Run feast in Sharjah: first Test ever with three 500-plus totals

The Sharjah Test between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, a festival of runs, ended in a draw. Neither side could win, but it produced a pile of astonishing records.

Zimbabwe became the first team in Test cricket to score more than 500 runs in both innings of a match. Their total of 1,027 runs is the fourth-highest by any team in a single Test, and they are the seventh team to pass 1,000 runs in a match.

The Sharjah Test between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe is the first Test match in which there were three team totals of more than 500. Such a thing had happened before, but only in first-class cricket — and only twice: the 1948-49 Ranji Trophy semi-final between Maharashtra and Bombay, and the 2001 County Championship match between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Seven different centuries were scored in the Sharjah Test. Only the 11th men's Test has seen seven or more individual centuries. Only two Tests have seen more — eight centuries each in the 2005 Antigua Test between West Indies and South Africa and the 2013 Galle Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

At 40 years and 272 days, Brendan Taylor became the second-oldest player to win the player-of-the-match award in a men's Test. Graham Gooch holds the record, scoring 210 against New Zealand in 1994 at 40 years and 314 days.

Craig Ervine, aged 41 years and 78 days during the Sharjah Test, became the third-oldest player to score a double century in Tests. Above him are Eric Rowen, aged 42 years and 6 days against England in 1951, and Jack Hobbs, who scored 211 against South Africa in 1924 at 41 years and 195 days. Ervine became Zimbabwe's oldest Test centurion.

Including Ervine, five players have scored double centuries for Zimbabwe. Andy Flower was the country's first double-centurion, with an unbeaten 232 against India in Nagpur. Ervine's 206 is now Zimbabwe's third-highest score.

Taylor, Brian Bennett and Wesley Madhevere each scored a century and a fifty in Sharjah. Zimbabwe became only the second team to see three players score a century and a fifty in the same Test.

Brian Bennett became the seventh batter to score a century and a fifty-plus innings on Test debut as captain. He is the second Zimbabwean to achieve the feat after Taylor, against Bangladesh in 2011.

Ziaur Rahman conceded 343 runs across the two innings of the Sharjah Test, making him the third-most expensive bowler in a Test match. Above him are Tommy Scott, who conceded 374 against England in the 1930 Kingston Test, and Jason Krejza, who conceded 358 against India in the 2008 Nagpur Test. Zia became the first bowler to concede more than 150 runs in both innings of a Test match.

For only the third time in a Test, multiple centuries came from batters over 40. In the 1926 Lord's Test, Warren Bardsley and Hobbs scored centuries, both aged 43, while Charles Macartney, celebrating his 40th birthday during the same Test, also scored a century. In the 2014 Abu Dhabi Test, Misbah-ul-Haq scored two centuries against Australia — the first and last such feat by a batter over 40.