Test cricket, the grandest format of the game, was born in March 1877. From the very outset, it became clear that this was a stage made for great feats of endurance and concentration with the bat. And fittingly, in that very first Test match between Australia and England at Melbourne, Charles Bannerman wrote himself into history.
Opening the innings for Australia, Bannerman played a masterful hand, finishing unbeaten on 165. It was not only the first hundred in Test history, but also the game’s very first record for the highest individual score. Cricket had found its first benchmark.
### Slow beginnings, rare occasions
The early years of Test cricket were sparse. Tours were infrequent, and matches came few and far between. That is why Bannerman’s record stood firm for a full seven years. Not until the sixteenth Test ever played, in 1884, did another batsman raise the bar. That man was William Murdoch, also of Australia, who compiled a magnificent 211. In doing so, he registered Test cricket’s very first double century.
Murdoch’s achievement set a new standard of batsmanship, one that remained unmatched for nearly two decades.
### England enters the scene
It was not until 1903, in what was then the 78th Test in history, that Murdoch’s score was finally overtaken. The man to do it was England’s Reginald “Tip” Foster, who crafted a brilliant 287 against Australia in Sydney. Foster’s innings was remarkable not only for its scale, but also because it came on debut—an achievement that remains unmatched to this day. His 287 stood as the world record for no fewer than 115 Tests and 27 years.
That era of long-standing records would soon change. In 1930, England’s Andy Sandham amassed 325 in Kingston, Jamaica. It was Test cricket’s very first triple century, and the record books had been rewritten once again.
### The Bradman effect
Sandham’s triumph, however, was short-lived. Merely three months later, and in only the third Test to follow, a young Don Bradman produced an innings of 334 at Leeds. The “Boy from Bowral” had begun his reign of batting supremacy, and the cricketing world had a new Everest to look up to.
But Bradman’s 334 was not destined to last forever. In 1933, Walter Hammond of England compiled an unbeaten 336 against New Zealand, edging past Bradman by a mere two runs. Yet it was another Englishman, Leonard Hutton, who made the next decisive leap. In 1938, at The Oval, Hutton played one of the most celebrated innings of all time: 364. It was an extraordinary feat of stamina and class, and it remained the world record for two full decades.
### Sobers sets a new bar
Then came 1958, and with it a young Garry Sobers of the West Indies. At Kingston, against Pakistan, Sobers crafted a majestic 365 not out, surpassing Hutton by a single run. What followed was one of the longest reigns in cricket’s record books. Sobers’ mark stood for 36 years, through 809 Test matches, as generations of batsmen tried and failed to topple it.
### Lara rewrites history
The record finally fell in April 1994, when a 24-year-old Brian Lara produced one of the most breathtaking innings the game has ever seen. Against England at Antigua, Lara compiled 375, eclipsing Sobers, his fellow West Indian. It was an innings of artistry and dominance, instantly hailed as one of cricket’s greatest achievements.
But the story did not end there. A decade later, in 2003, Australia’s Matthew Hayden struck 380 against Zimbabwe at Perth, becoming the new record holder. For a brief moment, the crown belonged to him. Yet, just one year later, Lara reclaimed his throne in the most emphatic fashion imaginable. Against England once more in Antigua, he scored an unbeaten 400—the first quadruple century in the history of Test cricket.
∆Two decades of unchallenged supremacy
Since that day in April 2004, more than 20 years and over 900 Test matches have passed. Cricket has seen the arrival of T20s, the rise of power-hitters, and the transformation of batting techniques. Yet Brian Lara’s record stands untouched. No batsman has managed to scale the monumental height of 400 again.
The list of record-holders tells the tale of Test cricket itself: from Bannerman’s pioneering effort in 1877, through Murdoch, Foster, Sandham, Bradman, Hammond, Hutton, Sobers, Hayden—and finally Lara. Each generation produced its own hero, its own symbol of batting greatness.
And yet, for more than two decades, the game has belonged to one man. Brian Charles Lara, with his unforgettable 400 not out, still sits at the summit of Test cricket’s highest scores. His record has become not merely a statistic, but a symbol of cricketing mastery—a challenge to every future batsman who dreams of greatness.
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