5 largest 1st innings leads after which follow-on was not enforced

#4 380: England vs Australia, The Oval 1934

Australia thrashed England by 562 runs at The Oval in 1934 after gaining a

first innings

lead of 380 but not enforcing the follow-on

The five-match Ashes series in 1934 was tied 1-1 when the teams landed at The Oval to try and edge over for a win and claim the urn. The visiting captain Bill Woodfull batted first, and to his great glory, the second wicket stand between Bill Ponsford and the great Don Bradman was that of a mountain-like 451. They were finally separated when Bradman departed for 244, but Ponsford carried on to make 266. Australia tallied 701, always a humungous score irrespective of the opposition.

England were bowled out for 321 as Maurice Leyland contributed 110 while Hans Ebeling and Clarrie Grimmett bagged three wickets each. A huge advantage of 380 was already in Australia's pocket, but Woodfull wanted to bat again. Bradman and Stan McCabe added 150 for the third wicket as their side hit 327 in the second innings, thus setting England 708 to stake a claim for the Ashes. Expectedly, the visitors crumbled under pressure to the spin of Grimmett, who grabbed 5/64, while two scalps to McCabe and Bill O'Reilly finished England for 145.

Brief Scores: Australia 701 (Ponsford 266, Bradman 244; Bowes 4/164) and 327 (Bradman 77; Bowes 5/55, Clark 5/98) beat England 321 (Leyland 110, Walters 64; Ebeling 3/74) and 145 (Hammond 43; Grimmett 5/64, McCabe 2/5) by 562 runs