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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

Travis Basevi and George Binoy
Nairobi will host the first-ever ODI to be played on August 13 when Kenya take on Bangladesh © Getty Images

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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...

Full tables available here

Note: Rest days and days rained off with no play have been excluded.

If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.

Travis Basevi is the man who built Statsguru. George Binoy is editorial assistant of Cricinfo