Highest 10th-wicket partnership to win a first-class match

Kusal Perera and Vishwa Fernando (both Sri Lanka) plundered an unbeaten 78 runs against South Africa in a Test match at Kingsmead in Durban, South Africa, on 16 February 2019. Middle-order batsman Perera did the lion’s share of the work with 67 runs as he finished the contest on a man-of-the-match-winning 153 not out; tail-ender Fernando chipped in with 6 not out from 27 balls as Sri Lanka defied the odds to reach their target and win the first match of the series by 1 wicket.

Sri Lanka were reduced to 226 for 9 in the 70th over against a bowling attack that included Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada, but three balls into the 86th over Perera and Fernando had seen them home on 304 for 9.

The partnership smashed the previous Test record of 57, set by Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed for Pakistan against Australia in Karachi, Pakistan, on 2 October 1994, and surpassed the first-class record of 77, set on 4 February 1936 by Tom Leather and 44-year-old Ron Oxenham, playing for the Australians against Madras in Chennai, India. England came close to toppling the mark at Headingley on 25 August 2019 when Ben Stokes and last man Jack Leach won the Third Test against Australia with a 10th-wicket stand of 76.