The known history of cricket game starts from late 16th century. However, the game is believed to have been played since 13th century. The sport has gone through a lot of changes as far as the playing rules are concerned and is still experiencing new and innovative modifications in recent times too.

To be frank, cricket has always been a sort of funny game. There have been many instances of the funnier side of this sport and one of which we will be going through in this piece.

Story behind 286 runs in 1 ball

Yes, you read it right, 286 runs from 1 ball.

Way back in 1865, an interesting passage of play is believed to have occurred in a cricket field. Pall Mall Gazette, an English newspaper based in London is believed to be the originator of this story.

The ‘Sporting Notes and News’ section of the newspaper in 15th January 1894 has reported the event that happened in a match between Victoria and scratch XI from the neighbourhood.

The exact report published goes like this :

"Western Australia is advancing rapidly, but it seems to be still a little behind in the matter of scientific cricket. A match was recently played at Bonbury, Western Australia, between the Victorian team and a scratch XI from the neighbourhood. The 'gumsuckers' went in first, and the first ball bowled was skied into a three-pronged branch of a tall jarrah tree. The home team cried 'lost ball', but the umpire ruled that as it was in sight it could not be lost. The Victorians started running, while the West Australians sent for an axe to cut down the tree. No axe being obtainable, somebody brought out a rifle, and the ball, after numerous misses, was shot down. The score on the one hit was 286, and the Victorians 'stood' [declared] on that, and put the other side in. The Victorians won."

As the report says, Victorians went in to bat and the first ball was hit into the branches of a tall jarrah tree which was inside the ground. The home team appealed for a ‘lost ball’, but the umpires could see the exact spot where the ball was stuck and refused to declare the ball ‘lost’.

The Victorians kept running between the wickets as the bowling side tried an axe followed by a rifle to bring the ball back in the ground. At the time they succeeded to bring ball down, the batsmen had completed 286 runs by running between the wickets.

Fairy Tale or Reality ?

The feat of 286 runs from 1 ball was covered initially by Pall Mall Gazette followed by some other Australian newspapers. But most of the coverage were filled with scepticism rather than the fact. 

In addition, the match was played in Australia but the inital coverage was done by a magazine from England. This definitely adds more scepticism perspective to this event.

The degree of weirdness in the feat is equal to the acceptance of this feat. Since, we can't find a concrete evidence and proof of the event happenning in reality, this has to be termed a fairy tale.