The San Albano Club in Buenos Aires was the unlikely place for a piece of cricket history today as Argentina women became the first team to score over 400 in an official T20 match as they began their three match T20I series against Chile in a match sure to get cricket's statisical gatekeepers frothing at the mouth.

Chile, playing their first match since 2019 and featuring several changes to their squad, won the toss and chose to bowl first, a decision that they will likely regret.

The first records of the day both came in the 14th over, with Lucia Taylor - who earlier brought up her century from 49 balls - and Albertina Galan took their partnership past the previous women's T20I record of 257. It came in an over that saw Florenica Martinez concede an almost unbelivable 52 runs, and I reproduce the over in full below for the sake of clarity:

NB, NB+1, 4, NB+1, 1, NB+1, NB+2, NB+1, NB+1, NB+1, 4, NB+1, NB+2, NB, 4, NB, NB+1, 4, NB, NB+1, NB, NB+1, 4

Galan brought up her century with the final four of that over - the 55th she faced - with the pair batting on until the penultimate delivery of the 17th over when Taylor was bowled by Jessica Miranda having scored 169, the highest individual score in a women's T20I and equal highest in any women's List A T20 match. There have only been two higher in men's List A T20 cricket.

The pair had beaten the previous record for the highest team total in any T20I/List A T20 match (male or female) in a single partnership, with the score on 350 when the first wicket fell. The run scoring wasn't done though as Galan and Maria Castinerias took the score to 400 before the end of the 19th over, and eventually finished on 427-1. Galan was not out on 145 and Castinerias not out on 40.

Chile responded with 63 before they were bowled out (with one player absent) in 15 overs. Jessica Miranda was their top scorer with 27, but was outscored by the 29 extras conceded by the home side. Five Argentinan bowlers each took a single wicket with the other four falling to run outs.

The series continues tomorrow and concludes on Sunday. I suspect Chile won't be choosing to bowl first if they win the toss again.