New Delhi: While we have seen and heard about some of the most incredible innings and efforts on a cricket field, here's a tale, which despite being very old, continues to remain one of the best.
Pall Mall Gazette – an English newspaper based in London, all the way back in 1865 – is the originator of this quite unbelievable tale which has travelled around the world ever since being first published on 15th January 1894.
The paper claims about a match played at Bunbury in Western Australia between Victoria and a ‘scratch XI from the neighbourhood’.
Batting first, one of the Victorians openers smashed the first ball of the innings which landed on a tree! While the bowling team said the ball was lost, the umpires weren't convinced as the ball was visible.
Since there was no limit on numbers of runs that could be run by batsmen in those days, the openers made the best of the opportunity.
An axe was called to cut the tree and after the attempt failed, even a rifle was used to bring the ball down.
By the time the ball could be reprieved, the batsmen had run 286 runs between the wickets, covering a distance of 6 kms between the wickets, according to the newspaper.
It became a world record for most runs off a single delivery in cricket, a fascinating tale which still amuses cricket fans across the globe.
