On 9 July 1965 at Headingley, Surrey opener John Edrich became the first Englishman since Len Hutton to pass 300 in a Test innings, finishing 310 not out against New Zealand. He hit 52 fours and five sixes — 238 runs in boundaries, a Test record that has stood for more than sixty years. England declared at 546 for 4 and won by an innings.
England led the series 2-0 entering the third Test. Smith won the toss on a flat Headingley pitch. New Zealand's attack was inexperienced; Bryan Yuile and Dick Motz did most of the bowling.
Edrich was 28 and had been in and out of the England side for two years. The Headingley Test was his eighth. New Zealand, captained by John Reid, were a young side and had already lost the first two Tests of the summer. England won the toss and batted in good batting conditions. Bob Barber and Edrich opened; Barber fell for 13. Ken Barrington, recalled after his Edgbaston disciplinary, joined Edrich at 18 for 1.
Edrich and Barrington added 369 for the second wicket — at the time the highest second-wicket Test partnership for England. Edrich, a left-hander with an unfussy technique and a strong leg side, played the ball off his pads with such precision that the New Zealand bowlers gave up trying to attack the stumps after the second hour. His hundred came in 233 minutes; his 200 in 412; his 300 in 519. He was 310 not out when Mike Smith declared.
The innings's defining feature was its boundary count. Edrich hit 52 fours and five sixes — 238 of his 310 runs in boundaries. The proportion (77%) and the absolute total (238) remain Test records as of 2026, six decades on. Brian Lara's 400, Matthew Hayden's 380 and Virender Sehwag's twin 300s have all fallen short on both counts. The five sixes were unusual for an Edrich innings; he was, by training and temperament, a percentage batsman who rarely lifted the ball.
England declared at 546 for 4. New Zealand were bowled out for 193 and 166 to lose by an innings and 187 runs. Edrich was Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1966. The 310 remained the highest individual Test score by an English left-hander until Andrew Strauss's career, and is still the sixth-highest Test score by an Englishman.
Day 1, morning: Barber out for 13; Edrich and Barrington begin their partnership.
Day 1, evening: Edrich 100 in 233 minutes; Barrington also reaches three figures.
Day 2, lunch: Edrich passes 200.
Day 2, evening: Edrich reaches 300 in 519 minutes.
Day 3, morning: Smith declares at 546/4 with Edrich 310 not out.
Day 4: New Zealand bowled out twice; England win by an innings and 187 runs.
8 Jul 1965
Test begins; England bat.
8 Jul 1965, evening
Edrich and Barrington unbroken at the close.
9 Jul 1965
Edrich passes 200, then 300.
10 Jul 1965
England declare at 546/4 with Edrich 310 not out.
13 Jul 1965
England win by an innings and 187 runs.
“I did not feel particularly inspired. I just kept hitting the ball where the field wasn't.”
Edrich was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1966. He went on to play 77 Tests, score 5,138 runs and captain Surrey. He remained an England regular until 1976 and was knighted in 2004.
Edrich's 310 was a triple-century built on accumulation and boundaries rather than slogging — the percentage batsman's masterpiece. Its 238 runs in boundaries remain a Test record nobody has yet matched, a fact that says something about how the game has changed in every other respect.
The 310 is the sixth-highest Test score by an Englishman and remains the only Test triple-century by an English left-hander. The 238 runs in boundaries is still a Test record — a record set in 1965 that the modern game has not approached.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.