Remember the name, as the saying goes. Because apart from hardcore county cricket fans, not that many would have been aware of Leicestershire’s 27-year-old Scunthorpe-born Louis Kimber. That is emphatically no longer the case as county cricket kept both the underwhelming Twenty20 World Cup and the equally uninspiring (for England fans at least) Euros away from the headlines as Kimber almost pulled off a sensational victory against Sussex and broke a raft of records in the process.
You can read the match report from Hove on our website but we thought it was worth celebrating Kimber’s heroics in full, and putting them in historical context.
Kimber numbers
104 – Kimber’s previous highest score was 104, his only other first-class century
29.52 – Before his 243, Kimber averaged 24.46 in 30 first-class games. He now averages 29.52
43 – It is the second most runs off an over in all first-class cricket
243 – This was the fourth highest score by a No.8 in all first-class cricket
239 –His stand with Ben Cox of 239 in just 27 overs is a Leicestershire eighth-wicket record, Cox contributing 34 runs to it
206 –Kimber struck 206 runs in boundaries, at 84.7% the highest percentage in an innings where 200 runs have been hit in boundaries
200 (100) – Kimber hit the second fastest double hundred (in terms of balls) in all first-class cricket, and the fastest in the County Championship
21 –He hit the fourth most sixes in innings in all first-class cricket
THE FASTEST COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLE HUNDREDS
100 balls – Louis Kimber Sussex v Leicestershire, 2024
123 balls – Aneurin Donald Glamorgan v Derbyshire, 2016
128 balls – Damien Martyn Yorkshire v Gloucestershire, 2003
134 balls – Ian Blackwell Somerset v Derbyshire, 2003
141 balls – Graham Lloyd Essex v Lancashire, 1996
MOST SIXES IN A COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP INNINGSINGS
21 – Louis Kimber (2024)
17 – Ben Stokes (2022)
16 – Andrew Symonds (1995), Graham Napier (2011)
15 – Kevin Pietersen (2015), Aneurin Donald (2016), Darren Stevens (2021)21)
14 – David Hussey (2007)
13 – Gordon Greenidge (1975), Geoff Humpage (1982)
12 – Ian Botham (1985), Roger Harper (1986), Graham Lloyd (1996)
11 – Charles Barnett (1934), Graeme Hick (1988), Carl Hooper (2003), Ian Blackwell (2003), Graeme Smith (2005), Murray Goodwin (2006), Mark Pettini (2006), Martin Guptill (2015), Graham Wagg (2015)
10 – Harry Simms (1912), Herbert Sutcliffe (1933), William Stewart (1959), Ian Botham (1980, 1982, 1985), Graeme Fowler (1983), Viv Richards (1985), Brian Lara (1994), Carl Hooper (1994), Graham Lloyd (1997), Ali Orr (2022)
DOUBLE HUNDREDS BATTING AT NO.8 IN THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
243 – Louis Kimber Sussex v Leicestershire, 2024
200 – Dominic Cork Derbyshire v Durham, 2000
200 – Graham Wagg Surrey v Glamorgan, 2015
MOST RUNS CONCEDED OFF AN OVER IN THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
43 – Ollie Robinson to Louis Kimber 2024
38 – Alex Tudor to Andrew Flintoff 1998
38 – Shoaib Bashir to Dan Lawrence (and Dan Worrall) 2024
36 – Malcolm Nash to Garfield Sobers 1968
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