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 (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 wickets 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 In the sport of cricket, a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture occurs when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings without batting. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 15 of the ''Laws of ...

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 2,500 Test matches, a batsman has carried his bat only 57 times (by 49 batsmen). The first to do so was

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

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, Ta ...

in March 1889, against England at

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 ...

in Cape Town, hitting 26 not out (off 91 balls) as his team were bowled out for 47 in their first innings. South Africa's Dean Elgar and the West Indies' Desmond Haynes are the only men to have carried their bat through three Test innings. In more than 4,600

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 13 times, all by different batsmen. Zimbabwean Grant Flower 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

Temba Bavuma Temba Bavuma (born 17 May 1990) is a South African international cricketer who currently is the captain of the South African cricket team in white-ball cricket. He also vice-captains South Africa in Test cricket. He is a right-handed batter an ...

was the most recent on September 7, 2023. In more than 2,700 Twenty20 Internationals, the feat has been achieved only 3 times, all by different batsmen. West Indian Chris Gayle was the first batsman to carry his bat in a T20I, which he did in a defeat against Sri Lanka in the ICC World Twenty20 semi-final at The Oval on 19 June 2009, hitting 63 not out (off 50 balls) in an innings of 101.

Occurrences in other first-class cricket

In first-class cricket, 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 carried his bat through Surrey's innings of 811 against Somerset at The Oval. His contribution alone was 357 not out. 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 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 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 against Gloucestershire 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