Arthur Collins is not a big name in First-Class cricket. The Englishman did not have a long career but is an immortal figure in the sport for his unbeaten 628-run knock at the age of 13. Batting in a school game in June 1899, the Hazaribagh-born cricketer created a record was not broken for another 116 years.
Collins achieved this feat during a junior school house cricket match between Clark's House and North Town House. The ground was very unusual on which this match was played.
The venue which witnessed history
The surface was poor and the shape of ground was quite uncommon. It was just 55m long and 60m away from one boundary side, while the other side was a gentle slope falling away towards the school sanatorium in the distance. The pitch occupied the central 22 yards (20 m) of the narrow field, with the boundary only 17 yards (16 m) behind each set of stumps. The ball which was hit towards long boundary, down the slope, was awarded full runs but the ball hitting three short boundaries was counted for just two runs.
Mountain of runs
Collins, a right-handed batter, won the toss for his team, Clarke’s House and elected to bowl first. He opened the innings at 3:30 in afternoon and at the end of day’s play, Collins had scored 200 runs. Collins offered three chances to dismiss him, but the opposition team was not able to grab them.
On the next day, Collins continued to bat on and after adding another 150 runs to his overnight score of 200. Spectators cheered as he was eying on the school record of 404 runs. The people around got curious about the feat and started joining the match. Eventually, he beat the record and at the end of second day’s play, Collins was unbeaten on 509.
Collins was all over the newspaper next day. There was a two-day break after the second day. When the match resumed, Collins picked off where he left and added to his tally of runs till 628 in next two days. His knock of unbeaten 628 consisted of one six, four fives, 31 fours, 33 threes, 146 twos and 87 singles.
Collins carried his bat as Clark’s House scored 836 in their first innings. They restricted North Town for 87 and went on to win the match by an innings and 688 run after wrapping up Town’s second innings for mere 61.
The batter who broke the record
In 2016, Pranav Dhanawade, an Indian boy scored 1009 in single innings and set a new record.
