Cricket Records Set on 18 January

Shubman Gill's 208 off 149 balls for India against New Zealand in 2023 is the highest score recorded on this date, and the same match produced Michael Bracewell's 140 off 78 for New Zealand, making it the richest single fixture for run-scoring on 18 January. AB de Villiers' 149 off just 44 balls against West Indies in 2015, struck alongside Hashim Amla's 153 and Rilee Rossouw's 128 in the same innings, shows the date has also produced some of the fastest scoring on record, even if Gill's knock carries the bigger overall total.

Phil Mead's 181 for England against South Africa in 1923 and John Reid's 148 off 427 balls for New Zealand against Pakistan in 1985 sit at the other end of the scale from the modern ODI explosions, both built on long occupation of the crease rather than power hitting. The gap between Reid's 427-ball innings and de Villiers' 44-ball 149 illustrates how differently the same calendar date has been used to build big scores across different formats and decades.

Test bowling on 18 January has produced strong figures too, with Anil Kumble's 7/59 against Sri Lanka in 1994, Phil Tufnell's 7/47 against New Zealand in 1992 and Phil Edmonds' 7/66 against Pakistan in 1978. In limited-overs cricket, Yuzvendra Chahal's 6/42 and Mitchell Starc's 6/43, both in ten overs against India, show the ball can dominate short-format games on this date as well, even as Will Jacks' 101 off 42 for Pretoria Capitals in SA20 2024 keeps the T20 scales tilted towards the bat.