Highest recorded instances of runs scored off a single delivery

In normal circumstances, six is the maximum number of runs that can be scored off a single ball. But cricket has such scope for numerical quirks that these normal circumstances are often dismissed at the blink of an eye. There have been many times when more than six runs have been scored off a single delivery, but what would the highest runs scored be?

An article in the British Pall Mall Gazette from 15th January 1894 would have us believe that the answer is 286! This urban legend says that the batsmen had kept on running after the ball had been lodged in the branches of a tree inside the ground, completing 286 runs before an axe and a rifle were brought to the ground to get the ball down.

There is one gaping hole in this story – there is no explanation as to why nobody thought of catching the ball when it was falling from the branch. With the added fact to boot that this incident was said to have taken place in Australia when there had been no local reports in that country, this story can be categorised safely as a myth.

In recorded reality, there are a handful instances of ten and nine runs being taken off a single legal delivery in the history of English first class cricket in the earliest years of the sport. All of these had come about by way of overthrows, with the exception of the Hon. F.G.B. Ponsonby who ran all of his nine runs for the MCC against Cambridge University in 1842.

Yorkshire pacer Ryan Sidebottom conceded 11 runs off one ball in 2003 against Glamorgan, but in his defence, he had been just returning from injury; he retired hurt after this debacle(assumably in body and spirit), finishing the day with figures of 0.1-0-11-0. He managed this infamous feat by bowling five consecutive wides and then getting smashed for a six over mid wicket.

However, he is not the only high-profile bowler from recent times to have faced this nightmare.

Highest recorded in Test cricket – 8

Andrew Symonds is one of four batsmen to have been at the crease on these rare occasions

In Test cricket, the record for the highest number of runs off a single delivery is 8 – this having been achieved four times. The recent instance of this ocurred in a 2008 Test match between Australia and New Zealand in Brisbane, when Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke ran four runs and there were four overthrows as well.

The unfortunate bowler on this occasion was New Zealand’s Iain O’ Brien, who had incidentally seen a catch dropped to let Symonds off the hook the previous ball.

During a 2004/05 Test between South Africa and West Indies, Brian Lara had glanced a Nicky Boje delivery for three runs. Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher went after the ball himself, and his throw back in hit a fielder’s helmet, thus awarding five runs to West Indies. According to a recent rule change, the penalty runs would not be awarded to Lara, something he was left to rue on this occasion – getting out for 196.

England’s Patsy Hendren and New Zealand’s John Wright are the two other batsmen to have enjoyed the distinction of being on strike when eight runs were scored off a single Test ball, both by running four runs and getting four overthrows.

Graeme Aldridge to Andre Adams – 12 runs

The miracle pulled off by Andre Adams

In a State T20 league match between Auckland Aces and Northern Districts Knights at Seddon Park in Hamilton on 28th January 2007, Kiwi international player Andre Adams pulled off the seemingly impossible task of scoring 12 runs off 1 ball to win the game for the Aces in a dream finish.

With the match already virtually in the bag, the unfortunate bowler Graeme Aldridge managed to bowl a waist-high full toss, which took Adams’ bat’s edge and sped to the fence. To Eldridge’s horror, the ball had also been signalled as a no ball, awarding two runs to the opposing team according to the rules of the tournament.

With the equation brought down to an achievable six off one ball, Adams picked up a length ball and dispatched it for a six over long off for one of the most sensational finishes to a cricket match anywhere.

Matthew Fleming to Shahid Afridi – 12 runs

Shahid Afridi achieved a feat which has no like – hitting a 12

If there is one batsman who can be expected to compel the umpire to devise a completely new signal, it would be Shahid Afridi. During a match at the closed-roof Dockland Stadium in Melbourne, umpire Vanburn Holder raised his arms with his wrists crossed, a signal that has not been seen before or after – Afridi had just hit a 12!

The occasion was Power Cricket, with a Rest of the World team taking on Australia, with the nature of limited overs cricket going through a period of experimentation. The rules of this match were devised such that they would be played indoor, and additional runs would be given for hitting the ball into the middle tier (8), top tier (10) or onto the roof (12).

Afridi latched on to a low full toss by Fleming, and the ball simply kept rising. If it had not come in contact with the roof, it would have gone even higher. The umpire showed the strange signal as the world smiled, the only ever twelve in cricket had been hit.

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to Virender Sehwag – 17 runs (Highest in ODIs)

Virender Sehwag ensured the 1st India Pakistan ODI of this series started with a bang

In the 1st ODI of the India-Pakistan series in 2004, the visitors got off to a buoyant start with opener Virender Sehwag in the form of his life. 79 runs had come off the first 10 overs, but nobody would have been prepared for the 11th over, to be bowled by relative newcomer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

Naved must have been so intimidated by the form of Sehwag that he started off the 11th over with a string of five no balls in six balls, three of them being dispatched to the fence by Sehwag. A further 7 runs were taken off the rest of the over. The unfortunate over – 4nb,4nb,0nb,0,4nb,0nb,4,2,0,0,1

India ended up winning the match by 5 runs. A total of twenty no balls had been bowled by the Pakistani bowlers that day, so Naved’s infamy stood out less.

Clint McKay to Travis Birt – 20 runs

Travis Birt made Clint McKay the reluctant record holder for the worst ever outcome of a single delivery

The threat of rain and DRS calculations is always to make things go crazy, and in this 2012/13 Big Bash League match between Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars, things went ballistic. 20 runs were scored off one delivery, the record for most runs scored off a ball in any format of top level competitive cricket.

Melbourne had put up a strong total in excess of 200, and Travis Birt was in no mood to beat around the bush. In the fifth over, with the Hobart score wavering below the par score as rain clouds loomed, Birt let loose some heavy destruction towards Clint McKay.

Three consecutive sixes were hit in the over, with two of them being no balls. Birt reached his fifty in that over, off 22 balls. Ironically, the next legal delivery that McKay could bowl produced Birt’s wicket, an attempt at a pull shot resulting in a big bottom edge rolling the ball onto the stumps. The historically terrible over that produced 28 runs in total – 0, 4, 4, 6, 6nb, 6nb, W, 0

Ironically, rain never came down, and Melbourne won the match by 19 runs after a late collapse from Hobart saw the lower order fail to connect bat with ball.