Highest 4th Wicket Partnership in Test

The importance of a 4th wicket partnership in test lies in the fact that it stabilizes the team’s innings and helps recover from a difficult situation. 

When the top-order batsmen have been dismissed early, the team often finds itself in a vulnerable position. 

However, a strong partnership at the 4th wicket not only prevents further collapse but also allows the team to regain control and build a solid foundation for a competitive total.

Highest 4th Wicket Partnership in Test | Top 10 Partnerships

Let’s explore the top 10 highest 4th wicket partnerships and relive the magic created by these batting duos.

10- Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke – 352 runs partnership:

On January 14, 2010, in Hobart, they combined for a partnership of 352 runs against Pakistan and left an indelible mark on the cricketing canvas.

Australia scored their first innings at 519/8 and 219/5d in their second innings, and Pakistan’s response fell short, resulting in Australia winning by 231 runs.

9- Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman – 353 runs partnership:

In a memorable encounter against Australia in Sydney on January 2, 2004, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and the stylish VVS Laxman crafted a partnership of 353 runs. 

Their sublime batting showcased their ability to counter formidable bowling attacks.

India declared at 705/7, and the match ended in a draw with Australia responding with 357/6 in their second innings.

8- Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane – 365 runs partnership:

On October 8, 2016, in Indore, India’s modern-day stalwarts, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, combined for a partnership of 365 runs against New Zealand. 

Their masterful batting display highlighted the strength and depth of India’s batting lineup.

India declared at 557/5, and New Zealand struggled, leading to India winning by 321 runs.

7- Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls – 369 runs partnership:

New Zealand’s dynamic duo, Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls, forged a resilient partnership of 369 runs against Pakistan in Christchurch on January 3, 2021. 

Their partnership played a pivotal role in New Zealand’s success and showcased their ability to counter challenging bowling attacks.

New Zealand declared at 659/6, and Pakistan’s response was not enough as New Zealand won by an innings and 176 runs.

6- Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke – 386 runs partnership:

Australia witnessed another memorable partnership on January 24, 2012, as Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke combined for a partnership of 386 runs against India in Adelaide. 

Their exemplary batting laid the foundation for a commanding Australian performance.

India faced a tough challenge, ultimately losing the match by a margin of 298 runs.

5- Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman – 388 runs partnership:

The iconic duo of Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman displayed their batting genius on July 20, 1934, against England in Leeds. 

Their partnership of 388 runs played a pivotal role in Australia’s dominance, leaving an indelible mark on the history of Test cricket.

Australia scored 584 in their first innings, and in reply, England scored 200 and 229/6 and managed to draw the match.

4- Garry Sobers and Frank Worrell – 399 runs partnership:

On January 6, 1960, Garry Sobers and Frank Worrell combined forces for the West Indies, producing a formidable partnership of 399 runs against England in Bridgetown. 

Their collaboration not only showcased the prowess of West Indian cricket but also stood as a testament to their resilience.

The West Indies declared their second innings at 563/8d, and the match ended in a draw with England responding with 71/0 in second innings.

3- Peter May and Colin Cowdrey – 411 runs partnership:

In a classic encounter between England and the West Indies on May 30, 1957, Peter May and Colin Cowdrey stood tall with a partnership of 411 runs. 

This resilient effort showcased their batting mastery and left a lasting legacy in the cricketing archives.

England asserted dominance with a total of 583/4d in their second innings, and the West Indies struggled to match, leading to a draw.

2- Mahela Jayawardene and Tilhan Samaraweera – 437 runs partnership:

Sri Lankan maestros Mahela Jayawardene and Tilhan Samaraweera crafted a memorable partnership of 437 runs against Pakistan in Karachi on February 21, 2009. 

Their gritty display of batting prowess not only helped Sri Lanka dominate the match but also set a new benchmark for 4th wicket partnerships.

Sri Lanka seized control of the match, posting 644/7d. Pakistan responded well, and the match ended in a draw.

1- Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh – 449 runs partnership:

Australia witnessed a historic partnership on December 10, 2015, when Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh combined forces against the West Indies in Hobart. 

Their incredible partnership of 449 runs not only secured a commanding position for Australia but also remains the highest 4th wicket partnership in test.

Australia declared at a mammoth total of 583/4, and the West Indies struggled to match the intensity, ultimately losing by an innings and 212 runs.

List of All the Highest 4th Wicket Partnerships in Test Cricket History

Sr. No.	Partners	Runs	Team	Opposition	Ground	Match Date
1	Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh	449	Australia	v West Indies	Hobart	10-Dec-15
2	Mahela Jayawardene, Tilhan Samaraweera	437	Sri Lanka	v Pakistan	Karachi	21-Feb-09
3	Peter May, Colin Cowdrey	411	England	v West Indies	Birmingham	30-May-57
4	Garry Sobers, Frank Worrell	399	West Indies	v England	Bridgetown	6-Jan-60
5	Bill Ponsford, Don Bradman	388	Australia	v England	Leeds	20-Jul-34
6	Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke	386	Australia	v India	Adelaide	24-Jan-12
7	Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls	369	New Zealand	v Pakistan	Christchurch	3-Jan-21
8	Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane	365	India	v New Zealand	Indore	8-Oct-16
9	Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman	353	India	v Australia	Sydney	2-Jan-04
10	Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke	352	Australia	v Pakistan	Hobart	14-Jan-10
11	Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal	350	Pakistan	v New Zealand	Dunedin	7-Feb-73
12	FDM Karunaratne, DM de Silva	345	Sri Lanka	v Bangladesh	Pallekele	21-Apr-21
13	WM Lawry, KD Walters	336	Australia	v West Indies	Sydney	14-Feb-69
14	Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik	322	Pakistan	v England	Birmingham	4-Jun-92
15	JN Gillespie, MEK Hussey	320	Australia	v Bangladesh	Chattogram	16-Apr-06
16	PD Collingwood, KP Pietersen	310	England	v Australia	Adelaide	1-Dec-06
17	HM Amla, AB de Villiers	308	South Africa	v West Indies	Centurion	17-Dec-14
18	JA Burns, TM Head	308	Australia	v Sri Lanka	Canberra	1-Feb-19
19	Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan	307	Afghanistan	v Zimbabwe	Abu Dhabi	10-Mar-21
20	JE Root, HC Brook	302	England	v New Zealand	Wellington	24-Feb-23
21	M Labuschagne, TM Head	297	Australia	v West Indies	Adelaide	8-Dec-22
22	N Hussain, GP Thorpe	288	England	v Australia	Birmingham	5-Jun-97
23	RT Ponting, MJ Clarke	288	Australia	v India	Sydney	3-Jan-12
24	Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas	287	Pakistan	v India	Faisalabad	3-Jan-83
25	KP Pietersen, IR Bell	286	England	v South Africa	Lord's	10-Jul-08
26	SPD Smith, TM Head	285	Australia	v India	The Oval	7-Jun-23
27	WW Hinds, S Chanderpaul	284	West Indies	v South Africa	Georgetown	31-Mar-05
28	FMM Worrell, ED Weekes	283	West Indies	v England	Nottingham	20-Jul-50
29	SR Tendulkar, SC Ganguly	281	India	v New Zealand	Ahmedabad	29-Oct-99
30	G Gambhir, VVS Laxman	278	India	v Australia	Delhi	29-Oct-08
31	BKG Mendis, AD Mathews	274*	Sri Lanka	v New Zealand	Wellington	15-Dec-18
32	LRPL Taylor, JD Ryder	271	New Zealand	v India	Napier	26-Mar-09
33	JE Root, JM Bairstow	269*	England	v India	Birmingham	1-Jul-22
34	GW Flower, A Flower	269	Zimbabwe	v Pakistan	Harare	31-Jan-95
35	CL Walcott, GE Gomez	267	West Indies	v India	Delhi	10-Nov-48
36	RG Sharma, AM Rahane	267	India	v South Africa	Ranchi	19-Oct-19
37	WR Hammond, TS Worthington	266	England	v India	The Oval	15-Aug-36
38	MH Denness, KWR Fletcher	266	England	v New Zealand	Auckland	20-Feb-75
39	Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim	266	Bangladesh	v Zimbabwe	Mirpur	11-Nov-18
40	V Kohli, AM Rahane	262	India	v Australia	Melbourne	26-Dec-14
41	DP Sibley, BA Stokes	260	England	v West Indies	Manchester	16-Jul-20
42	Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana	259	Pakistan	v England	Karachi	7-Dec-00
43	EJM Cowan, MJ Clarke	259	Australia	v South Africa	Brisbane	9-Nov-12
44	SE Marsh, MEK Hussey	258	Australia	v Sri Lanka	Pallekele	8-Sep-11
45	SC Ganguly, SR Tendulkar	256	India	v Sri Lanka	Wankhede	3-Dec-97
46	Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad	255	Pakistan	v India	Faisalabad	16-Oct-78
47	G Boycott, BL D'Oliveira	252	England	v India	Leeds	8-Jun-67
48	Javed Miandad, Mushtaq Mohammad	252	Pakistan	v New Zealand	Karachi	30-Oct-76
49	GM Wood, CS Serjeant	251	Australia	v West Indies	Georgetown	31-Mar-78
50	RB Kanhai, GS Sobers	250	West Indies	v England	Georgetown	28-Mar-68
51	DS Lehmann, SR Waugh	250	Australia	v Bangladesh	Cairns	25-Jul-03
52	A Sandham, LEG Ames	249	England	v West Indies	Kingston	3-Apr-30
53	SR Tendulkar, SC Ganguly	249	India	v England	Leeds	22-Aug-02
54	JH Kallis, G Kirsten	249	South Africa	v West Indies	Durban	26-Dec-03
55	L Hutton, DCS Compton	248	England	v West Indies	Lord's	24-Jun-39
56	HM Amla, F du Plessis	247	South Africa	v Bangladesh	Bloemfontein	6-Oct-17
57	Javed Miandad, Shoaib Mohammad	246	Pakistan	v India	Lahore	1-Dec-89
58	KC Brathwaite, SD Hope	246	West Indies	v England	Leeds	25-Aug-17
59	MEK Hussey, MJ Clarke	245	Australia	v Sri Lanka	Brisbane	8-Nov-07
60	DG Bradman, A Jackson	243	Australia	v England	The Oval	16-Aug-30
61	MJ Horne, NJ Astle	243	New Zealand	v Zimbabwe	Auckland	26-Feb-98
62	AP Gurusinha, A Ranatunga	240*	Sri Lanka	v Pakistan	Colombo (PSS)	22-Mar-86
63	SP Fleming, CD McMillan	240	New Zealand	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (RPS)	27-May-98
64	EH Hendren, LEG Ames	237	England	v West Indies	Port of Spain	1-Feb-30
65	HA Gomes, CH Lloyd	237	West Indies	v India	Port of Spain	11-Mar-83
66	AL Hassett, KR Miller	235	Australia	v West Indies	Sydney	30-Nov-51
67	RB Richardson, IVA Richards	235	West Indies	v India	Kingston	28-Apr-89
68	Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik	234	Pakistan	v England	The Oval	6-Aug-87
69	AN Cook, PD Collingwood	233	England	v Pakistan	Lord's	13-Jul-06
70	ME Waugh, SR Waugh	231	Australia	v West Indies	Kingston	29-Apr-95
71	AP Gurusinha, A Ranatunga	230	Sri Lanka	v Australia	Colombo (SSC)	17-Aug-92
72	BE Congdon, BF Hastings	229	New Zealand	v Australia	Wellington	1-Mar-74
73	JH Kallis, AB de Villiers	224	South Africa	v India	Centurion	16-Dec-10
74	SPD Smith, AC Voges	223*	Australia	v West Indies	Melbourne	26-Dec-15
75	DI Gower, MW Gatting	223	England	v New Zealand	The Oval	21-Aug-86
76	WR Hammond, E Paynter	222	England	v Australia	Lord's	24-Jun-38
77	VS Hazare, VL Manjrekar	222	India	v England	Leeds	5-Jun-52
78	AN Cook, EJG Morgan	222	England	v India	Birmingham	10-Aug-11
79	V Kohli, AM Rahane	222	India	v Bangladesh	Hyderabad	9-Feb-17
80	Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim	222	Bangladesh	v Zimbabwe	Mirpur	22-Feb-20
81	GHS Trott, SE Gregory	221	Australia	v England	Lord's	22 Jun 1896
82	SR Tendulkar, M Azharuddin	221	India	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (RPS)	2-Aug-97
83	KS Williamson, BB McCullum	221	New Zealand	v India	Auckland	6-Feb-14
84	S Chanderpaul, BP Nash	220	West Indies	v South Africa	Basseterre	18-Jun-10
85	JH Kallis, AG Prince	219	South Africa	v Australia	Sydney	2-Jan-06
86	Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq	218	Pakistan	v Sri Lanka	Abu Dhabi	31-Dec-13
87	RB Kanhai, BF Butcher	217	West Indies	v India	Eden Gardens	31-Dec-58
88	GS Chappell, GN Yallop	217	Australia	v Pakistan	Faisalabad	6-Mar-80
89	CA Pujara, AM Rahane	217	India	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	3-Aug-17
90	RL Dias, LRD Mendis	216	Sri Lanka	v India	Kandy	14-Sep-85
91	LRPL Taylor, HM Nicholls	216	New Zealand	v Bangladesh	Wellington	8-Mar-19
92	NE Bonner, KR Mayers	216	West Indies	v Bangladesh	Chattogram	3-Feb-21
93	HW Taylor, HG Deane	214	South Africa	v England	The Oval	17-Aug-29
94	DM Jones, AR Border	214	Australia	v West Indies	Adelaide	3-Feb-89
95	AJ Strauss, PD Collingwood	214	England	v India	Chennai	11-Dec-08
96	MJ Clarke, SPD Smith	214	Australia	v England	Manchester	1-Aug-13
97	TWM Latham, HM Nicholls	214	New Zealand	v Sri Lanka	Christchurch	26-Dec-18
98	FMM Worrell, CL Walcott	213	West Indies	v India	Kingston	28-Mar-53
99	IR Redpath, KD Walters	210	Australia	v West Indies	Sydney	14-Feb-69
100	RT Ponting, MJ Clarke	210	Australia	v India	Adelaide	24-Jan-08

Data Source: ESPN Cricinfo