Cricket Records Set on 26 October

The 1955 Pakistan v New Zealand Test produced two of this date's leading scores: Imtiaz Ahmed's 209 (28x4), the highest on the list, and Waqar Hasan's 189 (30x4) in the same match. Stephen Fleming's 202 off 318 in the Bangladesh v New Zealand Test of 2004 is the only other double century. Older innings favoured patience, shown by Graham Yallop's 167 off 392 in the India v Australia Test of 1979 and Jim Burke's 161 in the India v Australia Test of 1956, scored without a four or a six. Modern cricket shows the opposite approach: Harry Brook's 135 off 101 in the New Zealand v England ODI of 2025 included 11 sixes, and Soumya Sarkar's 117 off 92 in the Bangladesh v Zimbabwe ODI of 2018 included six sixes.

The 1990 Pakistan v New Zealand Test went the other way for the bowlers: Chris Pringle took 7/52 in 16 overs and Waqar Younis followed with 7/76 in 30.20 overs plus 5/54 in 23.50 overs, giving the match three five-wicket hauls. Ravindra Pushpakumara's 7/116 in 35.40 overs for the Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka Test of 1994 is the only other seven-wicket return. Daniel Vettori took 6/70 in 32.20 overs and 6/100 in 28.20 overs in the Bangladesh v New Zealand Test of 2004, the same match as Fleming's double century. In white-ball cricket, Abass Gbla's 5/16 in 4 overs for the Nigeria v Sierra Leone T20I of 2021 and Matthew Hart's 5/22 in 10 overs for the New Zealand v West Indies ODI of 1994 stand out.

Beyond international cricket, the WBBL supplies the T20 league scores for this date, led by Chamari Athapaththu's 80 off 54 for MR-W v ST-W in 2023/24 and Grace Harris's 57 off 46 for HH-W v BH-W in 2021/22, both well short of the international totals above. Across the full list, the balance tilts toward bat: twelve individual scores appear among the international innings, compared with ten best bowling returns, only three of which, Pringle's 7/52, Waqar Younis's 7/76 and Pushpakumara's 7/116, reach seven wickets. The date's sharpest contrasts sit within single matches, from Pakistan v New Zealand in 1990 to Bangladesh v New Zealand in 2004, where bat and ball excelled together.