RECORD
Highest team total
Achievement: Canterbury posted 777 against Otago in 1996-97
Background: Someone had the bright idea to stage a final for the first-class competition. If the match was drawn, the top-ranked side would claim the title. Guess what the top-ranked team did next. Yup. They batted and batted and batted. Poor old Otago toiled for 223.1 overs before Warren Wisneski was the last man out, caught and bowled Paul Wiseman for five. They had batted for two days.
Rating: Possibly the most boring match ever played. Chris Harris batted for nearly 10 hours for 198, and Wiseman took four for 172 from 47.1 overs. The lowest team total, by the way, was the 13 Auckland managed against Canterbury in 1877. Extras top-scored with 8.
Chance of survival: Forever, if there is a God.
Highest individual innings
Achievement: Otago left-hander Bert Sutcliffe scored 385 against Canterbury at Lancaster Park in 1952
Background: The late Dick Brittenden described it as Sutcliffe's finest hour. ‘‘It was a masterpiece, in pastel shades, on a huge, enduring canvas.’’ It was also triple century number two for Sutcliffe, and it eclipsed his own New Zealand first-class record of 355 scored three seasons earlier.
Rating: What makes this knock so, so special is Otago was all out for 500. The next highest score was just 29. Sutcliffe stroked 46 fours and three sixes during his delightful eight-hour stay at the crease.
Chance of survival: Dean Brownlie (334, 2014-15), Devon Conway (327 not out, 2019-20), Michael Papps (316 not out, 2017-18) got close. Brendon McCullum posted 302 against India in a test at the Basin Reserve in 2013-14 as well. It is possible it will be beaten one day, but it will take an extraordinary effort and the right circumstances.
RECORD
Best bowling in an innings on covered pitches
Achievement: Canterbury tweaker Paul Wiseman nabbed nine for 13 against CD in Christchurch in 2004-05.
Background: You have to wind the clock back to 1889 to find a better innings haul in New Zealand. English pace bowler Albert Moss nabbed 10 for 28 for Canterbury against Wellington. He moved to New Zealand for health reasons but battled alcoholism and his career was shortlived.
Rating: There are so many old bowling records which you would think will never be broken simply because the standard of pitches have improved out of sight from the early days. But Wiseman nearly cracked it thanks to some good bounce and the handy foot marks left by the seamers.
Chance of survival: Likely to be broken on the same day Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones return to Invercargill.
Most runs in a career for Otago
Achievement: Sutcliffe (6028 runs) was such a revered figure in Otago cricket that Craig Cumming (6589) promptly apologised when he eclipsed Sutcliffe’s long-standing record. ‘‘In some ways, part of me feels that it isn't quite right because he was such a great player and certainly a guy who deserves to be at the top of all the leaderboards,’’ Cumming told the Otago Daily Times in 2011.
Background: Cumming started out with Canterbury but moved south in search of more regular game time. Their loss was a massive gain for Otago. He just got better and better with each passing year. But the summer of 2009-10 was arguably his best. He stroked four centuries for his adopted province and his haul of 924 runs at an average of 61.60 in that campaign pointed to a player of rare talent at the top of his game.
Rating: Sutcliffe’s tally stood for nearly 50 years. It was the Mt Everest for all aspiring Otago batters. Cumming’s spot at the top looked like it would be shortlived. Neil Broom (6085) appeared destined to overhaul it, but he returned to Canterbury for a season late in his career and lost the opportunity.
Chance of survival: Hamish Rutherford (5207) might have a chance if he can get his dodgy hips through another couple of really productive seasons. But no-one else is remotely within range.
Highest match aggregate
Achievement: Canterbury and Wellington combined to smashed 1945 runs at Lancaster Park in 1995.
Background: It was just your stock-standard first-class game, except Canterbury and Wellington slugged it out toe-to-toe in an extraordinarily unfortunate game for the bowlers. Nathan Astle clouted 191 from 205 balls to help Canterbury post 496 in their first
dig. Wellington responded with 498 for two declared. Roger Twose clubbed an undefeated 150, Michael Austen swatted 166 and Martin Crowe had to settle for an unbeaten 50. Blair Hartland (150) and Gary Stead (130) put on 287 for the first wicket and Canterbury declared at 476 for two. Incredibly, the game sill had legs even if the bowlers didn’t. Set 475 to win, the incomparable Crowe stroked an unbeaten 193 from 179 to guide Wellington to a six-wicket win.
Rating: Wow. Both teams were laden with international players but that was some game. Wonder if it is out on VHS yet?
Chance of survival: Unless a game of Bazball breaks out at the postage stamp-sized Pukekura Park, that page of the almanack is unlikely to need a rewrite anytime soon.
