Team Records

Top 10: Most Runs Scored in a Single Day of a Test Match

Test cricket is an attritional form of this sport and the batters accumulate the runs by grinding the bowling. The fielding team in return sets an attacking field and bowls tight, wicket-taking lengths, not allowing the batters to get away. The time factor is not applicable for a Test match, at least in the first half of the game and that’s why many times, the proceedings happen at a slow pace.

However, there are instances when a Test match proceeds at the rate of noughts, either thanks to bowlers picking a cluster of wickets or the batters dominating the ball with a flurry of runs. In this article, we will talk about the latter. Here are the instances where the bat had a say over the ball, the whole day, ie, the most runs scored in a single day of a Test match.

Most Runs Scored in a Single Day of a Test Match

Total RunsTeamsDayResultVenueYear
588England (398/6) vs India (190/0)2Match DrawnManchester1936
522England (503/2) vs South Africa (19/0)2ENG won by an innings and 18 runsLord’s1924
509Sri Lanka (509/9) vs Bangladesh2SL won by an innings and 198 runsColombo2002
508England (221/2) vs South Africa (287/6)3Match DrawnThe Oval1935
506England (506/4) vs Pakistan1ENG won by 74 runsRawalpindi2022
496England (437/4) vs Pakistan (59/0)2ENG won by an innings and 129 runsNottingham1954
494Australia (494/6) vs South Africa1AUS won by an innings and 114 runsSydney1910
492South Africa (179/4) vs England (313/4)2Match DrawnThe Oval1935
491New Zealand (29/1 & 195/2) vs England (267/4d)3Match DrawnHeadingly1949
483England (331/4) vs Pakistan (152/6)4ENG won by an innings and 47 runsMultan2024

Key Stats

36 – The instances where 450 or more runs were scored in a single day of a Test match. 2 of them have occurred in 2024, one at Multan between Pakistan & England (483) and the other at Bengaluru (453), between India (231/3) & New Zealand (222/7). It is noteworthy that 483 at Multan makes it to the 10th in this list and England emerged victorious.

8 – Out of the top 10, eight of the highest totals in a day have come involving England. Thrice each, they have been up against South Africa and Pakistan.

1 – The only match to have two admissions here is the Oval Test between South Africa and England in 1935. On what was a 3-day Test match, day 2 saw both teams combined to score a whopping 492 runs before eclipsing the next day, hammering 508 runs.

509 – This is the highest a single team has scored in a day. It was achieved by Sri Lanka when they took on Bangladesh in a Test match at Colombo in 2002. The hosts Sri Lanka, won the game convincingly by an innings and 198 runs.

588 – The highest total posted in a day of a Test match and it was the second Test match between England and India at Manchester in the 1936 series. England hammered 398 on day 2 before getting a solid reply from India who made 190/0 to finish Day 2.

6 – The number of games here resulted in wins for a side. England as expected won 4 of those and thrice it was against Pakistan.

Read: The Ten Highest Team Totals by England in Test Cricket