610 not out

[worbod]

Has anybody ever heard of this innings played by an Australian batsman during the 1905-06 season?

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5003509/926570

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174716737/19388248

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104771104

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/172818482


It has never been listed in Wisden or even the NSWCA Yearbooks, which for many years ran a list of highest scores in minor cricket. If the innings never occurred, why was it reported in a variety of newspapers?
I have Googled the Avenue Cricket Club and Alexandra Cricket Club, as well as the Yarra District Cricket Association, but there is no mention of this innings or player in any of their History links. The only results on Google I came across are the four Trove articles above.

 

[Richard Pryor]

Hmm, first link says the team total was 1009. Coincidence or conspiracy?

The thing on the rules of scoring from the first link is probably why it didn't get much traction: "The total however, was achieved partly through the scoring rules allowing unlimited runs from any hit, even in the case of a lost ball."

 

[Richard Pryor]

The innings rates a mention in this article which has a retrospective of gargantuan scores: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/154814021

 

[worbod]

The thing on the rules of scoring from the first link is probably why it didn't get much traction: "The total however, was achieved partly through the scoring rules allowing unlimited runs from any hit, even in the case of a lost ball."

Perhaps this innings of 610 has the same status as that other innings over 1000 when the Indian boy who made 1045 last year was not permitted to overtake the previous score of 1009 because the Under-14 Navi Mumbai Shield invitational cricket tournament in which he played is not recognized by Mumbai Cricket Association.

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

That rule is amusing to think about. So you tonk it into the car park and it gets lost in the back of a ute and then you just run between the wickets until you’re stuffed.


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[worbod]

Another large innings which will never feature in any record book was 777 not out by George Gunn who played 15 Tests for England. On Gunn's home ground of Trent Bridge in 1919 a local amateur cricketer challenged Gunn to a single wicket match for 100 pounds, which may be more in the vicinity of 2500 pounds today. Gunn agreed to play but only if the stake was cut to a fiver. The match was to begin at five in the evenings and each session last two and a half hours.
Gunn won the toss and batted and made it to 300 not out by half past seven. The next evening he reached 620. He declined the suggestion to declare and after 90 minutes on the third evening the amateur finally gave up, disappeared into the Trent Bridge Inn and was never seen again. Gunn never saw his fiver either and it's interesting to think how vibrant umpire David Shepherd would have been with a septuple Nelson on the board.

 

[worbod]

On the website of the Association of Cricket Statisticians they have uploaded all volumes of "Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game" which was a magazine-like publication that ran between 1882 and 1914. On page 44 of the 1906 collection it seems to confirm that the innings of 610 not out is most likely not to be taken seriously due to the dubious scoring rules which were allowed (read the three snippets in the third column).

Cricket 1906

archive.acscricket.com