5 Highest Individual Scores In Ashes
Published - 04 Dec 2021, 07:30 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:02 AM
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For an avid follower of Test cricket, Ashes is supposed to be one of the thrilling contests that are played between Australia and England.
If one opens the archives of this blockbuster series then they will discover collections of historic moments that were glorious for the respective teams and their fans.
Australia are the current holders of Ashes after they drew 2-2 in 2019 in England to retain the urn. Australia had blanked England 4-0 in the 2017/18 series at home.
On both occasions, Steve Smith was the highest run-scorer with 687 in 207/18 and followed it with an astounding 774 from four games at an average of 110.17 in the previous edition.
Smith had slammed a double-century in each of the last two Ashes and made the highest individual score in 2019 with 211.
As Ashes is the oldest rivalry in the cricket world, the modern-day players will have to struggle a lot to enter in the record books.
Let us look at the five highest individual scores of the historic Ashes.
5 Highest Individual Scores In Ashes
5) Don Bradman: 304 (Leeds, 1934)
Even if most of us might have never seen him bat, still we cannot deny that Sir Donald Bradman is the best batter of the game without any argument.
England were bowled out for 200 in the first innings, in response, Bradman led Australia’s innings with his brilliant 304 to give his team a lead of 384.
Although the match ended in a draw with some great batting from England duo of Bob Wyatt (44) and Maurice Leyland (49*).
4) Bob Cowper: 307 (Melbourne, 1966)
Cowper was the first batter to score a triple-hundred on Australian soil.
The Melbourne-born player, who was also a merchant banker and a stockbroker, made 307 off 589 balls and also stitched a 212-run partnership with Australian opener Bill Lawry.
Cowper’s knock boosted Australia’s score to 543/8 in response to England’s 485 in the final Test of the 1966 Ashes. Subsequently, the match ended in a draw and so was the series at 1-1.
3) Robert Simpson: 311 (Manchester, 1964)
Simpson had to wait for his 30th Test match, as the captain of Australia, to score his first Test hundred.
Although he made his Test debut in 1957, he had to wait for 51 innings to get to his maiden Test century and he achieved it in a fashionable manner.
On a flat pitch at Old Trafford, Simpson elected to bat first and scored 311 from 743 deliveries against England in 1964. He forged a 202-run opening stand alongside Bill Lawry.
Australia put up a mammoth total of 656/8 but England gave a great fightback to force a draw with their 611, led by Ken Barrington’s 256.
2) Don Bradman: 334 (Leeds, 1930)
Bradman had a great tour of England in 1930 as he blistered 974 runs from five matches at a staggering average of 139.14.
In the third Test at Headingley, Bradman made 334 from 448 balls as his stupendous knock involved 46 boundaries. He was caught behind by George Duckworth off Maurice Tate’s bowling.
1. Leonard Hutton: 364 (The Oval, 1938)
Sir Len Hutton is said to be one of the best-accomplished batters in professional cricket of his time.
Hutton smashed 364 against Australia in the final game of the 1938 Ashes series. Centuries from Maurice Leyland (187) and Joe Hardstaff (169) propelled England to 903 in the first innings.
Australia were bowled out for 201 & 123 as England won the game by 579 runs to square the five-match Test series 1-1. Hutton’s record is yet to be broken in the Ashes.
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Leonard Hutton Sir Donald Bradman