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The record 

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In 1931 Iftikhar Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi sr, father of ‘Tiger’ Pataudi (who also played for Oxford) scored 239 not out for Oxford at Lord’s, beating the previous record of by 201 by Alan Ratcliffe of Cambridge in the very same match—a record that lasted for exactly 24 hours. Ratcliffe had achieved the record on the first day of the match and Iftikhar reportedly vowed to his teammates he would break it—which he did the very next day. Oxford won the match by eight wickets. Such was the impact of the knock that it thrust him into the national reckoning and within a year he was making his Test debut for England in the infamous Bodyline series in Australia in 1932-33. In 1946 he captained India in England, the first and still only cricketer to represent both countries.   

That mark stood for 74 years till it was broken by Delhi-born Salil Oberoi of Oxford in 2005 with a score of 247.That in turn was overtaken by Agra-born Samish (Sam) Sunil Agarwal for Oxford in 2013 with 313 not out.

In July this year at The Parks ground, 23-year-old George Thomas Hargrave went one better with 322 not out for Oxford. But here is the catch—post 2020 the fixture no longer enjoys first-class status, though it is of four days duration. And that’s why Hargrave’s feat slipped under the radar without any coverage in the mainstream press.  

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Unusual case

Does the record still belong to Agarwal as it was a first-class match when he scored his triple century in 2013? I consulted statistician Steven Lynch of Wisden—he is of the opinion Agarwal’s record still stands as the highest first-class score in the fixture but Hargrave’s should be listed as the highest of all time with an asterisk stating it does not enjoy first-class status.   
 
So an unusual case of a cricket record not really being a cricket record!