Lowest Match Aggregate by a Team in Test Cricket

Lowest Test Match Aggregate by a Team

A History of Lows: The Records Behind the Numbers

South Africa holds the unwanted record for the lowest match aggregate by a single team in a Test. They managed just 81 runs across both innings against Australia in the 1932 Melbourne Test.

That same match also holds the record for the lowest combined aggregate by both teams in a Test, with a total of 234 runs (South Africa’s 81 and Australia’s 153).

South Africa is the only team to aggregate less than 100 runs in two Test matches. The first instance was their 90-run total against England in the 1889 Cape Town Test. Proteas are also the team with the most number of below-50 al-out totals in Test history.

South Africa, Australia, and England share the record for the most instances of aggregating less than 200 runs in a Test, with seven each.

The fewest balls ever faced by a team across both innings in a Test is 248, by South Africa when they aggregated 123 runs against England in the 1896 Gqeberha Test.

In the fourth innings of that same match, South Africa was bowled out for 30 runs in just 94 deliveries, which was the first time a team was all out within 100 balls in a Test innings.

There are 18 instances of a team being all out for less than 100 runs in both innings of a Test match. South Africa accounts for five of those instances, the most by any team.

Australia is the only team to have won two Tests after aggregating less than 200 runs in the match. Both victories came against England, in 1882 and 1888. Their 176 aggregate in 1888 remains the lowest to be registered in a winning cause.