Highest First Innings Totals in Test Cricket: Test cricket gives the team time to settle down and get as many runs as they want. Most of the time, the team that bats first in a game scores more runs than the teams that bat in the second, third, and fourth innings. Because of this, most of the highest scores in Test cricket are made during the first inning.

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There have been two times when a team scored 900 or more runs in a single inning, and one of those times was in the first inning. And in this article, we’ll talk about the highest totals that have ever been reached in the first inning of a game.

Highest First Innings Totals in Test Cricket

West Indies defeated England by a score of 751.5 in April 2004:

In April 2004, the first inning of a test match had the third highest score ever recorded. There was a game at St. John’s between England and West Indies. England had won the first three games of the series and wanted to win the fourth one as well to win the whole thing. West Indies won the coin toss and chose to bat first. And the world saw the biggest single inning in baseball’s more than 150-year history.

Brain Lara, who was the captain of the West Indian team, ended up getting the highest individual score in the longest format. He hit 43 fours and 4 sixes on his way to an unbeaten 400, making him the only person to ever score 400 in a test cricket game. So, after 202 overs, West Indies declared at 751/5. In response, England scored 285 runs in their first inning before being out. West Indies made England bat again, and in their second inning, England scored 422 runs and 5 wickets. The score was a tie.

In April 1930, England defeated the West Indies 849 to none:

England has the record for the second most runs scored in a game’s first inning. It happened against West Indies at Kingston in April 1930. It was the fourth game in a series of four. After winning the toss, England chose to bat first. For the first two wickets, they put together scores of 150 or more. Andy Sandham, who batted first, went on to get a triple century and make 325 runs with 28 fours.

Wicketkeeper Les Ames also scored a quick century and made 149 runs off 174, with 17 boundaries. So, England got its second-highest score in the first inning and its third-highest score ever. In 258.2 overs, they scored 849 runs. In response, the West Indies only scored 286 runs in their first inning. England had a lead of 563 runs, and they batted again until they had 272 runs and declared. They gave West Indies a huge goal of 836 runs to win. West Indies was 408/5 with 223 from George Headley when the game ended in a tie. They were trying to reach their goal.

In August 1938, England beat Australia by a score of 903/7d:

The record for the most runs scored in the first inning of a test match is also held by England. In August 1938, against Australia at the Oval, they got the most runs in the first inning ever. Australia was up 1-0 in the series, and this was the fifth and final test. After England won the toss, they batted first. They got off to a great start, and the opener, Leonard Hutton, made an amazing triple century. He scored 364 runs and hit 35 fours.

Maurice Leyland (187) and Joe Hardstaff (169*) also did well for them by getting big hundreds. England played for 335.2 overs before calling an end to their first inning with a huge score of 903/7. It was the best score ever until Sri Lanka beat it in 1997. In their two innings, Australia scored 201 and 123 runs before they were out. And England won the most runs in an inning in the game’s history. By an inning and 579 runs, they won the game.

Test cricket’s highest first innings totals:

Team	Score	Against	Venue	Date	Result
England	903/4d	Australia	The Oval	20 Aug 1938	ENG won by an inning & 579 runs
England	849	West Indies	Kingston	3 Apr 1930	Match Drawn
West Indies	751/5 d	England	St John’s	10 Apr 2004	Match Drawn
Australia	735/6 d	Zimbabwe	Perth	9 Oct 2003	AUS won by an inning & 175 runs
Pakistan	708	England	The Oval	6 Aug 1987	Match Drawn
India	705/7 d	Australia	Sydney	2 Jan 2004	Match Drawn
Australia	701	England	The Oval	18 Aug 1934	AUS won by 562 runs
India	687/6 d	Bangladesh	Hyderabad (Deccan)	9 Feb 2017	IND won by 208 runs
West Indies	687/6 d	England	The Oval	12 Aug 1976	WI won by 231 runs
West Indies	681/8 d	England	Port of Spain	17 Mar 1954	Match Drawn