Most Runs in Test Cricket: Batting Records, Ashes History and Results

By the Rescro Arcade team · Published 20 October 2026 · Updated 5 November 2026

Most runs in Test cricket: Sachin Tendulkar holds the record with 15,921 runs from 200 Tests between 1989 and 2013. Joe Root is second on 14,278 after 169 Tests and needs 1,644 more to go past him. This guide covers the full batting record book, from Lara's 400 not out and Bradman's 99.94 to the fastest hundreds and biggest run chases. It also covers the history of Test cricket since 1877, every recent Ashes result, the head-to-head record and the latest Test news to early November 2026.

The record board at a glance

Test cricket's batting records split into two groups. Some feel permanent: Brian Lara's 400 not out has stood since 2004, and nobody who has batted 20 or more innings has got within 38 runs of Don Bradman's career average. Others are live. Joe Root, England's captain again, is 1,644 runs from the biggest prize in the game.

The tables below come from ESPNcricinfo and Wikipedia's record lists, with recent figures checked against match reports from Sky Sports and other outlets. Every table carries an "as of" date because Root's numbers will keep moving.

Most runs in Test cricket: the all-time list

Sachin Tendulkar finished his career in November 2013 with 15,921 Test runs from 200 matches. Both totals are still records. Root went from fifth to second at Old Trafford in July 2025, passing Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting in one innings against India, and has been the second-highest run-scorer in Test history since.

All-time leading Test run-scorers (as of 5 November 2026)
Rank	Player	Country	Tests	Runs	Average	100s
1	Sachin Tendulkar	India	200	15,921	53.78	51
2	Joe Root (active)	England	169	14,278	50.45	41
3	Ricky Ponting	Australia	168	13,378	51.85	41
4	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	166	13,289	55.37	45
5	Rahul Dravid	India	164	13,288	52.31	36
6	Alastair Cook	England	161	12,472	45.35	33
7	Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	134	12,400	57.40	38
8	Brian Lara	West Indies	131	11,953	52.88	34
9	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	West Indies	164	11,867	51.37	30
10	Mahela Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	149	11,814	49.84	34

Kallis, Dravid and Lara each played one Test for the ICC World XI against Australia in 2005, and those runs count in their career totals. Root is the only active batter in the top ten.

Can Joe Root catch Sachin Tendulkar?

He needs 1,644 more runs to go past Tendulkar. Root made 1,708 Test runs in 2021, the third-highest total for a calendar year, and has gone past 1,000 in a year again since. If he keeps up roughly 1,000 a year, he would get there in under two years, though that is our own sum rather than a forecast. He turns 36 in December and took the England captaincy back in July 2026, so fitness and England's fixture list will decide it.

He has already taken one of Tendulkar's records. His unbeaten 62 at Edgbaston on 12 September 2026 was his 69th Test fifty, one more than Tendulkar's 68. He is level with Ponting on 41 hundreds, ten short of Tendulkar's 51.

Highest individual scores in Test cricket

Only one batter has scored 400 in a Test innings. Lara made 400 not out against England in Antigua in April 2004, six months after Matthew Hayden had taken his earlier record of 375 with 380 against Zimbabwe in Perth. The newest name on the list is Wiaan Mulder, who declared South Africa's innings in Bulawayo in July 2025 with his own score on 367 not out. He chose not to go after Lara's mark.

Highest individual Test innings (as of 5 November 2026)
Score	Player	Opponent	Venue	Season
400*	Brian Lara (West Indies)	England	St John's, Antigua	2003-04
380	Matthew Hayden (Australia)	Zimbabwe	WACA, Perth	2003-04
375	Brian Lara (West Indies)	England	St John's, Antigua	1993-94
374	Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)	South Africa	SSC, Colombo	2006
367*	Wiaan Mulder (South Africa)	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	2025
365*	Garry Sobers (West Indies)	Pakistan	Kingston, Jamaica	1957-58
364	Len Hutton (England)	Australia	The Oval, London	1938

Hutton's 364 came in the 1938 Ashes Test at The Oval, where England made 903 for 7 declared. That is still the second-highest team total in Tests, behind Sri Lanka's 952 for 6 declared against India in 1997.

Highest batting averages and most Test hundreds

Bradman scored 6,996 runs in 52 Tests at 99.94. He needed four runs in his last innings, at The Oval in 1948, to finish with an average of 100, and he was bowled second ball for a duck by Eric Hollies. With a minimum of 20 innings, the next best is Adam Voges on 61.87, and he only played 31 innings.

Highest career Test batting averages, minimum 20 innings (as of 14 July 2026)
Average	Player	Innings	Runs	Career
99.94	Don Bradman (Australia)	80	6,996	1928 to 1948
61.87	Adam Voges (Australia)	31	1,485	2015 to 2016
60.97	Graeme Pollock (South Africa)	41	2,256	1963 to 1970
60.83	George Headley (West Indies)	40	2,190	1930 to 1954
60.73	Herbert Sutcliffe (England)	84	4,555	1924 to 1935

On hundreds, Tendulkar leads with 51, then Kallis on 45, then Root and Ponting on 41 each, with Sangakkara next on 38. Bradman made 29 centuries in his 52 Tests, roughly one every other match.

Fastest Test centuries

Brendon McCullum holds the record. He reached 100 off 54 balls against Australia at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, in February 2016, in his final Test. Viv Richards' 56-ball hundred against England in Antigua in 1986 had stood for 30 years before that.

Fastest Test hundreds by balls faced (as of 5 November 2026)
Balls	Player	Opponent	Venue	Season
54	Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)	Australia	Christchurch	2015-16
56	Viv Richards (West Indies)	England	St John's, Antigua	1985-86
56	Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)	Australia	Abu Dhabi	2014-15
57	Adam Gilchrist (Australia)	England	WACA, Perth	2006-07
69	Travis Head (Australia)	England	Perth Stadium	2025-26

Head's 69-ball hundred in the first Test of the 2025-26 Ashes is the second-fastest in Ashes history, behind Gilchrist. It ties with Shivnarine Chanderpaul's 69 against Australia in 2002-03 and David Warner's against India in 2012. Some outlets credit Gilchrist with 59 balls rather than 57, depending on how they count. Nathan Astle holds the fastest double hundred, 153 balls against England in Christchurch in 2002, and Ben Stokes is next with 163 balls at Newlands in 2016.

History of Test cricket: from Melbourne 1877 to the Ashes

The first Test match began at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 15 March 1877. Australia beat James Lillywhite's England team by 45 runs, and Charles Bannerman scored the first Test hundred, 165 retired hurt. A hundred years later, at the 1977 Centenary Test on the same ground, Australia won by 45 runs again. A one-off day-night Test at the MCG from 11 to 15 March 2027 will mark 150 years.

The Ashes started with a joke. Australia beat England by seven runs at The Oval in August 1882, and The Sporting Times printed a mock obituary for English cricket: the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. That winter England's captain, Ivo Bligh, promised to "recover those ashes", and England won the 1882-83 series 2-1. The small urn, said to hold a burnt bail, lives in the MCC Museum at Lord's. It has never been the official trophy.

A few series stand out. In Bodyline in 1932-33, Douglas Jardine's fast leg theory held Bradman to an average of 56.57, which was still higher than most batters ever managed. Bradman's 974 runs in the 1930 series in England remain the most by anyone in a single Test series. Ian Botham's 1981 summer, 2005 at Edgbaston and Stokes at Headingley in 2019 are the ones English fans still bring up.

Ashes results by series and the head-to-head record

England and Australia have played 74 Ashes series from 1882-83 to 2025-26. Australia have won 35, England 32, and seven were drawn. In a drawn series the holder keeps the urn, which is how Australia kept it in 2019 and 2023. Across 350 Ashes Tests, Australia have won 146, England 111, and 93 were drawn.

Ashes head-to-head record (as of 8 January 2026)
Measure	Played	Australia	England	Drawn
All Ashes series	74	35	32	7
Series in Australia	37	21	14	2
Series in England	37	14	18	5
All Ashes Tests	350	146	111	93
All England v Australia Tests	366	156	113	97

England's home record is good. Their away record is the problem: they have won 14 of 37 series in Australia, and the last was 2010-11.

The last 15 Ashes series results
Season	Host	Result	Holder after
2025-26	Australia	Australia won 4-1	Australia
2023	England	Drawn 2-2	Australia
2021-22	Australia	Australia won 4-0	Australia
2019	England	Drawn 2-2	Australia
2017-18	Australia	Australia won 4-0	Australia
2015	England	England won 3-2	England
2013-14	Australia	Australia won 5-0	Australia
2013	England	England won 3-0	England
2010-11	Australia	England won 3-1	England
2009	England	England won 2-1	England
2006-07	Australia	Australia won 5-0	Australia
2005	England	England won 2-1	England
2002-03	Australia	Australia won 4-1	Australia
2001	England	Australia won 4-1	Australia
1998-99	Australia	Australia won 3-1	Australia

How the 2025-26 series went: Australia won in Perth by eight wickets, in Brisbane by eight wickets and in Adelaide by 82 runs, which meant they kept the urn after three Tests. England won by four wickets in Melbourne. Australia chased 160 to win by five wickets in Sydney, the match that finished on 8 January 2026. Mitchell Starc was player of the series, and it was Usman Khawaja's last Test.

Nation-by-nation batting records

Every major Test nation has its own run-scoring record and highest score. The table below picks out the leading career run-scorer and the highest individual innings for eight of them.

Batting records by nation: most career runs and highest innings (as of 5 November 2026)
Nation	Most Test runs	Runs	Highest innings
India	Sachin Tendulkar	15,921	319, Virender Sehwag v South Africa, 2008
England	Joe Root	14,278	364, Len Hutton v Australia, 1938
Australia	Ricky Ponting	13,378	380, Matthew Hayden v Zimbabwe, 2003
South Africa	Jacques Kallis	13,289	367*, Wiaan Mulder v Zimbabwe, 2025
Sri Lanka	Kumar Sangakkara	12,400	374, Mahela Jayawardene v South Africa, 2006
West Indies	Brian Lara	11,953	400*, Brian Lara v England, 2004
Pakistan	Younis Khan	10,099	337, Hanif Mohammad v West Indies, 1958
New Zealand	Kane Williamson	9,515	302, Brendon McCullum v India, 2014

Williamson retired from international cricket in June 2026 with 9,515 Test runs, the first New Zealander past 9,000. Root and Williamson are the only two players in this table whose figures changed in 2026.

Famous run chases: batting to a target

Batting last in a Test is hard. The pitch has had four days of wear and the bowling side can see the finish line. The highest successful chase in Tests is West Indies' 418 for 7 against Australia in Antigua in 2003.

418 for 7, West Indies v Australia, Antigua, 2003. Still the record, more than 20 years on.
414 for 4, South Africa v Australia, Perth, 2008. AB de Villiers and JP Duminy saw South Africa home.
404 for 3, Australia v England, Headingley, 1948. Arthur Morris made 182 and Bradman 173 not out on the last day. It stood as the record chase for 28 years.
378 for 3, England v India, Edgbaston, 2022. England's highest successful chase. Root (142 not out) and Jonny Bairstow (114 not out) shared an unbroken stand of 269 to finish it on the final morning.
373 for 5, England v India, Headingley, 2025. Ben Duckett made 149 and opened with a 188 stand with Zak Crawley.
205 for 2, Australia v England, Perth, 2025. Not a big target, but Travis Head's 123 off 83 balls finished it in 28.2 overs.

Stokes' 135 not out at Headingley in 2019 deserves a mention. England needed 359 and their last pair put on 76, with Jack Leach scoring 1.

Latest: Test cricket news from October to early November 2026

England have not played a Test since September, so most of the Test action this autumn has been elsewhere, with South Africa against Australia the pick of it.

12 September 2026, Edgbaston. England beat Pakistan by eight wickets for a 3-0 series win, their first home whitewash of Pakistan. Root, captain since Stokes retired, made 62 not out in the chase. Stephen Fleming had been named Test head coach on 30 July.
9 to 13 October, Abu Dhabi. Afghanistan and Bangladesh drew their one-off Test.
9 to 13 October, Durban. Australia beat South Africa by 214 runs in the first Test.
18 to 22 October, Gqeberha. South Africa levelled the series with an innings and 31-run win.
20 and 25 October, Pakistan. England lost to Pakistan by 87 runs in Rawalpindi in the ODI tri-series. In Lahore, Shadab Khan's unbeaten 113 and an 89-run last-wicket stand with Haris Rauf won it by one wicket. England then went out when Sri Lanka beat Pakistan.
27 to 31 October, Cape Town. South Africa beat Australia by 176 runs to win the series 2-1. Simon Harmer took 6 for 16 as Australia were all out for 111 chasing 288, and finished with match figures of 10 for 120. Kagiso Rabada became the fastest to 350 Test wickets, and South Africa went top of the Test rankings for the first time since January 2016.
4 November, St Kitts. England Lions completed a 3-0 T20 sweep of West Indies A with a 96-run win, according to the ECB's England Cricket account, with Rehan Ahmed scoring 92 off 46 balls.
Coming up. Pakistan host Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi from 9 November. England start their white-ball tour of Australia in Perth on 13 November, three ODIs and five T20Is under Harry Brook. Root's next chance to add to 14,278 is the 150th anniversary Test at the MCG in March 2027.

Take guard yourself

Most of the innings above were about reading the ball early and knowing what the scoreboard needed. You can try a small version of that in Cricket Batting, a free browser game where you chase a target from two overs with three wickets in hand. Read the line on the pitch map, play leg side, straight or off, and time the swing for six. It works on a phone or a laptop, and there are more quick games in the Sport section.

Frequently asked questions

Who has scored the most runs in Test cricket?

Sachin Tendulkar of India holds the record with 15,921 Test runs from 200 matches between 1989 and 2013, at an average of 53.78. Joe Root of England is second with 14,278 runs from 169 Tests as of November 2026, followed by Ricky Ponting on 13,378 and Jacques Kallis on 13,289.

How many Test runs has Joe Root scored?

Joe Root has 14,278 Test runs from 169 matches at an average of 50.45, with 41 hundreds and 69 fifties, as of 5 November 2026. His highest score is 262. He needs 1,644 more runs to pass Sachin Tendulkar's record of 15,921 and become the leading run-scorer in Test history.

Can Joe Root break Sachin Tendulkar's record?

It is within reach. Root needs 1,644 runs and has passed 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year more than once, including 1,708 in 2021. At that sort of rate he would need under two years. He turns 36 in December 2026 and is England captain again, so fitness and England's Test schedule are the main factors.

Who scored 400 runs in Test cricket?

Brian Lara is the only batter to score 400 in a Test innings. He made 400 not out for West Indies against England at the Antigua Recreation Ground in April 2004, six months after Matthew Hayden had broken Lara's earlier record of 375 with 380 against Zimbabwe in Perth.

Who has the highest individual score in a single Test match?

The highest score in a single Test innings is Brian Lara's 400 not out against England in 2004. Next come Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003, Lara's 375 in 1994 and Mahela Jayawardene's 374 against South Africa in 2006. Wiaan Mulder's 367 not out in 2025 is fifth.

Who has won the most Ashes series?

Australia have won the most Ashes series, 35 of the 74 played since 1882-83. England have won 32 and seven series were drawn, with the holder keeping the urn after a draw. Australia won the most recent series 4-1 in 2025-26, and England last won in Australia in 2010-11.

What is the highest successful run chase in Test cricket?

West Indies hold the record for the highest successful fourth-innings chase, 418 for 7 against Australia in Antigua in 2003. South Africa's 414 for 4 in Perth in 2008 is second. England's record is 378 for 3 against India at Edgbaston in 2022 and 373 for 5 at Headingley in 2025.