In the second Test of the two-match series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka amassed 531, the highest ever Test match total without an individual hundred.

Sri Lanka won the first Test, at Sylhet, by 328 runs as Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis scored two hundreds. En route, they broke a plethora of records, including their first-innings score of 280, now the lowest all-out total to include a double-hundred stand: de Silva and Mendis added 202.

In the second Test, at Chattogram, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat. They reached 314-4 by stumps on the first day, and were bowled out for 531 on the second as Shakib Al Hasan claimed 3-110 on his return to the Test side.

Six Sri Lanka batters – Nishan Madushka (57), Dimuth Karunaratne (86), Kusal Mendis (93), Dinesh Chandimal (59), de Silva (70), and Mendis (92 not out) – went past fifty, but none of them reached the three-figure mark.

This is now the highest score in the history of Test cricket without an individual hundred. The previous highest was India’s 524-9 declared against New Zealand at Kanpur in 1976/77. There, too, six batters got half-centuries, but Mohinder Amarnath’s 70 was the highest individual score.

First Test, first innings: Sri Lanka end within one run of the lowest Test total to include two centuries

Second Test, first innings: Sri Lanka break the record for the highest Test total without a century

— Ben Gardner (@Ben_Wisden) March 31, 2024

The lowest all-out total in the format was South Africa’s 517 against Australia at Adelaide in 1997/98. There were only five fifties on that occasion (Brian McMillan top-scored with 87 not out), though the innings featured three other scores of 37 or more.

This was also the sixth instance of six half-centuries in a Test innings without a hundred. India (in the abovementioned Kanpur Test) were the first to do it, followed by Pakistan (against Australia, Melbourne 1981/82), Zimbabwe (against Bangladesh, Harare 2003/04), Pakistan (against New Zealand, Napier 2009/10), and England (against West Indies, Leeds 2017).

At the time of writing, Bangladesh were 45-0 with Mahmudul Hasan Joy (20) and Zakir Hasan (23) at the crease.

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