During an Ashes fight, it’s easy for players to lose their cool. But there are a lot of people who can’t wait to feel the heat of an England vs. Australia game. They made a list of the top ten English innings in the history of the Ashes series in preparation for the 2015 series.
All four of the perfect scores (300 or higher) are shown because they show an amazing amount of hard work and focus. According to ashes cricket news, a lot of attention has also been paid to how the match is going right now, whether it’s a desperate last-ditch effort to save the day or a decisive win.
- Steve Waugh 157 not out (The Oval, August 2001) –
Twins Steve Waugh and his brother Mark each got a century for Australia in the last game of the 2001 series.
Mark scored 120 runs easily, while his older brother Steve struggled to get to 157 runs without being out and called the innings for his team at 641 for four.
After tearing a calf muscle in the third Test and having to be carried off, the older Waugh should not have been on the field at all.
The next game he didn’t go to was at Headingley, which England won in the end.
- Bobby Simpson 311 at Old Trafford (July 1964) –
In the fourth Test of the 1964 Ashes series, batsmen filled their boots, led by the Australian Bob Simpson.
When the away team was given the chance to bat first at Old Trafford, they made the most of it. Their opening batsman scored 311 runs to lead them to a score of 656 for 8 declared.
Simpson was at the crease for 740 balls. He hit 23 fours and one six.
He and Bill Lawry were both out in their opening stand of 201, which ended their partnership.
- Allan Border 196 (Lord’s, June 1985) –
Allan Border, who was in charge of Australia on the 1985 tour, had a hard time.
His team lost the first Test at Headingley because several of their veterans were on a rebel tour in South Africa.
But at Lord’s, Border led to a counterattack. Instead of being in charge, he was an inspiration, as his first-innings score of 196 shows.
Australia needed a fifth-wicket stand of 216 to catch up to 290, and their captain and Greg Ritchie (94 not out) made it happen.
- Mark Butcher 173 (Headingley, August 2001) –
In the fourth Test England played in 2001, a gracious declaration may have helped Mark Butcher, but he still had to play the best innings of his life for England to win.
Even though his regular captain Steve Waugh was hurt and he was up 3-0 in the series, stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist decided to make things interesting in the last innings.
After 39.3 overs, when they were at 176 for 4, they called it a day and gave their opponents a tough target of 315 to reach.
Even though England was down to 33 for 2 early on the fifth morning at Headingley, Butcher and his captain, Nasser Hussain, put up 181 for the third wicket.
- Ricky Ponting 156 (Old Trafford, August 2005) –
In 2005, the best Ashes series ever had more twists and turns than a roller coaster.
After winning the first Test at Lord’s, Australia’s chances of winning the series were greatly hurt when Glenn McGrath got hurt on the first morning of the second Test at Edgbaston.
England went into the third Test in Manchester on a roll, and captain Michael Vaughan’s brilliant century on the first day made it clear that they were the team to beat.
- Don Bradman 304 (Headingley, July 1934) –
In 1934, he went back to Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s home ground, where he had hit a career-high 334 runs in 1930. (more on that later).
At one point, Australia was down to 39 for three, but Bradman and Bill Ponsford put together 288 runs to save the game.
- Kevin Pietersen 158 (The Oval, 2005) –
Kevin Pietersen’s first hundred in a Test match stands out in cricket history.
The South African right-hander hit three half-centuries in his first three innings after being called into the team at the start of the 2005 series to play ahead of the more experienced Graham Thorpe.
But on the last day of the fifth Test at the Oval, he scored 158, which was his best score.
When England’s score went down to 126 for five, all they had to do to win the series 2-1 was a tie.
- Don Bradman 334 (Headingley, July 1930) –
During the 1930 Ashes series between Australia and England, Bradman hit 334 runs at Headingley. This was his best score in a Test match.
Considering that Australia’s Alan Kippax scored 77, you can see how amazing Don’s innings were.
At one point, Bradman was so good that he only had to face 448 balls in a single day of play. During that time, he scored an amazing 309 runs and dominated the English bowlers.
- Ian Botham 149 not out (Headingley, 1981) –
In the summer of 1981, Ian Botham did something that solidified his place in Ashes legend.
Even though England’s all-rounder had a bad start to the series, things turned around in the end. After being out for two in the second Test at Lord’s, which his team lost by one run, he quit as captain.
After bringing the other team down to 135 for 7 in their second innings at Headingley, it looked like Australia would treble their lead, which would make it very likely that they would lose by an innings.
But Botham played what might have been the best knock in Test history.
- Len Hutton 364 (The Oval, August 1938) –
The highest score ever in a Test was 364 by Len Hutton in the fifth and final match of the 1938 series at the Oval.
The Yorkshireman, in only his sixth match for England, took advantage of a very flat field to set a new record.
Hutton stayed at the crease for three days, during which he faced 847 balls and hit 35 fours.
Bill O’Reilly got rid of him, but not before he set a new record for the most runs scored by a single player in a Test match.
