only to see Lara reclaiming it within a few months.
Charles Bannerman started it all with his century on debut. Billy Murdoch was the first double centurion, Andy Sandham the first triple centurion and Gary Sobers' big first hundred of 365 stayed for 36 years.
C Bannerman (165) - Mar-1877
WL Murdoch (211) - Aug-1884
RE Foster (287) - Dec-1903
A Sandham (325) - Apr-1930
DG Bradman (334) - Jul-1930
WR Hammond (336) - Mar-1933
L Hutton (364) - Aug-1938
GS Sobers (365) - Feb-1958
BC Lara (375) - Apr-1994
ML Hayden (380) - Oct-2003
BC Lara (400) - Apr-2004

Most Hundreds

Hundreds are bit more straight-forward in terms of "overtaking", compared to the other records. When Sir Jack Hobbs scored his 10th hundred in 1929, the next highest was 8, by Victor Trumper. And that remained so till Hobbs scored his last of the 15 hundreds. Herbert Sutcliffe overtook Hobbs for his 16th hundred in 1932. From there on, there is no prize for guessing the top century maker. Sir Don Bradman just kept scoring, and scoring hundreds, some of them big. The only time when someone could overtake him was when Wally Hammond scored his 22nd and his last hundred. Now, that was the only time when there was a break in continuation of the top century maker list. Bradman's 29 test hundreds, the last of which was scored in 1948 (a fourth innings score of 173 not out to win a test), remained at the top till Sunil Gavaskar scored his 30th hundred at Chennai against the West Indies in 1983. Gavaskar took his tally to 34, which was ultimately taken down by Sachin Tendulkar who scored his 35th hundred at Delhi against Sri Lanka in 2005. Sachin retired in 2013 with a tally of 51 hundreds.
It's also worth looking at possible contendors for the top position while the records were broken. As said, Wally Hammond gave a good fight to Bradman going neck-to-neck till his 22nd hundred. Sobers scored 26 hundreds, but never quite got there. When Gavaskar broke Bradman's record, Greg Chappel had 23 hundreds to his name, and he added one more in his last test. When Tendulkar scored his 35th hundred to beat Gavaskar's record, Steve Waugh had retired with 32 hundreds, Brian Lara was next in line with 31 hundreds, a possibility to overtake Sachin. Two other players, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis had 25 and 22 respectively. By the time Sachin scored his 36th hundred, Pointing had come too close for comfort, with 33. That gap of 3 to 5 hundreds remained till 2010 when Sachin scored his 44th hundred, Ponting had 39. From there on, Sachin took off and Ponting couldn't catch up that quickly. When Sachin retired with 51 hundreds to his name, Ponting was at 41, but Kallis had overtaken him with 44. Kallis scored one more hundred to make it 45 when he retired.
The order in which the records were broken is given below. Numbers in brackets are the final tally.

1 - C Bannerman - Mar-1877 (1)
2 - AG Steel - Jul-1884 (2)
3 - PS McDonnell - Dec-1884 (3)
4 - AC MacLaren - Dec-1901 (5)
6 - C Hill - Dec-1910 (7)
7 - VT Trumper - Jan-1911 (8)
9 - JB Hobbs - Dec-1924 (15)
16 - H Sutcliffe - Dec-1932 (16)
17 - DG Bradman - Jan-1937 (29)
22 - WR Hammond - Aug-1939 (22)
23 - DG Bradman - Dec-1946 (29)
30 - SM Gavaskar - Dec-1983 (34)
35 - SR Tendulkar - Dec-2005 (51)

Some important milestones

Wickets

100 - CTB Turner (Feb-1895)

150 - SF Barnes (Dec-1913)

200 - CV Grimmett (Feb-1936)

250 - FS Trueman (Mar-1963)

300 - FS Trueman (Aug-1964)

350 - DK Lillee (Jan-1984)

400 - Sir RJ Hadlee (Feb-1990)

450 - CA Walsh (Jun-2000)

500 - CA Walsh (Mar-2001)

550 - SK Warne (Nov-2004)

600 - SK Warne (Aug-2005)

650 - SK Warne (Dec-2005)

700 - SK Warne (Dec-2006)

750 - M Muralitharan (Jul-2008)

800 - M Muralitharan (Jul-2010)

Runs

1000 - A Shrewsbury snr (Jul-1893)

2000 - C Hill (Jan-1904)

3000 - C Hill (Jan-1911)

4000 - JB Hobbs (Jun-1926)

5000 - JB Hobbs (Mar-1929)

6000 - WR Hammond (Dec-1938)

7000 - WR Hammond (Aug-1946)

8000 - GS Sobers (Feb-1974)

9000 - SM Gavaskar (Dec-1985)

10000 - SM Gavaskar (Mar-1987)

11000 - AR Border (Jan-1994)

12000 - SR Tendulkar (Oct-2008)

13000 - SR Tendulkar (Jan-2010)

14000 - SR Tendulkar (Oct-2010)

15000 - SR Tendulkar (Nov-2011)