Kumar Sangakkara [ Images ] and Mahela Jayawardene [ Images ] by adding 624 runs for the third wicket in the Colombo Test against South Africa [ Images ] established and broke many records. We take a look:

This is now the highest partnership for any wicket in all first-class cricket obliterating the previous highest of 577 runs for the fourth wicket between Vijay Hazare and Gul Mahomed for Baroda v Holkar in 1946-47. Incidentally the previous highest partnership for the third wicket was of 467 runs between Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe for New Zealand [ Images ] against Sri Lanka [ Images ] at Wellington in 1990-91.

The following table lists the highest partnerships in all first-class cricket matches:

Highest partnerships in first-class cricket

Runs	Wkt	Batsmen	Teams	Venue	Season
624	3rd	KC Sangakkara & DPMD Jayawardene	Sri Lanka v South Africa	Colombo SSC	2006
577	4th	VS Hazare & Gul Mahomed	Baroda v Holkar	Baroda	1946-47
576	2nd	ST Jayasuriya & RS Mahanama	Sri Lanka v India [ Images ]	Colombo RPS	1997-98
574*	4th	FMM Worrell & CL Walcott	Barbados v Trinidad	Port-of-Spain	1945-46
561	1st	Waheed Mirza & Mansoor Akhtar	Karachi Whites v Quetta	Karachi	1976-77
555	1st	P Holmes & H Sutcliffe	Yorkshire v Essex	Leyton	1932
554	1st	JT Brown & J Tunnicliffe	Yorkshire v Derbyshire	Chesterfield	1898
502*	4th	FMM Worrell & JDC Goddard	Barbados v Trinidad	Bridgetown	1943-44

The previous highest partnership for any wicket in Test cricket was of 576 runs for the second wicket between Sanath Jayasuriya [ Images ] and Roshan Mahanama for Sri Lanka against India at Colombo (RPS) in 1997-98.

Highest partnerships in Test cricket

Runs	Wkt	Batsmen		For	Vs	Venue	Season
624	3rd	K Sangakkara	DPMD Jayawardene	SL	SA	Colombo (SSC)	2006
576	2nd	ST Jayasuriya	RS Mahanama	SL	Ind	Colombo (RPS)	1997-98
467	3rd	AH Jones	MD Crowe	NZ	SL	Wellington	1990-91
451	3rd	Mudassar Nazar	Javed Miandad [ Images ]	Pak	Ind	Hyderabad (Niaz)	1982-83
451	2nd	WH Ponsford	DG Bradman	Aus	Eng	The Oval	1934
446	2nd	CC Hunte	GStA Sobers	WI	Pak	Kingston [ Images ]	1957-58
438	2nd	MS Atapattu	KC Sangakkara	SL	Zim	Bulawayo (QSC)	2003-04
429*	3rd	JA Rudolph	HH Dippenaar	SA	Ban	Chittagong	2002-03
413	1st	MH Mankad	Pankaj Roy	Ind	NZ	Madras (Corp)	1955-56
411	4th	PBH May	MC Cowdrey	Eng	WI	Edgbaston	1957
410	1st	V Sehwag	RS Dravid	Ind	Pak	Lahore [ Images ] (Gaddafi)	2005-06
405	5th	SG Barnes	DG Bradman	Aus	Eng	Sydney [ Images ]	1946-47

Highest third-wicket partnerships in Test cricket

Runs	Batsmen		For	Vs	Venue	Season
624	K Sangakkara	DPMD Jayawardene	SL	SA	Colombo (SSC)	2006
467	AH Jones	MD Crowe	NZ	SL	Wellington	1990-91
451	Mudassar Nazar	Javed Miandad	Pak	Ind	Hyderabad (Niaz)	1982-83
429*	JA Rudolph	HH Dippenaar	SA	Ban	Chittagong	2002-03
397	Qasim Omar	Javed Miandad	Pak	SL	Faisalabad	1985-86
370	WJ Edrich	DCS Compton	Eng	SA	Lord's	1947
352*	Ijaz Ahmed	Inzamam-ul-Haq [ Images ]	Pak	SL	Dhaka	1998-99

This partnership is also the highest for any wicket against South Africa obliterating the 385-run stand between Steve Waugh [ Images ] and Greg Blewett for Australia [ Images ] at Johannesburg in 1996-97.

Highest partnership in Test cricket against each country

Opponent	Runs	Wkt	Batsmen		For	Venue	Season
Australia	382	2nd	L Hutton	M Leyland	Eng	The Oval	1938
Bangladesh	429*	3rd	JA Rudolph	HH Dippenaar	Saf	Chittagong	2002-03
England [ Images ]	451	2nd	WH Ponsford	DG Bradman	Aus	The Oval	1934
India	576	2nd	ST Jayasuriya	RS Mahanama	SL	Colombo (RPS)	1997-98
New Zealand	413	1st	MH Mankad	Pankaj Roy	Ind	Madras (Corp)	1955-56
Pakistan	446	2nd	CC Hunte	GStA Sobers	WI	Kingston	1957-58
South Africa	624	3rd	K Sangakkara	DPMD Jayawardene	SL	Colombo (SSC)	2006
Sri Lanka	467	3rd	AH Jones	MD Crowe	NZ	Wellington	1990-91
West Indies [ Images ]	411	4th	PBH May	MC Cowdrey	Eng	Edgbaston	1957
Zimbabwe	438	2nd	MS Atapattu	KC Sangakkara	SL	Bulawayo (QSC)	2003-04

Sangakkara and Jayawardene provided only the second instance of two batsmen making 250-plus scores in the same innings.

Batsmen	For	Score	Vs	Venue	Season
CC Hunte (260) & GStA Sobers (365*)	WI	790-3d	Pak	Kingston	1957-58
KC Sangakkara (287) & DPMD Jayawardene (315*)	SL	485-2	SA	Colombo (SSC)	2006

Highest first innings leads

The 587-run lead that Sri Lanka got over South Africa is the highest lead for any side batting second in a Test. The details :

Lead	For	Vs	Venue	Season
587	SL (756-5d)	SA (169)	Colombo (SSC)	2006
509	SA (682-6d)	Eng (173)	Lord's	2003
485	SL (713-3d)	Zim (228)	Bulawayo	2003-04
465	SL (555-5d)	Ban (90)	Colombo (SSC)	2001-02
462	WI (790-3d)	Pak (328)	Kingston	1957-58