Petersen and Prince's partnership of 501 runs - Highest between two South Africans in First-Class cricket history

Petersen and Prince during their 501 runs partnership innings

501 runs were added for the third wicket by the pair of Alviro Peterson and Ashwell Peterson, both South Africans, in a County Championship match for Lancashire against Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay in England. Alviro Peterson scored 286 and Ashwell Prince 261 to reach this milestone.

The partnership began when Lancashire’s score was 104 for two and both batted together till the score of 605. The match began on July 19, 2015 and the partnership got to 500 runs on the second day of the match i.e. July 20. It is interesting to see that two South African batsmen sharing such a huge partnership in the domestic tournament of England.

Overall it is the 13th partnership of over 500 runs in First-Class cricket history and first between two South Africans. But before them a South African had involved in a 500+ run partnership. He is Neil McKenzie who shared partnership of 523 runs with Michael Carberry (English) for Hampshire against Yorkshire at Southampton in 2011 County season. In England, it is the fourth partnership of 500+ runs and among the eight batsmen involved three are from South Africa and rest of them were English.

Since World War II it is only the second 500+ run partnership in First-Class matches in England and three of the batsmen involved in them are South Africans and only one English! There have been five 450+ run partnerships in First-Class matches in England since World War II but only one involving both batsmen from England and it is the lowest amongst those – 450 between Nick Compton and James Hildreth for Somerset against Cardiff Marylebone Cricket Club University at Taunton in 2012. But before World War II there were two 500+ run partnerships between two Englishmen in First-Class matches in England.

Highest partnerships involving South Africans in First-Class matches (400 or more runs)

Runs	Partner 1	Partner 2	For	Against	Venue	Season
523	Neil McKenzie	Michael Carberry	Hampshire	Yorkshire	Southampton	2011
501	Alviro Peterson	Ashwell Prince	Lancashire	Glamorgan	Colwyn Bay	2015
480	Dean Elgar	Rilee Rossouw	Eagles	Titans	Centurion	2009/10
441	Carl Bradfield	James Bryant	Eastern Province	North West	Potchefstroom	2002/03
429*	Jacques Rudolf	Boeta Dippenaar	South Africa	Bangladesh	Chittagong	2003
424	Jack Siedle	John Nicolson	Natal	Orange Free State	Bloemfontein	1926/27
415	Neil McKenzie	Graeme Smith	South Africa	Bangladesh	Chittagong	2007/08
411	Robert Poore	Teddy Wynward	Hampshire	Somerset	Taunton	1899

• Of the 8 400+ partnership involving South Africans, in six of those both were South Africans.
• Michael Carberry is the Englishman with Neil McKenzie in the 523 runs partnership.
• In partnership of 411, Robert Poore was English-born but he played test matches for South African, hence included in the above list. Teddy Wynward is the Englishman there.
• Both the 500+ run partnership involved by South Africans have come in England and not in South Africa.

Highest partnerships in First-Class matches in England since World War II

Runs	Partner 1	Partner 2	For	Against	Venue	Season
523	Neil McKenzie (SA)	Michael Carberry (Eng)	Hampshire	Yorkshire	Southampton	2011
501	Alviro Peterson (SA)	Ashwell Prince (Eng)	Lancashire	Glamorgan	Colwyn Bay	2015
470	Alvin Kallicharran (WI)	Geoff Humpage (Eng)	Warwickshire	Lancashire	Southport	1982
465*	Rohan Kanhai (WI)	John Jameson (Eng)	Warwickshire	Gloucestershire	Birmingham	1974
450	Nick Compton (Eng)	James Hildreth (Eng)	Somerset	Cardiff Marylebone Cricket Club University	Taunton	2012
438*	Tom Moody (Aus)	Graeme Hick (Eng)	Worcestershire	Hampshire	Southampton	1997
436*	Brad Hodge (Aus)	Darren Maddy (Eng)	Leicestershire	Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence	Leicester	2003
429*	John Dewes (Eng)	Hubert Doggart (Eng)	Cambridge University	Essex	Cambridge	1949
425*	Viv Richards (WI)	Adrian Dale (Eng)	Glamorgan	Middlesex	Cardiff	1993

• There are nine 450+ partnerships since the end of World War II in England but only two in which both the partners were English (450 and 429* run partnerships). It shows the influence of foreign players in English domestic cricket.
• There is at least one Englishman in each of those except the 501 between Peterson and Prince.
• In the 425* run partnership, Adrian Dale is a South African born who played First-Class matches in England.
• The only other 400+ run partnership in England since World War II in which none of the partner was an Englishman is 402 between Rohan Kanhai (West Indies) and Khalid Abdullah (Pakistan) for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire at Nottingham in 1968. There was a 451-run partnership between Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford for Australia against England at Oval but it was before World War II in 1934.

The highest partnership in whole of First-Class cricket is of 624 runs between Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara for Sri Lanka against South Africa at Colombo (SSC) in 2006. It is the only 600+ run partnership in First-Class cricket history.