In 1997, the first in a series of two cricket games between India and Sri Lanka included the highest total ever reached by one side in one innings of a test match. How many runs did the top-scoring Sri Lankans accumulate?
A) 352 B) 552 C) 752 D) 952 ü
In a test match, each team of eleven players is allowed two innings, in each of which every player on the team may have the opportunity to bat. A score of 100 or more (a “century”) by a single batsman is a notable but not rare achievement, and occasionally a top player may tally several hundred runs. Team totals between 200 to 400 runs are therefore routine. Such factors as the state of the “pitch” (the 22-yard strip on which the central action of the game takes place) and the weather play a pivotal role in cricket, however, and when conditions favor the batting side very large scores can be accumulated. It does take time to make all those runs, so such high-scoring games almost always end in a draw because two innings cannot be completed within the five-day span of the match. That was the case in this contest: the Sri Lankans achieved a record but not a victory.
