In cricket, the phrase "carrying the bat" refers to a situation in which an opening batter remains not out at the end of an innings where all the 10 wickets have fallen; the other 10 players in the team have all been dismissed. It may also be used in situations where one or more of these players are unable to bat due to retiring out or causes like injury or illness, and the remaining players are dismissed. It is not used, however, in any other situation where the innings closes before all 10 wickets have fallen, such as when it is declared closed, or when the team successfully chases a set run target to win the match. A rare feat, this has happened only 75 times in international cricket spanning all three formats—Tests, One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).

In Tests, South African Bernard Tancred was the first cricketer to carry the bat; he made 26 runs in his team's total of 47 against England in 1889. The following year, Jack Barrett of Australia became the first player to carry the bat on debut. In the 1892 tour of Australia, England's Bobby Abel scored 132 and became the first player to score a century while carrying the bat. In 1933, Bill Woodfull of Australia set a new record by becoming the first player to perform this feat twice in Tests; he scored 73 not out during the third test of England's 1933 tour. Apart from Woodfull, five other cricketers have performed this feat more than once in their Test careers—while Bill Lawry (Australia), Glenn Turner (New Zealand) and Len Hutton (England) have done it twice, Dean Elgar (South Africa) and Desmond Haynes (West Indies) have performed the feat on three occasions. , New Zealand's Tom Latham's 264, against Sri Lanka in December 2018, is the highest score in Test cricket by a player while carrying the bat. The Australian players have performed this feat more than any other, followed by England. In all, 49 players have carried their bats on 57 occasions in Test cricket.

In ODIs, there have been only 13 instances of a player carrying their bat. The first occasion was when Grant Flower made 84—in Zimbabwe's total of 205—against England in December 1994. The following year, Saeed Anwar became the first player to score an ODI century while carrying his bat; he made 103 against Zimbabwe in Harare. England's Nick Knight surpassed Anwar's score and went on to make 125 against Pakistan in 1996. , this remains a record in the ODI format. Australia's Damien Martyn and England's Alec Stewart are the only other players to score a century while performing this feat in ODIs. Sri Lanka's Upul Tharanga became the first cricketer from his team to carry the bat when he made 112 against Pakistan in October 2017.

In T20Is, Chris Gayle was the first player to carry his bat, doing so against Sri Lanka during the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, scoring 63 runs in West Indies' total of 101. As of now, only 5 players have achieved this feat in T20Is.

Flower became the first player to achieve this feat in two different international formats when he carried his bat in a Test match against Pakistan at Bulawayo in 1998. Since then, Anwar, Stewart, Javed Omar (Bangladesh), Gayle, Latham and Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka) have also managed this feat.

Key + Key Symbol Meaning Runs Number of runs scored by the batsman Total Number of runs scored by the team Not all 10 wickets fell in the innings Inn Innings in which the bat was carried Date Day on which the match was held Result Result for the team for which the bat was carried

Tests

+ Tests No. Name Runs Total Inn. Team Opposition Venue Date Result 1 26* 47 2 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, South Africa Lost 2 67* 176 3 Lord's, London, England Lost 3 132* 307 2 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia Lost 4 132* 237 3 Old Wanderers, Johannesburg, South Africa Won 5 159* 309 3 Old Wanderers, Johannesburg, South Africa Won 6 43* 1031 2 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, South Africa Lost 7 193* 383 1 Lord's, London, England Drawn 8 (1/2) 30* 66 4 Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane, Australia Lost 9 (2/2) 73* 193 4 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia Lost 10 206* 422 2 Lord's, London, England Drawn 11 (1/2) 202* 344 2 The Oval, London, England Lost 12 (2/2) 156* 272 2 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia Lost 13 124* 331 2 University Ground, Lucknow, India Won 14 191* 372 2 Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England Drawn 15 56* 99 3 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, South Africa Lost 16 127* 292 1 Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban, South Africa Won 17 60* 131 3 Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Lost 18 (1/2) 43* 131 4 Lord's, London, England Lost 19 (1/2) 49* 107 3 Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi, India Lost 20 (2/2) 60* 116 4 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia Lost 21 (2/2) 223* 386 2 Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica Drawn 22 159* 346 3 Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand Won 23 99* 215 4 WACA Ground, Perth, Australia Lost 24 127* 286 3 Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, Pakistan Lost 25 152* 323 1 Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan Drawn 26 63* 144 2 Lancaster Park, Christchurch, New Zealand Lost 27 58* 103 3 Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand Lost 28 (1/3) 88* 211 3 National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan Drawn 29 154* 252 3 Headingley, Leeds, England Won 30 (2/3) 75* 176 2 The Oval, London, England Lost 31 69* 175 3 Lord's, London, England Lost 32 (3/3) 143* 382 3 Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Won 33 68* 187 4 Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, Pakistan Lost 34 94* 228 2 Lancaster Park, Christchurch, New Zealand Won 35 100* 239 1 Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, Pakistan Won 36 169* 350 2 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia Drawn 37 156* 321 1 Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Drawn 38 188* 316 3 Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India Won 39 216* 428 2 Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Drawn 40 104* 231 2 Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe Drawn 41 85* 168 3 Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Lost 42 201* 329 1 Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka Won 43 131* 268 3 The Gabba, Brisbane, Australia Won 44 165* 317 3 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia Drawn 45 117* 223 1 McLean Park, Napier, New Zealand Drawn 46 146* 300 2 The Oval, London, England Lost 47 163* 412 1 Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Lost 48 123* 233 4 Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Australia Lost 49 145* 312 1 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka Won 50 (1/3) 118* 214 2 Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban, South Africa Lost 51 142* 337 2 Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Won 52 244* 491 2 Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia Drawn 53 (2/3) 86* 177 4 New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa Lost 54 (3/3) 141* 311 1 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, South Africa Won 55 158* 287 1 Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka Won 56 264* 578 2 Basin Reserve, Wellington, New Zealand Drawn 57 91* 207 4 The Gabba, Brisbane, Australia Lost

ODIs

+ ODIs No Name Runs Total Inn. Team Opposition Venue Date Result 1 84* 205 1 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia Won 2 103* 219 2 Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe Tied 3 125* 246 1 Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England Lost 4 49* 110 1 Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester, England Lost 5 116* 191 1 Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand Lost 6 59* 101 2 Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Lost 7 100* 192 2 Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England Lost 8 33* 103 2 Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe Lost 9 81* 199 2 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Lost 10 79* 190 1 HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala, India Lost 11 112* 187 2 Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Lost 12 52* 136 1 Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Wales Lost 13 114* 222 1 Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein, South Africa Lost 14 111* 247 1 Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe Won

T20Is

+ T20Is No Name Runs Total Inn. Team Opposition Venue Date Result 1 63* 101 2 The Oval, London, England 19 June 2009 Lost 2 Richmond Baaleri 56* 115 2 Willowmoore Park, Benoni, South Africa 11 December 2023 Lost 3 Litton Das 54* 105 2 Arnos Vale Stadium, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 24 June 2024 Lost 4 Festus Benn 32* 51 1 Jimmy Powell Oval, George Town, Cayman Islands 23 April 2025 Lost 5 John Bangura 37* 95 1 Nigeria Cricket Federation Oval 1, Abuja, Nigeria 7 December 2025 Lost

Women's Tests +Women's TestsNoNameRunsTotalInn.TeamOppositionVenueDateResult196*1883WACA Ground, PerthDrawn2112*1643Edgbaston Cricket Ground, BirminghamWon

Women's ODIs +Women's ODIsNoNameRunsTotalInn.TeamOppositionVenueDateResult170*1132McLean Park, NapierLost278*1582Eden Park, AucklandLost367*1171Bert Sutcliffe Oval, LincolnLost443*1071Stellenbosch University Ground, StellenboschLost

Notes

References