What 17 November Tells Us About Cricket

Four of the Test matches played on 17 November across different years produced more than one entry in the record lists. In 2016, Virat Kohli's 167 and Cheteshwar Pujara's 119 for India against England came with Pujara and Murali Vijay both passing 3000 Test runs and Ravichandran Ashwin taking 5/67. In 2005, Michael Hussey's 137 and Dwayne Bravo's 113 for Australia against West Indies arrived alongside Bravo's 500th Test run and Fidel Edwards' 50th Test wicket. In 2000, Jacques Kallis's 160 against New Zealand coincided with his 12000th Test run and Allan Donald's 300th Test wicket. Milestones and big scores on this date rarely stand alone.

New Zealand have met Pakistan on this date in both 2014 and 2016, producing Tom Latham's 137 and Sarfraz Ahmed's 112 the first time, then Colin de Grandhomme's 6/41, Neil Wagner's 100th Test wicket and Sami Aslam's 500th Test run the second. The date has also thrown up bowlers taking two five-wicket hauls in a single match: Rangana Herath took 6/43 and 5/65 for Sri Lanka against New Zealand in 2012, and Mushtaq Ahmed took 5/35 and 5/71 for Pakistan against West Indies in 1997. Both figures sit in the bowling list as separate entries from the same contest.

Away from the headline Tests, 17 November has become a fixed date on the Women's Big Bash League calendar, with matches recorded in the 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons. The BPL's biggest innings on this date, from Mithun Ali, BMAJ Mendis and Zakir Hasan, both come from its early years, 2016 and 2017. In 2022, the international list is almost entirely associate nations: Oman, Bahrain, Rwanda, Lesotho, Botswana, Saudi Arabia, Mali, Kenya, St Helena and Seychelles all played T20Is on the date, while 2025 added Pakistan v Afghanistan and A-team fixtures involving Hong Kong, Sri Lanka A, Afghanistan A and Bangladesh A.