Stats: England and India create a record for the first time in the 141-year Test history

The 3rd match of the 5-match Test series between England and India is one of the rare instances in Test cricket where the top order got starts before most of them failed to convert. India’s top three scored few runs in the opening session of the game before Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane’s fifties helped them get to the 300-run mark. Though England were bowled out for just 161 in their first innings, all their top seven got into double digits and three of them scored 20s.

Once again India’s top order contributed collectively and Rahane’s 29 was the lowest among the top five batsmen’s scores in the 2nd innings. England kept losing wickets on the 4th morning but all their top six players got to double figures. Thus, the Nottingham Test became the first ever match in the history of Test cricket where the top five batsmen in all the four innings managed double digit scores. Prior to this match, there were ten instances of 19 double digit scores recorded by the top five in a Test.

The first of its kind

The last of those previous ten was the Chittagong Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in 2014. The first of them happened in the year 1929 during the Test between Australia and England at the MCG. The ongoing Test between England and India could have been the first where the top six batsmen in all four innings got to double digits. However, Rishabh Pant got out for just one run in India’s 2nd innings.

This is only the 7th Test match where top four batsmen scored double digits in all the four innings of a Test. The first of them was recorded in the 1937 Test match between Australia and England in Adelaide. It was also the first match where the top three scored ten and more runs in all the four innings. However, it took 81 years to witness the top five replicate the same in this format. This feat was accomplished when Ben Stokes started the 42nd over bowled by Ishant Sharma with a boundary.

More numbers:

23 – Number of scores of ten runs and more by the top six batsmen in the Nottingham Test between India and England. These are the most 10+ scores by top six batsmen in a Test match. A total of 15 Tests had 22 double digit scores by the top six batsmen.

26 – A total of 26 double digits scores have been recorded by top seven batsmen in this Test match thus far. These are the joint most in a Test match equaling 26 such scores recorded in the Australia-England Test match played in 1908 at the MCG. Seven other Test matches had 25 double digit scores recorded by the top seven batsmen.

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