The tale of a bucketful of runs

Yesterday, there was an ODI between India and Sri Lanka in which more than 800 runs were scored in a single day. Many of those who did not watch the match will see it as an opportunity missed to view a run feast. I am glad i did not have to watch those bowlers get absolutely battered on a batsmen's paradise. However, Zaheer @ co can take heart from the fact that this is not quite as bad as what another Indian bowling attack had to endure a few years ago.

I am talking, ofcourse about the battering suffered by Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad, among others, in the sultry conditions @ Premadasa in 1997. Sri Lanka scored all of 958 runs and India, who had previously declared after making 537 themselves, might have looked back at their performance as an opportunity missed to make an even bigger score. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, missed out on a chance to reach the ever elusive 1000 run mark

Back to the topic of high scores, the thought of a team scoring 1000 runs in one innings is very daunting indeed. I used to think that any team that manages to score so many must have done so, similar to Sri Lanka, in an effort to bat the other team out of the contest...But it turns out that the truth is somewhat surprising.

Victoria, home to arguably the greatest artist of leg break bowling, Shane Warne, are the only team in all of professional cricket to have recorded a score of 1000 or more. If you think this is a proud achievement, what about the fact that they have managed this humongous effort on 2 occasions!!!!

An even more stunning fact would be that both the times that more than 1000 runs were scored, Victoria won the match!!! This would suggest that the pitch was not a plain batsman's paradise.

In 1923, when they played Tasmania, Victoria were asked to field after losing the toss. The bowlers ran through the Tasmanian batting line up in 52 overs for 217. Their response was an emphatic 1059 in 2 days. The Tasmanian batting line up's response to this unprecedented mauling was a paltry 176 runs. - The result - A victory by an innings and 666 runs!!!!

William Harold Ponsford was fortunate to be a part of both the run fests... He was the captain fantastic in 1923 and the highest scorer, rattling off 429 of the best, playing from the middle order. In 1926, he played as an opener and was not the skipper. He top scored with 352.