TOP SIX EXCEPTIONAL RECORDS IN CRICKET
1. Best 1-Day International Bowling Figures.
Thinking about you getting the most of 60 deliveries in a cutting-edge day ODI, Chaminda Vaas's return in opposition to Zimbabwe in 2001 is going to take some beating. The skillful left-arm bowler took eight wickets for 19 runs. Or to place it any other way: 80 percent of the African crew's wickets, as they collapsed to 38 all out off simply 15.4 overs. Even though the competition has been so-referred to as a weaker group, Vaas's ODI document figures are not going to be crushed every time soon.
2. Highest Score by a Nightwatchman.
Professional cricketers spend a lot of their lives bored out of their minds, standing in fields watching the opposition batting. So, it would be interesting to know what was going through the Bangladesh fielders' minds as Australia's nightwatchman Jason Gillespie clocked up a remarkable unbeaten 201 in their 2006 Test match. "Dizzy" finished his career with a useful average of 19.59, but this almost unbelievable innings in Chittagong will be hard to top. Especially given that a nightwatchman's primary job is simply to occupy the crease for a few overs at the end of the day.
3. Shortest-Ever Test Match.
You would have been disappointed if you had tickets for the fifth day of the 1932 Test match between Australia and South Africa in Melbourne. And the fourth, and third and even the second day for that matter, as the action was all over in five hours and 53 minutes on a treacherous wicket. South Africa was dismissed for 36 and 45 and fell to an innings defeat against Australia's huge total of 153 with Bert Ironmonger taking 11 for 24. These days, the match would most likely have been called off.
4. Most Balls Delivered in a Single Innings.
Sonny Ramadhin must have needed an ice bath after his Herculean efforts against England in 1957 at Edgbaston. The spinner managed to churn out a staggering 98 overs in the second innings, the highest-ever amount of deliveries bowled in a single inning. The nearest anyone has come of late is when Zimbabwe's Ray Price ground through 79 overs in a 2001 Test match against South Africa.
5. Lowest ODI Economy Rate.
Phil Simmons' Test career didn't do the talented all-rounder justice, but the West Indian's name will most likely remain in the record books forever after his incredible return in an ODI against Pakistan in 1992. Somehow, the Trinidadian got through his entire 10-over spell that yielded four wickets but remarkably conceded just three runs. Simmons' freak economy rate of 0.30 will surely never be bettered in this T20-inspired age of ultra-aggressive hitting.
6. Most International Wickets.
Muttiah Muralitharan's incredible career haul of wickets seems almost impossibly high given the average time at the top for an international cricketer. With 1,347 victims, 800 in Test matches, and 547 in the white-ball formats, the spinner feared the batsmen for two full decades. Given that Murali's closest contemporary Shane Warne is still 346 wickets behind the Sri Lankan, it will be some career that even gets close to this total.
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