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.

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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.