Records tumble in run fest as young Aussie plays vital knock

An extraordinary run fest in the County Championship concluded on Thursday as South African-born batters Colin Ackermann and Wiaan Mulder both made unbeaten maiden double centuries for Leicestershire in their drawn encounter with Sussex.

Replying to Sussex's monster first innings of 588, which came at better than four runs an over, Leicestershire's total of 4-756 declared was the highest in their first-class history, with Ackermann (277no) and Mulder (235no) making the most of the batter-friendly conditions.

The duo found the rope a staggering 73 times between them to go with three sixes as the Foxes rocketed along at a run rate of 4.27.

The unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 477 was a record for any wicket for the county and a Championship record for the fifth wicket.

But the run-fest made less happy reading for Sussex.

It was the most runs ever scored against them, beating the 726 they leaked at Nottingham in 1895, and it was also the highest innings scored in 150 years of cricket at Hove.

Spin-bowling allrounder Delray Rawlins also made some unwanted history; his figures of 0-223 from 49 overs were the most runs ever conceded in a County Championship innings without taking a wicket and the third most ever in first-class history.

Image Id: 669ACDC0B71347F288727CA6B67DC197 Image Caption: Delray Rawlins conceded 223 runs from 49 wicketless overs // Getty

Ackermann had looked on track to set a new individual record for Leicestershire, beating the 309 not out made by his namesake HD Ackerman against Glamorgan at Cardiff in 2006, but the declaration put paid to that.

The match then petered out to a draw as Sussex finished on 1-223 in their second innings from just 42 overs.

Leicestershire had started the fourth day on 4-529, still 59 runs behind, and scored a staggering 227 runs in the first session.

The biggest winner, however, was the pitch; in all, 1564 runs were scored across the four days at a rate of 4.32 an over for the loss of just 15 wickets.

Sussex coach Ian Salisbury, though, praised the state of the surface.

Image Id: 3D267627583A438E92B46A46CB45B475 Image Caption: Ackermann and Mulder put on an unbeaten 477 for the fifth wicket // Getty

"I'm really happy with the wicket Ben (curator Ben Gibson) produced here," he said. "It's an absolute belter.

"We want to produce players who can play for England and if you learn to bowl here, you will end up playing for England. That is the bottom line.

"We want our batters to play on good wickets where they can score runs and trust their techniques. That's a Test match wicket.

"People like Anderson and Broad, these types … they would have loved to have bowled on this wicket.

"Del (Rawlins) and Colesy (James Coles, who finished with 1-198) are mainly batters who bowl spin. They're perfect second spinners to a top-class spinner and we desperately missed a first-choice spinner.

"Actually, they didn't bowl too badly. And two blokes (batted) outstandingly well."

Elsewhere, Jamie Overton shone with ball and bat as Surrey maintained their position as division one leaders with victory over Yorkshire.

Overton, who made his England Test debut last month, took a season's best 6-61 as Yorkshire were skittled for 220, then contributed a breezy 28 up the order to hasten Surrey's pursuit of 227.

Surrey's chances of a fifth win in nine games were left doubtful at 6-147 as an impressive home bowling display was led by two wickets apiece for Jordan Thompson and Shannon Gabriel.

But Overton's England teammate Ben Foakes (42no) and Australian Aaron Hardie (40no) saw them home with an unbroken 81-run stand, which moved Surrey 15 points clear of Hampshire in second place.

Earlier, Hampshire needed under two hours of the final day to claim the final Warwickshire wicket and knock off the 91 required to win by eight wickets at Southampton.

Most expensive wicketless innings in first-class cricket

0-259 – Khan Mohammad, Pakistan v West Indies, Kingston, 1956

0-239 – Imranullah Aslam, Baluchistan v Punjab, Sialkot, 2008

0-223 – Delray Rawlins, Sussex v Leicestershire, Hove, 2022

0-221 – Nicky Boje, South Africa v Sri Lanka, Colombo, 2006

0-219 – Jahangir Hussain, Sind University v Punjab University, 1959