In cricket, the last pair of batters rarely adds any impact, so it is undoubtedly the least feared partnership by the opposition in the entire innings. Every run scored by the final pair is considered a bonus by the betting team.
Although the last wicket partnership usually lasts only a few overs, there have been a number of instances where the 10th wicket partnership has caused opposition problems. Since batters have more freedom to bat for as long as possible in Test cricket, such special 10th-wicket partnerships occur more frequently than in limited-overs cricket.
The top 10 highest partnerships made for the 10th wicket in Test cricket are tabulated below:
Highest 10th Wicket Partnerships in Test Cricket
| Partners | Runs | Against | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Root & James Anderson (ENG) | 198 | India | Nottingham | 2014 |
| Philip Hughes & Ashton Agar (AUS) | 163 | England | Nottingham | 2013 |
| Brian Hastings & Richard Collinge (NZ) | 151 | Pakistan | Auckland | 1973 |
| Azhar Mahmood & Mushtaq Ahmed (PAK) | 151 | South Africa | Rawalpindi | 1997 |
| Dinesh Ramdin & Tino Best (WI) | 143 | England | Birmingham | 2012 |
| Wasim Raja & Wasim Bari (PAK) | 133 | West Indies | Bridgetown | 1977 |
| Sachin Tendulkar & Zaheer Khan (IND) | 133 | Bangladesh | Dhaka | 2004 |
| Tip Foster & Wilfred Rhodes (ENG) | 130 | Australia | Sydney | 1903 |
| Ken Higgs & John Snow (ENG) | 128 | West Indies | The Oval | 1966 |
| Johnny Taylor & Arthur Mailey (AUS) | 127 | England | Sydney | 1924 |
Key Insights
Joe Root and James Anderson forged the highest 10th wicket partnership in Tests, putting together 198 runs against India in the 2014 Nottingham Test.
During the 198-run stand, Anderson contributed 81 runs with his bat, which is his highest individual score for England in Test cricket.
Anderson is the only batter to aggregate 300-plus partnership runs for the last wicket with two different partners in Tests, with 331 runs coming with Stuart Broad and 319 with Root.
The highest 10th wicket partnership in First Class cricket is 307 runs by Alan Kippax and Hal Hooker for New South Wales against Victoria in the 1928 Sheffield Shield.
In the ODI format, the highest 10th wicket partnership is 106* by Viv Richards and Michael Holding for the West Indies against England in 1984. Find the same for every wicket here.
Trent Boult holds the record for scoring the highest career runs in test cricket while batting at no.11, i.e., 644 runs in 81 innings.
The 120-run stand between Australia’s Reggie Duff and Warwick Armstrong against England in 1902 was the first occasion of a hundred-run partnership for the 10th wicket in Test Cricket.
In the 163-run partnership with Phil Hughes, Ashton Agar contributed 98 runs, which is a record for the highest individual score by a No. 11 batter in Test cricket.
The 133-run stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan is the highest for the 10th wicket by a pair in a Test match win.
Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera and Vishwa Fernando put together the highest 10th wicket stand in the fourth innings in a Test win, scoring an unbeaten 78 against South Africa in 2019.
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