and a tie is now recognised only where the scores are level and the side batting fourth is dismissed. Highest totals Qualification: 900. Lowest totals Qualification: 15. Highest totals in the fourth innings Qualification: 510. Individual records Individual records (batting) Highest individual score The highest individual score in first-class cricket is 501* scored by Brian Lara for Warwickshire in 1994. There have been ten other scores of 400 or more, including another by Lara and two by Bill Ponsford. Scorecards began to be kept regularly from the 1772 season which is now seen as the commencement of the statistical first-class record, though historical first-class cricket began a century earlier. There is no certainty of a complete statistical record of any season until well into the 19th century, which is why Roy Webber and others have been reluctant to begin their first-class cricket statistics before the 1864 season, notwithstanding the official commencement of first-class cricket in 1895. The earliest century definitely recorded in a match generally regarded as first-class is the 136 scored by John Small in the 1775 season (see below). There can be little doubt that centuries had been scored before this but the records are either lost or the known details are incomplete. Some of the main instances of high scoring prior to 1772 are as follows: 1744 – John Harris scored 47 for Slindon v. London at the Artillery Ground in the match which has left the oldest known scorecard. This is the earliest match from which individual scores are known. The oldest known team scores date from 1731. 1745 – Richard Newland scored 88 for All-England v. Kent at the Artillery Ground, almost certainly in the second innings of the match, but there is a slight possibility that it was his match total. This is the highest known score recorded prior to the introduction c.1760 of the pitched delivery and the straight bat. 1767 – two Hampshire batsmen (believed to have been Tom Sueter and either George Leer or Edward "Curry" Aburrow) recorded a first-wicket partnership of 192 against Surrey, but there is no record of their individual scores, although at least one of the batsmen probably made a personal century. It is the earliest known century partnership. 1768 – John Small scored "above seven score notches" for Hampshire v Kent, but it is not known if this was his match total or his performance in