When Brian Lara joined the legends

It was on this day 24 years ago that the incomparable Brian Lara entered his name into the world record books for the first - though not the last - time. 

Lara, cricket's most prolific scorer of big hundreds since the days of Bradman, was 320no overnight and the cricket world stopped to watch him topple Sir Garfield Sobers' record on a sunny day in Antigua. 

A decade later, he would become the first player in Test history to reclaim the honour, and 14 years on, his history-making 400no has not been topped. 

Below we recap the progression of Test cricket's highest individual score, and identify the 10 champions who have achieved it.

165 retired hurt – Charles Bannerman: Australia v England, MCG, March 1877 (Test #1)

Bannerman's world record came – logically – in the very first Test but it's all the more impressive in that it endured for more than seven years, or 15 matches, before it was broken. Perhaps more famous than the highest score world record is the fact that, quite unbelievably, the percentage of runs Bannerman scored in that first match (67.34: 165 out of 245, with no-one else reaching 20) remains the highest in a completed innings, through 140 years of Test cricket.

211 – Billy Murdoch: Australia v England, The Oval, August 1884 (Test #16)

Image Id: AB0383BFBD9E43B689DDAA3473A8EBFB Image Caption: Former Australia Test captain Billy Murdoch, circa 1895 // Getty

Murdoch posted just his second century (the last of his career) and the first double-century in Test cricket history, taking batting to new heights during a drawn match in which two other Australians also made hundreds. The Victorian, who was 29 at the time, spent more than eight hours accumulating his world record, which would last for more than 19 years.

287 – Tip Foster: England v Australia, SCG, December 1903 (Test #78)

The first man to take the world record out of Australian hands was, incredibly, a debutant. Reginald 'Tip' Foster destroyed Murdoch's mark and went within touching distance of a triple century – something Test cricket would have to wait another 26 years to see. Foster's imperious 287 remains the benchmark for debut Test innings, and until New Zealand's Ross Taylor hit 290 at the WACA in November 2015, it was also the long-standing mark for a visiting batsman in Australia.

325 – Andy Sandham: England v West Indies, Sabina Park, April 1930 (Test #193)

Where Foster was a debutant, Sandham was at the other end of his career – playing his final Test. And he batted as if he didn't want it to ever end, becoming the first Test triple-centurion in a match that lasted nine days before the two sides shook hands on a draw so England could catch their ship home from Jamaica. In the first-ever Test series hosted in the Caribbean, Sandham opened the innings, and faced 640 balls across 10 hours as England racked up 849 – still the third-highest total of all time. Sandham's groundbreaking triple-ton remains fourth among the highest scores by an Englishman, though it only stood as the world record for three months – the shortest period for which anyone has held it. 

334 – Sir Don Bradman: Australia v England, Headingley, July 1930 (Test #196)

Image Id: 72D8FE950E3640C78A4E11EC8638F64F Image Caption: A young Bradman after claiming the world record Test score // Getty

The 'Boy from Bowral' was only 21 but already the most devastating batsman the world had ever seen, and it was on this tour of England that the hype became legend. In the first Test, he made 131, in the second he made 254, so by stumps on day one of the third Test in Leeds, he was 309 not out, having hammered a century before lunch. Bradman's epic knock stood as the shining light of Australian Test innings, the number 334 becoming synonymous with the Don himself.

336no – Wally Hammond: England v New Zealand, Eden Park, March 1933 (Test #226)

In a busy period for batting world records, England legend Hammond toppled Bradman with an ahead-of-its-time knock of 336 not out against a hapless New Zealand. Hammond was at the crease for a little over five hours, registering the fastest triple-century in history in terms of time, and plundered 10 sixes – a number that has been passed only six times since. In a rain-affected draw, Hammond's stunning knock (his third hundred came in 47 minutes) gave the Auckland onlookers something truly special to remember.

364 – Sir Len Hutton: England v Australia, The Oval, August 1938 (Test #266)

Image Id: 44AAFCA527A646B6AA9DB444FA05BDC9 Image Caption: Hutton poses while playing for Yorkshire in 1947 // Getty

Hutton trails only Sobers and Bradman on this list in terms of youth, having knocked up his epic 364 as a 22-year-old. In his brief five-Test career prior, the right-hander had hit an even 100 twice, but in the final Test against Australia in London, he kicked on spectacularly to anchor a total of 7-903 declared – still the highest in Ashes history. Hutton's classic was England's 100th century in Tests, and he remains the last of his countrymen to hold this world record.

365no – Sir Garfield Sobers: West Indies v Pakistan, Sabina Park, February-March 1958 (Test #450)

Image Id: 5441E6065E664E62BE65F4208ADE456F Image Caption: Legendary West Indian Sobers in action in 1972 // Getty

The first non-Ashes player to put his name to this record, Sobers was also the youngest when he wiped Hutton from the record books at just 21 years of age. That said, the legendary allrounder was already 17 matches into his Test career, having debuted as a 17-year-old, and in the third Test in Jamaica he put Pakistan to the sword with his maiden hundred, sharing in a 446-run stand with opener Conrad Hunte (260) – still the seventh-highest Test partnership of all time.

375 – Brian Lara: West Indies v England, Antigua Recreation Ground, April 1994 (Test #1259)

Image Id: D8609442E0124FB58B856AB2727CAC68 Image Caption: Sobers hands the world record baton to a young Lara in April 1994 // Getty

Sobers' record lasted for an unprecedented 36 years until it was toppled by another special young West Indian – Brian Lara. The elder statesmen was on hand to see the mark fall at the flashy hands and dancing feet of the precociously talented left-hander, who spent almost 13 hours grinding England into the St John's dust. World record safely in his keeping, Lara headed to England a couple of weeks later and blasted 501no for Warwickshire to claim the Test and first-class double.

380 – Matthew Hayden: Australia v Zimbabwe, Perth, October 2003 (Test #1661)

In the form of his life, on a batting paradise in Perth and against a relatively pedestrian attack, Hayden tucked into Zimbabwe's offerings like a fat man returning to the buffet for a second helping. It took him 380 runs to get his fill, by which time he'd smashed 38 fours and 11 sixes in one of the more ruthless batting displays of the modern era. Australia declared at 5-735 and won by an innings and plenty.

400no – Brian Lara: West Indies v England, Antigua Recreation Ground, April 2004 (Test #1696)

As if personally affronted by Hayden's seizure of the record, Lara needed just six months to snatch it back. A week short of a decade on from his magical 375, the West Indian headed back to St John's in Antigua and, against the same opposition, duly peeled off a staggering 400 not out. In all, the 34-year-old hit 43 fours and four sixes, batted for 12 minutes longer than he had a decade earlier, and spared his side the humiliation of a home series whitewash.

A version of this article was originally published on April 12, 2017