Last Monday, the 50-over Interprovincial Cup fixture between Leinster Lightning and Northern Knights at Dublin saw a new record for the highest seventh-wicket partnership in List A cricket. Irish internationals Simi Singh and George Dockrell were involved in a match-winning stand worth 215*, bettering the previous seventh-wicket mark of 203*, shared by Thilina Kandamby and Rangana Herath for Sri Lanka A against South Africa A at Benoni in 2008-09.

Here is a look at the highest partnership for each wicket in List A cricket.

First wicket - Morne van Wyk and Cameron Delport, 2014-15

Dolphins openers Morne van Wyk and Cameron Delport incredibly subdued the Knights in this Momentum One-Day Cup clash at Bloemfontein. Both batsmen batted through the innings, with van Wyk scoring 175* and Delport 169*, to power the Dolphins to 367/0, and eventually a 25-run win. This was a new record for the highest List A stand for any wicket at the time, going past the 331 set by India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999-00.

Second wicket - Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, 2014-15

The record held by van Wyk and Delport lasted a little over four months, as Jamaicans Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels put on 372 for the West Indies in their World Cup game against Zimbabwe at Canberra. Having come together after the loss of Dwayne Smith off the second ball of the innings, the duo rendered the Zimbabwean bowlers helpless till the last ball of the innings, when Gayle was dismissed for a brutal 215 from 147 balls, with ten fours and 16 towering sixes.

Samuels was relatively sedate, scoring 133* off 156 balls. Zimbabwe were never in the hunt in reply, and lost by 83 runs. The previous ODI record was the aforementioned 331 for the second wicket between Tendulkar and Dravid, while the previous best at the World Cup was 318 for the second wicket between Sourav Ganguly and Dravid against Sri Lanka in 1999. Gayle’s 215 surpassed Gary Kirsten’s 188*, made against the UAE in 1996, as the highest World Cup score.

Third wicket - Tim Curtis and Tom Moody, 1994

Worcestershire’s opener-captain Tim Curtis (136*) and Australian all-rounder Tom Moody (180*) joined forces for a partnership of 309*, then an all-wicket List A record, in the NatWest Trophy semifinal against Surrey at The Oval. Chasing 358 from the allotted 60 overs, Surrey made a bold attempt before losing by seven runs. The previous record was 303*, by Alan Barrow and Henry Fotheringham for the third wicket for Natal against a South African XI in 1975-76.

Fourth wicket – Mominul Haque and Roshen Silva, 2013-14

The highly talented Mominul Haque (129) combined with Sri Lankan Roshen Silva (140), who would make his Test debut in 2017-18, to add 276 for Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club against Abahani Limited at Bogra in the Dhaka Premier Division. This effort lifted their team’s score from 41/3 to 320/6, enough for a 58-run win. The previous highest fourth-wicket stand was 275, between India’s Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja against Zimbabwe in 1997-98.

Fifth wicket – Minhajul Abedin and Khaled Mahmud, 1997-98

Bangladesh were still two years away from being a full member nation and were part of the Wills Cup, Pakistan’s domestic one-day competition. One of Bangladesh’s two wins was against Bahawalpur at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi, thanks to two players who would go on to play a key role in Bangladeshi wins at the 1999 World Cup. Minhajul Abedin (109*) and Khaled Mahmud (145*) came together at 38/4 and added an unbroken 267 to set up a 116-run victory.

Sixth wicket - Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi, 2014-15

New Zealand geared up for the 2015 World Cup with a 4-2 win in a seven-match ODI series against Sri Lanka prior to the quadrennial tournament. The fifth game, at Dunedin’s University Oval, featured a stunning comeback from the Black Caps after they had been reduced to 93/5, courtesy of a record partnership of 267* between Grant Elliott, who scored 104* from 96 balls, and Luke Ronchi, who smote an outrageous 170* in 99 balls, including 14 fours and nine sixes.

This partnership is New Zealand’s second highest in ODIs for any wicket. Dazed by the blitzkrieg, Sri Lanka succumbed to defeat by 108 runs. The previous highest sixth-wicket stand in ODIs was 218, between Mahela Jayawardene and Mahendra Singh Dhoni for Asia XI against Africa XI at Chennai in 2007. Ronchi’s knock also broke the record of the highest ODI score by a number seven, earlier held by Dhoni, who had scored 139* for Asia XI in the same match.

Seventh wicket - Simi Singh and George Dockrell, 2018

Simranjit Singh and George Dockrell rescued Leinster Lightning from the quagmire in their Interprovincial Cup encounter against the Northern Knights at The Vineyard in Dublin. Coming together at a precarious 62/6, the pair turned the game on its head with an unbroken partnership of 215, which was ultimately the catalyst for their team’s 53-run win. While Singh struck eight sixes in his 108-ball 121*, Dockrell missed out on his century, remaining unbeaten on 98.

Eighth wicket –Shahid Iqbal and Haaris Ayaz, 1998-99

A year after the fifth-wicket alliance between Abedin and Mahmud, Karachi’s UBL Sports Complex was the scene of another record partnership. Number eight Shahid Iqbal (113*) and number nine Haaris Ayaz (89) engineered a stirring comeback for Karachi Whites against Hyderabad, putting on 203 after the scoreboard read a nightmarish 49/7 at one stage. Letting Karachi Whites off the hook proved costly for Hyderabad, as they tamely went down by 63 runs.

Ninth wicket - Chris Read and Andrew Harris, 2006

A gallant partnership between wicketkeeper Chris Read and Andrew Harris fetched a record 155, but it was not enough to prevent Durham from beating Nottinghamshire by 28 runs in this North Division game of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Trent Bridge. Faced with a challenging target of 281, Nottinghamshire’s batting caved in, and at 95/8, a huge defeat was likely. However, Read, with an attacking 135, and Harris (34) commendably reduced the margin.

Tenth wicket - Ashish Reddy and Ravi Kiran, 2014-15

For three decades, the record for the highest tenth-wicket partnership in List A cricket was held by Vivian Richards and Michael Holding, who famously put on 106 for the West Indies against England at Old Trafford in 1984. This milestone was overhauled in a dire situation in a Vijay Hazare Trophy South Zone game at Secunderabad. Chasing 322 against Kerala, Hyderabad were 60/9 before Ashish Reddy (119*) and Ravi Kiran (27) tripled the score with a 128-run stand. 

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