From Charles Bannerman to Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting ended Allan Border's 22-year reign as Australia's leading Test run-scorer when he went past 11,174 career runs during the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston. We took the opportunity to look at who held the record for Australia before Border and Ponting, and the list of progressive record holders for all the other countries. The first column in the tables shows what the record was before the batsman overtook it, the second denotes his career runs after the match in which he broke the record, and the third indicates his aggregate at the end of his last match.

Greg Chappell held Australia's record for nearly three years before Border, and he achieved it in his final Test. Chappell started the Sydney Test against Pakistan in 1984 on 6928, 68 runs short of equalling Don Bradman as Australia's highest run-scorer. At the end of the second day Chappell announced his retirement, on the third he went past Bradman, on the fourth he was dismissed for 182 and became only the third batsman to score a hundred in his first and last Test. Chappell also caught Mohsin Khan in Pakistan's second innings - his 121st catch - and beat Colin Cowdrey's record for the most catches in Tests.

Bradman held the Australian record - 6996 runs - for nearly half a century before Chappell overtook him. Surprisingly, though, Bradman was never the overall highest run-scorer in Tests for he was chasing Jack Hobbs first and then Wally Hammond throughout his career. Bradman played 33 fewer Tests than Hammond and ended his career 253 runs short of the world record.

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for Australia

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
C Bannerman	-	169	239		v England	Melbourne	19 Mar 1877	Test 1
WL Murdoch	239	292	896		v England	Sydney	21 Feb 1882	Test 6
PS McDonnell	292	317	955		v England	Sydney	7 Mar 1882	Test 7
WL Murdoch	317	387	896		v England	Melbourne	14 Mar 1882	Test 8
PS McDonnell	860	876	955		v England	Sydney	1 Mar 1887	Test 26
AC Bannerman	955	964	1108		v England	Lord's	19 Jul 1893	Test 39
G Giffen	1108	1119	1238		v England	Melbourne	6 Mar 1895	Test 46
J Darling	1238	1293	1657		v England	Adelaide	23 Jan 1902	Test 67
SE Gregory	1293	1299	2282		v England	Sydney	18 Feb 1902	Test 68
C Hill	1366	1452	3412		v England	Sheffield	5 Jul 1902	Test 72
DG Bradman	3412	3528	6996		v England	Leeds	24 Jul 1934	Test 236
GS Chappell	6996	7110	7110		v Pakistan	Sydney	6 Jan 1984	Test 974
AR Border	7110	7131	11174		v New Zealand	Adelaide	15 Dec 1987	Test 1084
RT Ponting	11174	11193	11193		v England	Birmingham	03 Aug 2009	Test 1928

Four of England's highest run-getters were also the world-record holders for most Test runs. The national and international records passed on from Hobbs to Hammond and then to Cowdrey, who finished with 7624 runs. Garry Sobers then became the first player outside Australia and England to possess the world record, before Geoffrey Boycott, who had become England's highest run-scorer by passing Cowdrey during the 1981 Ashes, became the fourth and last England batsman to break it. Graham Gooch is the current England record holder, and the closest of the current crop is Andrew Strauss, who has 5101 runs.

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for England

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
H Jupp	-	67	68		v Australia	Melbourne	19 Mar 1877	Test 1
G Ulyett	67	149	949		v Australia	Melbourne	4 Apr 1877	Test 2
A Shrewsbury	798	828	1277		v Australia	Lord's	21 Jul 1886	Test 23
AC MacLaren	1277	1345	1931		v Australia	Melbourne	4 Mar 1902	Test 69
TW Hayward	1543	1609	1999		v Australia	Sydney	3 Mar 1904	Test 81
AC MacLaren	1609	1685	1931		v Australia	Nottingham	31 May 1905	Test 83
TW Hayward	1820	1853	1999		v Australia	Manchester	26 Jul 1905	Test 86
JB Hobbs	1999	2022	5410		v Australia	The Oval	22 Aug 1912	Test 129
WR Hammond	5410	5528	7249		v New Zealand	Lord's	29 Jun 1937	Test 260
MC Cowdrey	7249	7256	7624		v Australia	Brisbane	2 Dec 1970	Test 674
G Boycott	7624	7665	8114		v Australia	Manchester	17 Aug 1981	Test 907
DI Gower	8114	8154	8231		v Pakistan	Manchester	7 Jul 1992	Test 1191
GA Gooch	8231	8293	8900		v Australia	The Oval	23 Aug 1993	Test 1231

South Africa's isolation meant that Bruce Mitchell, who scored 3471, remained their highest run-getter for nearly 52 years. After their re-admittance, however, the record was broken by Gary Kirsten, Hansie Cronje, and Kirsten again, before Jacques Kallis claimed it by going past 7289 during the Antigua Test in 2005. His 147 was one of eight centuries in that Test, a world record for most three-figure scores in a match. Kallis' aggregate is now 10194 and he's still accumulating. Graeme Smith is closest with 6330.

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for South Africa

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
AB Tancred	-	58	87		v England	Port Elizabeth	13 Mar 1889	Test 31
F Hearne	87	91	121		v England	Johannesburg	4 Mar 1896	Test 48
JH Sinclair	121	193	1069		v England	Johannesburg	16 Feb 1899	Test 58
GA Faulkner	927	1108	1754		v Australia	Melbourne	4 Jan 1911	Test 112
AW Nourse	1717	1750	2234		v Australia	Johannesburg	16 Nov 1921	Test 146
HW Taylor	2234	2314	2936		v England	The Oval	20 Aug 1929	Test 185
B Mitchell	2936	2996	3471		v England	The Oval	20 Aug 1947	Test 289
G Kirsten	3471	3476	7289		v New Zealand	Wellington	22 Mar 1999	Test 1452
WJ Cronje	3476	3529	3714		v Zimbabwe	Bloemfontein	1 Nov 1999	Test 1466
G Kirsten	3660	3792	7289		v England	Durban	30 Dec 1999	Test 1480
JH Kallis	7289	7337	10194		v West Indies	St John's	3 May 2005	Test 1750

Brian Lara became West Indies' highest run-scorer in his 98th Test, overtaking Viv Richards' aggregate of 8540 during an innings of 191 in Bulawayo in 2003. Lara overtook Border's world record by scoring a double-century at the Adelaide Oval in 2005, a match in which the world's highest wicket-taker (Shane Warne) bowled to the world's highest run-scorer for the first time since 1886-87, when Fred Spofforth bowled to Arthur Shrewsbury in Sydney. Lara's final total of 11,912 is likely be the West Indies record for a while because the closest contender, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, is 34 and has only 8576.

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for West Indies

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
FR Martin	-	56	486		v England	Lord's	26 Jun 1928	Test 173
CA Roach	175	330	952		v England	Bridgetown	16 Jan 1930	Test 187
GA Headley	561	703	2190		v England	Kingston	12 Apr 1930	Test 193
ED Weekes	2173	2200	4455		v India	Port-of-Spain	25 Feb 1953	Test 367
GS Sobers	4455	4611	8032		v England	Manchester	4 Jun 1966	Test 605
IVA Richards	8032	8053	8540		v Australia	Kingston	6 Mar 1991	Test 1166
BC Lara	8540	8626	11912		v Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	16 Nov 2003	Test 1669

New Zealand's record is held by Stephen Fleming, who went past Martin Crowe's aggregate of 5444 in Chittagong in 2004. Fleming retired from Tests with 7172 runs and it's hard to predict who's going to overtake him because the highest aggregate among the current players is 3212 and it belongs to Daniel Vettori.

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for New Zealand

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
RC Blunt	-	52	330		v England	Christchurch	13 Jan 1930	Test 186
CS Dempster	52	252	723		v England	Wellington	27 Jan 1930	Test 188
B Sutcliffe	723	731	2727		v West Indies	Auckland	19 Feb 1952	Test 350
JR Reid	2335	2469	3428		v England	Christchurch	19 Mar 1963	Test 542
BE Congdon	3428	3443	3448		v England	Nottingham	14 Aug 1978	Test 829
JG Wright	3448	3492	5334		v India	Mumbai	29 Nov 1988	Test 1109
MD Crowe	5334	5341	5444		v South Africa	Durban	30 Dec 1994	Test 1280
SP Fleming	5444	5566	7172		v Bangladesh	Chittagong (MAA)	29 Oct 2004	Test 1717

Sunil Gavaskar became India's highest run-scorer in November 1978 when he overtook Polly Umrigar, who had scored 3631. Gavaskar finished with 10122, having claimed the world record from Boycott when he passed 8144, and his Indian record stood for 27 years until Sachin Tendulkar broke it against Pakistan in Bangalore 2005. Tendulkar has since broken Lara's world record as well.

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for India

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
S Wazir Ali	-	70	237		v England	Lord's	28 Jun 1932	Test 219
L Amarnath	70	156	878		v England	Mumbai	18 Dec 1933	Test 230
CK Nayudu	156	188	350		v England	Kolkata	8 Jan 1934	Test 231
VM Merchant	214	360	859		v England	Manchester	28 Jul 1936	Test 253
VS Hazare	705	737	2192		v West Indies	Mumbai (BS)	13 Dec 1948	Test 305
PR Umrigar	2192	=2192	3631		v West Indies	Chennai	26 Jan 1959	Test 465
PR Umrigar	2192	2268	3631		v West Indies	Delhi	11 Feb 1959	Test 467
SM Gavaskar	3631	3673	10122		v Pakistan	Karachi	19 Nov 1978	Test 833
SR Tendulkar	10122	10134	12773		v Pakistan	Bangalore	28 Mar 2005	Test 1743

Zaheer Abbas had played 17 Tests and scored 1049 runs before Javed Miandad made his Test debut. A few months after Abbas broke the Pakistan record for most runs - Majid Khan's 3931 - in January 1983, Miandad caught up with him. They passed each other several times during the course of the year and Miandad eventually took the record as Abbas' career came to an end at 5062 runs. Miandad claimed the record permanently in the Faisalabad Test against Sri Lanka in 1985 - Abbas' penultimate match - and has held it ever since. Inzamam-ul-Haq came extremely close to breaking it. Playing his final Test innings against South Africa in 2007, Inzamam needed two runs to equal Miandad. He stepped out to Paul Harris, looking to loft him for six, but missed and was stumped on 8830. Among Pakistan's present batsmen, Mohammad Yousuf is closest on 7023 runs.

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for Pakistan

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
Hanif Mohammad	-	52	3915		v India	Delhi	18 Oct 1952	Test 355
Nazar Mohammad	52	158	277		v India	Lucknow	26 Oct 1952	Test 356
Hanif Mohammad	158	197	3915		v India	Mumbai (BS)	16 Nov 1952	Test 357
Waqar Hasan	197	231	1071		v India	Chennai	1 Dec 1952	Test 358
Hanif Mohammad	433	449	3915		v England	Manchester	27 Jul 1954	Test 389
Waqar Hasan	468	563	1071		v India	Dhaka	4 Jan 1955	Test 394
Hanif Mohammad	563	665	3915		v India	Bahawalpur	18 Jan 1955	Test 395
Waqar Hasan	746	927	1071		v New Zealand	Lahore	31 Oct 1955	Test 414
Hanif Mohammad	941	1251	3915		v West Indies	Bridgetown	23 Jan 1958	Test 446
Majid Khan	3915	3931	3931		v England	Leeds	31 Aug 1982	Test 933
Zaheer Abbas	3931	3992	5062		v India	Faisalabad	8 Jan 1983	Test 945
Javed Miandad	4095	4157	8832		v India	Jalandhar	29 Sep 1983	Test 962
Zaheer Abbas	4157	4229	5062		v India	Nagpur	10 Oct 1983	Test 963
Javed Miandad	4229	4263	8832		v Australia	Perth	14 Nov 1983	Test 966
Zaheer Abbas	4263	4318	5062		v Australia	Brisbane	29 Nov 1983	Test 969
Javed Miandad	4318	4405	8832		v Australia	Adelaide	13 Dec 1983	Test 970
Zaheer Abbas	4405	4458	5062		v Australia	Melbourne	30 Dec 1983	Test 973
Javed Miandad	5058	5247	8832		v Sri Lanka	Faisalabad	21 Oct 1985	Test 1026

Sanath Jayasuriya broke the Sri Lankan record when he passed Aravinda de Silva's 6361 in Karachi in 2004, and held on to it until he retired after the Kandy Test against England in 2007. In the very next match, though, at the SSC, Mahela Jayawardene broke Jayasuriya's record of 6973 during his innings of 195. Jayawardene is currently on 8418 and is likely to stay ahead of his nearest competitor, Kumar Sangakkara, who's on 7095.

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for Sri Lanka

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
RL Dias	-	77	1285		v England	Colombo (PSS)	21 Feb 1982	Test 921
S Wettimuny	149	270	1221		v Pakistan	Faisalabad	19 Mar 1982	Test 925
RL Dias	270	372	1285		v Pakistan	Lahore	27 Mar 1982	Test 927
S Wettimuny	677	819	1221		v England	Lord's	28 Aug 1984	Test 994
RL Dias	832	906	1285		v India	Colombo (PSS)	11 Sep 1985	Test 1024
LRD Mendis	906	1036	1329		v India	Kandy	19 Sep 1985	Test 1025
RL Dias	1036	1068	1285		v Pakistan	Faisalabad	21 Oct 1985	Test 1026
A Ranatunga	1144	1191	5105		v Pakistan	Colombo (PSS)	27 Mar 1986	Test 1043
PA de Silva	4019	4220	6361		v India	Colombo (SSC)	13 Aug 1997	Test 1376
ST Jayasuriya	6361	6388	6973		v Pakistan	Karachi	1 Nov 2004	Test 1719
DPMD Jayawardene	6973	7058	8418		v England	Colombo (SSC)	13 Dec 2007	Test 1853

Andy Flower's aggregate of 4794 when his career ended after he protested against the Mugabe regime in 2003 remains the Zimbabwe record, while Bangladesh's highest run-scorer is former captain Habibul Bashar who ended with 3026.

Most Runs in Tests for Zimbabwe - Progressive Record Holders

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
DL Houghton	-	162	1464		v India	Harare	22 Oct 1992	Test 1197
KJ Arnott	162	203	302		v New Zealand	Bulawayo	5 Nov 1992	Test 1198
A Flower	281	341	4794		v India	Delhi	17 Mar 1993	Test 1218
ADR Campbell	425	472	2858		v Pakistan	Rawalpindi	14 Dec 1993	Test 1240
A Flower	472	499	4794		v Pakistan	Lahore	21 Dec 1993	Test 1241
DL Houghton	525	687	1464		v Sri Lanka	Bulawayo	24 Oct 1994	Test 1271
GW Flower	1395	1430	3457		v New Zealand	Harare	22 Sep 1997	Test 1378
A Flower	1991	2013	4794		v India	Harare	10 Oct 1998	Test 1425
GW Flower	2013	2037	3457		v Pakistan	Peshawar	30 Nov 1998	Test 1430
A Flower	2037	2090	4794		v Pakistan	Lahore	14 Dec 1998	Test 1432

Progressive record holders for most runs in Tests for Bangladesh

Player	Record	Runs	Career		Opposition	Ground	Match End	Scorecard
Aminul Islam	-	151	530		v India	Dhaka	13 Nov 2000	Test 1512
Habibul Bashar	246	265	3026		v Zimbabwe	Harare	30 Apr 2001	Test 1545