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Muttiah Muralitharan (L) and Sir Donald Bradman (R) (Source: AFP)
In the entire 148-year-long history of cricket, one can not deny the fascination for records, numbers and stats among the cricket fans. Over the decades, a lot of statistical milestones have been achieved in the game, be it the individual records or the records created by the teams.
The list is quite long, ranging from Sir Donald Bradman’s unbelievable average to the modern-day batting great, Virat Kohli’s highest number of ODI centuries. Meanwhile, a couple of records have been broken, while others have been set.
Nonetheless, there are still some records in the history of the game that seem impossible to break, even for the decades to come. In this context, let’s take a closer look at the five cricket records that appear impossible to break.
5 Cricket records impossible to break
Donald Bradman’s astonishing Test batting average of 99.94
In the late 1930s, the cricketing world saw the arrival of one of the all-time batting greats, Sir Donald Bradman. He made his debut for Australia in November 1928 against England in the Brisbane Test. Bradman went on to represent the Aussies for the next 20 years till 1948.
In his almost two-decade career, Sir Don featured in 52 Tests, scoring 6,996 runs in 80 innings at an astonishing batting average of 99.94, hitting 29 centuries and 13 half-centuries.
Interestingly, he just needed four runs in his last innings to achieve the immortal career batting average of 100.00. But unfortunately, he was dismissed on a duck off just two balls in his career’s final innings.
Nonetheless, Bradman’s record still stands beyond the imagination of the batters, even almost eight decades since he batted for the last time in the Tests.
Muttiah Muralitharan’s 800 Test wickets
The former Sri Lankan spinner, widely regarded as the all-time bowling great, Muttiah Muralitharan, represented his team for 18 years from 1992 to 2010. In his illustrious Test career of almost two decades, Muralitharan achieved some unbelievable bowling milestones.
Some of these records look impossible to break by the next few generations of the bowlers. The spin wizard ended his career as the leading wicket-taker of all time in Tests, with 800 scalps to his name in 230 innings of the 133 Tests he played.
Apart from his almost unbreakable record of 800 wickets, Muralitharan also claimed 67 five-wicket hauls and 22 ‘10-wicket hauls in a match’, which also look beyond the reach of a lot of bowlers.
Muralitharan’s legacy can be underscored by the fact that all the bowlers in the list of leading wicket-takers in Tests are retired except for Australia’s Nathan Lyon. So, his 800-wicket record in Tests is practically impossible for the bowlers growing in the era of fast-paced cricket.
Brian Lara’s 400-run knock in a Test Match
West Indies were taking on England in the fourth and last Test of the four-match series in 2004. It was a dead rubber as England had already taken an unassailable lead of 3-0 with three successive wins in the three Tests.
But this game witnessed something from the then-Caribbean skipper Brian Lara that had never happened before in the history of cricket.
The hosts batted first after winning the toss, and Lara came to bat at number after Andrew Flintoff trapped Darren Ganga early at WI’s score of just 33 runs. Following that, the English bowlers went through a nightmare named ‘Lara’ on that day.
The legendary southpaw went on to smash an unbeaten knock of 400 runs off 582 runs, with 43 fours and four sixes. This quadruple century is still the highest individual score in the Tests, even after almost 22 years of its accomplishment.
Lara’s record of a 400-run Test knock is impossible to break in the near future, considering the modern-day generation of cricketers, who are mostly getting prepared more for the white-ball games compared to Tests.
Jim Laker’s 19 wickets in a Test match
Australia were on the tour of England for the Ashes in July and August 1956. It happened to be a series to remember for the former legendary England off-spinner, Jim Laker. He created a history with the ball that is etched in the history books as an immortal memory to be remembered by the generations to come.
England were taking on the Aussies in the fourth Test of the five-match series at the Old Trafford in Manchester from July 26 to 31, 1956. England batted first after winning the toss and posted a big total of 459 runs in the first innings.
In response, Australia were wrapped up at the score of just 84 runs, with Jim Laker registering the astonishing bowling figures of ‘nine wickets for just 37 runs in 16.4 overs’. Furthermore, England forced Australia to follow on and bundled them at the score of 205 runs.
In the second innings, Jim Laker set a rare bowling record, which is still unbroken after 70 years. He picked up Australia’s 10 wickets and ended up with the unbelievable figures of ‘10 wickets for just 53 runs in 51.2 overs’.
With this figure, Laker became the first-ever bowler in cricket history to dismiss the entire team in a Test innings. This record of ‘19 wickets in a Test match’ is also impossible to break for the modern-day bowlers in the longest format of the game.
Chaminda Vaas’ figures of 8/19 in an ODI match
Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe locked horns in the series opener of the LG Abans Triangular Series in 2001, with the West Indies as the third participating team. In the first game of the series, the Zimbabwe batters fell prey to the wrath of the former SL pacer Chaminda Vaas’ pace.
Chaminda Vaas completely destroyed Zimbabwe’s entire batting attack, dismissing their eight batters for just 19 runs in his eight overs, including three maiden overs. On the back of his ‘once in ages’ bowling performance, the Islanders bundled out Zimbabwe at the double-digit score of just 38 runs in 15.4 overs.
It was the best bowling figure for Chaminda Vaas in his ODI career, alongside being the best-ever bowling figure in the entire history of ODI cricket. This milestone doesn’t seem to be breakable for the bowlers of the current generation.
