Somerset’s Tom Banton began day three at Taunton with 344 against his name, eyeing several records. He fell for only 371.
All eyes were on Banton on the third day of the Somerset-Worcestershire County Championship match at Taunton when he resumed his innings on 344. Having already smashed the highest score for Somerset against any side (as well as for any side against Worcestershire), Banton was 56 away from the quadruple-century club in first-class cricket.
Unfortunately, he could reach only 371 before Tom Hinley had him caught behind. The innings lasted 403 balls and 520 minutes, and included 56 fours and two sixes. Lewis Gregory declared immediately, with Somerset on 670-7, having secured a 516-run lead.
Read: ‘Everything changed last year’ – How Tom Banton fell back in love with cricket
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Match 4, Somerset vs Worcestershire
What Banton did make was the second-highest first-class score by a No.5, after Bill Ponsford’s 429 against Tasmania in 1922/23. The others to reach 350 from that position are Vijay Merchant (359 not out for Bombay against Maharashtra in 1943/44) and Rashid Israr (350 for Habib Bank Limited against National Bank of Pakistan in 1976/77).
Also read: Is Lara's 501* record under threat? English batter starts third day with a shot at history
Highest first-class scores
| Score | Batter | Team | Opposition | Venue | Season |
| 501* | Brian Lara | Warwickshire | Durham | Birmingham | 1944 |
| 499 | Hanif Mohammad | Karachi | Bahawalpur | Karachi | 1958/59 |
| 452* | Don Bradman | New South Wales | Queensland | Sydney | 1929/30 |
| 443* | BB Nimbalkar | Maharashtra | Kathiawar | Poona (Pune) | 1948/49 |
| 437 | Bill Ponsford | Victoria | Queensland | Melbourne | 1927/28 |
| 429 | Bill Ponsford | Victoria | Tasmania | Melbourne | 1922/23 |
| 428 | Aftab Baloch | Sind | Baluchistan | Karachi | 1973/74 |
| 424 | Archie MacLaren | Lancashire | Somerset | Taunton | 1895 |
| 410* | Sam Northeast | Glamorgan | Leicestershire | Leicester | 2022 |
| 405* | Graeme Hick | Warwickshire | Somerset | Taunton | 1988 |
| 400* | Brian Lara | West Indies | England | St John’s | 2003/04 |
| 394 | Naved Latif | Sargodha | Gujranwala | Gujranwala | 2000/01 |
| 390 | Stephen Cook | Lions | Warriors | East London | 2009/10 |
| 385 | Bert Sutcliffe | Otago | Canterbury | Christchurch | 1952/53 |
| 383 | Charles Gregory | New South Wales | Queensland | Brisbane | 1906/07 |
| 380 | Matthew Hayden | Australia | Zimbabwe | Perth | 2003/04 |
| 379 | Prithvi Shaw | Mumbai | Assam | Guwahati | 2022/23 |
| 377 | Sanjay Manjrekar | Bombay (Mumbai) | Hyderabad | Bombay (Mumbai) | 1990/91 |
| 375 | Brian Lara | West Indies | England | St John’s | 1993/94 |
| 374 | Mahela Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | South Africa | SSC, Colombo | 2006 |
| 371 | Tom Banton | Somerset | Worcestershire | Taunton | 1935/36 |
- Ponsford is the only one to have improved on his own record
- Lara (twice), Hayden, and Jayawardene’s innings came in Test matches
