Cricket round the clock

This Sunday, August 6, will see a first in the history of cricket: five full international matches will be played on the same day. Sri Lanka host South Africa in Colombo, Zimbabwe take on Bangladesh in Harare, England play Pakistan at Headingley, Scotland face the Netherlands at Ayr, and Canada square off against Kenya at Toronto. A die-hard buff would be able to stay tuned to live action - if all the matches were available on TV - from 0500 GMT to 2200 GMT. Spare a thought for those who have to cover all the games ... This week, we look at most runs, wickets and matches on a calendar day.

The format of the first three World Cups in 1975, 1979 and 1983 was such that the group stage had four matches on a single day, equal to the most number of games on a day to date. And since the matches at the time were of 120 overs each, it's no surprise that they dominate the lists for most runs and wickets. The opening day of the 1983 World Cup totalled 1958 runs - a record that still stands- with four scores in excess of 250 and upset victories for Zimbabwe against Australia , and India against West Indies.

After the 1983 World Cup, the next time we had four matches on a day was on Feb 20 1994 - soon after the readmittance of South Africa and the elevation of Zimbabwe which took the number of Full Members from seven to nine.

Most international runs on a single day

Date	Mat	Tests	ODIs	T20Is	Runs	Wkts
9 Jun 1983	4	0	4	0	1958	53
18 Jun 1983	4	0	4	0	1880	55
11 Jun 1975	4	0	4	0	1832	51
13 Jun 1983	4	0	4	0	1720	53
14 Jun 1975	4	0	4	0	1702	60
27 Mar 1999	4	1	3	0	1627	58
6 Mar 1996	3	0	3	0	1622	41
7 Jun 1975	4	0	4	0	1559	48
25 Feb 2006	3	0	3	0	1529	43
10 Dec 2005	3	1	2	0	1520	32

The most wickets on a day, 60, fell during the 1975 World Cup on June 14; England beat East Africa by 196 runs , New Zealand beat India by four wickets, West Indies beat Australia by seven wickets, and Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 192 runs.

Most international wickets on a single day

Date	Mat	Tests	ODIs	T20Is	Runs	Wkts
14 Jun 1975	4	0	4	0	1702	60
27 Mar 1999	4	1	3	0	1627	58
18 Jun 1983	4	0	4	0	1880	55
20 Jun 1983	4	0	4	0	1503	54
16 Jun 1979	4	0	4	0	1221	53
9 Jun 1983	4	0	4	0	1958	53
13 Jun 1983	4	0	4	0	1720	53
11 Jun 1983	4	0	4	0	1421	52
27 Feb 1996	3	0	3	0	1214	52
11 Jun 1975	4	0	4	0	1832	51

The busiest months have been between December and March when it's cricket season in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and on the subcontinent. Because the Boxing Day Test and the New Year's Test are traditional fixtures, the first five days of the year dominate the table for most cricket on a particular day - primarily at Melbourne (31 Tests), Sydney (21 Tests) for Australia, and at Cape Town (23 Tests) for South Africa.

May has had the least amount of cricket but that is changing with England starting their season earlier over recent years and West Indies finishing theirs much later. So far, all the 366 days of the year have had at least a day's Test cricket and only four days in August - 8, 10, 11 and 13 - have never had an ODI. That number should fall to two with August 8 and 10 scheduled to host ODIs this year.

Most days with play on a specific date

Date	Span	Num	Mat	Tests	ODIs	T20Is	Runs	Wkts
2 Jan	1879-2006	71	89	84	6	0	23351	704
3 Jan	1879-2006	68	99	91	8	0	23841	817
4 Jan	1879-2006	62	85	79	6	0	20110	655
5 Jan	1885-2006	53	69	62	7	0	15810	554
1 Jan	1883-2003	51	62	54	8	0	15571	499
26 Dec	1913-2005	49	73	67	6	0	17287	563
27 Dec	1913-2005	48	73	70	3	0	17901	533
29 Jan	1883-2006	45	53	43	10	0	13966	463
14 Dec	1894-2005	45	53	48	5	0	13254	423
4 Mar	1882-2006	44	53	42	11	0	12241	447

In terms of numbers, this Sunday's line-up has the advantage to smash the records for most runs and wickets in a day but given the quality of some of the teams playing, it will be tough to top 1958 runs and 60 wickets. We'll just have to wait and see...