cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, the term carry the bat (or carry one's bat) refers to an

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

(no. 1 and 2) who is not dismissed ("not out") when the team

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

is closed. The term is mainly used when the innings closes after all 10

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

s have fallen; that is, the other 10 players in the team have all been dismissed ("out"). It may also be used in situations where one or more of these players retire out or are unable to bat through injury or illness, and the remaining players are all dismissed normally. It is not used, however, in any other situation where the innings closes before all 10 wickets have fallen, such as when it is declared closed, or when the team successfully chases a set run target to win the match.

Origin of the phrase

The term "carrying one's bat" dates back to the very early days of cricket. Initially it referred to any not out batsman, but by the 20th century the term was used exclusively to refer to opening batsmen. The expression comes from a time when the team used to share bats so the outgoing batsman would leave the bat on the crease for the next batsman to use.

Occurrences in international cricket

Carrying one's bat is a relatively rare occurrence in international cricket. In more than 2,000

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

matches, a batsman has carried his bat only 56 times (by 48 batsmen). The first to do so was South African

Bernard Tancred Augustus Bernard Tancred (20 August 1865 – 23 November 1911) was a 19th-century South African Test cricketer. His brothers, Vincent and Louis, also played Test cricket for South Africa. Early life Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, ...

in March 1889, against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region New Zealand * Newlands, Wellington, a suburb of Wellington South Africa * Newlands, Cape Town, a suburb of Cape Town * Newlands, Johannesbur ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, hitting 26 not out (off 91 balls) as his team were bowled out for 47 in their first innings. The most recent player to achieve the feat is Tom Latham, who scored 264 not out against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

at the Basin Reserve on 17 December 2018. South Africa's

Dean Elgar Dean Elgar (born 11 June 1987) is a South African cricketer who plays Tests and ODIs, and is the current Test captain. He is a left-handed opening batsman and a slow-left arm bowler. Elgar captained the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri ...

and the West Indies'

Desmond Haynes Desmond Leo Haynes (born 15 February 1956) is a former Barbadian cricketer and cricket coach who played for the West Indies cricket team between 1978 and 1994. Haynes favoured a more measured approach to batting and scored 7,487 runs in 116 Te ...

are the only men to have carried their bat through three Test innings. In more than 4,000

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s, the feat has been achieved only 12 times, all by different batsmen.

Zimbabwean Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Moza ...

Grant Flower Grant William Flower (born 20 December 1970) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current batting coach of Sri Lanka cricket team and Sussex. He is rated among the best Zimbabwean cricketers in history for his consistent ...

was the first, hitting 84 not out (off 143 balls) in his team's 205 against England at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

on 15 December 1994, while Sri Lanka's

Dimuth Karunaratne Frank Dimuth Madushanka Karunaratne (born 21 April 1988; si, දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න), popularly known as Dimuth Karunaratne, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and current captain of the Sri Lanka Test cricket team. ...

is the most recent scoring 52 not out on June 1, 2019. In

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

s, West Indian

Chris Gayle Christopher Henry Gayle, OD (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who has been playing international cricket for the West Indies since 1999. A destructive batter, Gayle is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen to have play ...

carried his bat during his team's defeat against Sri Lanka in the

ICC World Twenty20 The ICC Men's T20 World Cup (earlier known as ICC World Twenty20) is the international championship of Twenty20. Organised by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 16 teams, comprising t ...

semi-final at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

on 19 June 2009, hitting 63 not out (off 50 balls) in an innings of 101.

Occurrences in other first-class cricket

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

, the record for the highest total by an

opener Opener, Open'er or Openers may refer to: * ''Opener'' (album), an album by 8mm * Opener (baseball), a baseball strategy to use a relief pitcher to start a game * Open'er Festival, a contemporary music festival held in Gdynia, Poland * Bottle opene ...

was set in 1899. International opener

Bobby Abel Robert Abel (30 November 1857 – 10 December 1936), nicknamed "The Guv'nor", was a Surrey and England opening batsman who was one of the most prolific run-getters in the early years of the County Championship. He was the first England player ...

carried his bat through Surrey's innings of 811 against Somerset at The Oval. His contribution alone was 357

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

. This was not broken until

Samit Gohel Samit Gohel (born 13 September 1990) is an Indian first-class cricketer who plays for Tripura. In the quarter-final match of the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy against Odisha, Gohel scored 359 not out, the highest total for someone carrying their bat i ...

playing for

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

made 359 not out in the quarter-finals of the

2016–17 Ranji Trophy The 2016–17 Ranji Trophy was the 83rd season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. Unlike previous seasons, the 2016–17 tournament was played at neutral venues. Captains and coaches were supportive of the ...

in December 2016. The only cricketer ever to bowl a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

and carry his bat in the same match was the Australian

Frank Tarrant Francis Alfred Tarrant (11 December 1880 – 29 January 1951) was an Australian cricketer whose first-class career spanned from 1899 to 1936, and included 329 matches. From Melbourne, Tarrant began his career with Victoria in Australia's Sheff ...

, playing for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

on 26 August 1909. Tarrant hit 55 not out in his team's first innings of 145 and then dismissed

Jack Board John Henry Board (23 February 1867 – 15 April 1924) was an English cricketer who played in six Tests from 1899 to 1906. Jack Board was a wicketkeeper and a right-handed batsman who started out as a tail-ender but developed into a useful play ...

Wilfred Brownlee Wilfred Brownlee (18 April 1890 – 12 October 1914) was an English cricketer. He played for Gloucestershire between 1909 and 1914. While serving as a second lieutenant in the Dorsetshire Regiment, Brownlee died of meningitis before he could ...

and Thomas Langdon in consecutive deliveries in Gloucestershire's second innings.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Cricket terminology