The Top Ten Test Innings of All Time....Officially

[Dhondy]

Notice who figures thrice on the list? http://reliancemobileiccrankings.blogspot.com/2008/10/greatest-innings-of-all-time.html As soon as the ink was dry on last week’s column extolling the virtues of Virender Sehwag, he not only played another astonishing innings, but one that rated higher than his other two mentioned last week. And so, to answer all the requests, here is the definitive list of the top ten innings of all time - in reverse order - as rated by the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings computer. 10 - Virender Sehwag, IND, 319 v SA, Chennai, 26/03/2008 The second triple-century of his career, this may have come on a featherbed Chennai pitch, but it was against the same attack who bowled South Africa to a series win over England this summer - Steyn, Ntini, Morkel, Kallis and Harris 9 - Len Hutton, ENG, 364 v AUS, The Oval, 20/08/1938 He broke Bradman’s Ashes record of 334 and Walter Hammond’s Test record of 336 not out, while leading England to victory by an innings and 579 runs. He also had to face 85 overs from the bowler the Don rated the greatest - Bill O’Reilly. 8 - Virender Sehwag, IND, 306 v PAK, Multan, 28/03/2004 Pressure? What pressure! Batting against his side’s fiercest rivals, he brought up India’s first Test triple-century with a six, and the match was won by an innings. 7 - Brian Lara, WI, 213 v AUS, Kingston, 13/03/1999 The first of two mind-blowing innings in the same series from Lara as he lifted his side to a first-innings lead and eventual ten-wicket victory against the might of the Australians and McGrath, Gillespie, Warne and MacGill at the peak of their powers. 6 - Len Hutton, ENG, 202* v WI, The Oval, 12/08/1950 Until last week, England’s first-innings total of 344 was the lowest in Test to include an individual double-century. Hutton carried his bat right through it, but was powerless to prevent an innings defeat as those two little pals of mine - Ramadhin and Valentine caused havoc. 5 - Bill Ponsford, AUS, 266 v ENG, The Oval, 18/08/1934 It was not a bad effort to outscore Bradman, but that is what Ponsford did - if only by 22 runs in an Ashes-clinching partnership of 451. Australia piled up 701 for a mammoth 562-run triumph and England wouldn’t see The Ashes for another nineteen years. 4 - Don Bradman, AUS, 270 v ENG, Melbourne, 01/01/1937 Caught on a vicious "sticky" wicket, Bradman opened the batting with his tail-enders and batted at number seven. Coming in at 97 for five, his innings is still the highest-ever at that position. O’Reilly and Fleetwood-Smith did the rest. 3 - Virender Sehwag, IND, 201* v SL, Galle, 31/07/2008 Where to start? He carried his bat, scoring over 60% of his side’s runs against two men with more than a thousand Test wickets, not to mention wonderkid Ajantha Mendis. Only two other batsmen reached double figures as his innings was the difference between the sides. 2 - Don Bradman, AUS, 299* v SA, Adelaide, 29/01/1932 Ian Bell was gutted to have been dismissed on 199, but how would Bradman have felt to have been stranded on 299 when last man Pud Thurlow was run out? He added over two hundred runs for the last five wickets which helped Australia to a ten-wicket triumph. 1 - Garry Sobers, WI, 365* v PAK, Kingston, 26/02/1958 I know what you’re saying. 'What about Gooch?", "What about Botham?", "What about Laxman?". Well - how about setting a World Test record against two of the top ten Rated bowlers at the time and leading your team to an innings victory? All that at the age of 21. Apologies to Messrs Gooch, Laxman and Botham, who didn’t quite make it, but now all that remains to be said is "let the debates begin".

[suraj]

Laxman's 281 IMO has to figure there

[bunny]

They should have first defined the parameters of a great innings, and then created a calculator, rather than the other way round.

[King Tendulkar]

Laxman's 281 IMO has to figure there

That renders the whole list a farce. The fact that magnificent knock is not included is a joke.

[suraj]

They should have first defined the parameters of a great innings' date=' and then created a calculator, rather than the other way round.[/quote'] maybe they did I am not sure what methodology was used here so many innings are great in so many different ways SMG's last innings on a spinning track was a pleasure to watch even though India ended up losing the match

[Macj]

In my opinion the one innings that stands out just because it was under unbelievable odds, sheer perseverance, would be Hanif Mohammed's 337 vs West Indies in 1957. I think CLR James mentions the innings in of his masterpieces too. http://content.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/match/62835.html

[King Tendulkar]

Sehwags triple ton in Multan better than VVSs knock??? No indian fan would agree with that. Not the sensible ones anyway:winky:

[Dhondy]

They should have first defined the parameters of a great innings' date=' and then created a calculator, rather than the other way round.[/quote'] Oho Bunny-ji, they did. Individual innings are rated on two things; 1. Number of runs scored by the individual vis-a-vis other batsmen in that match 2. Ratings of opposition bowlers These are computer generated. nothing subjective about it. Notice, no other batsman on that list is currently playing cricket.

[suraj]

Oho Bunny-ji, they did. Individual innings are rated on two things; 1. Number of runs scored by the individual vis-a-vis other batsmen in that match 2. Ratings of opposition bowlers These are computer generated. nothing subjective about it. Notice, no other batsman on that list is currently playing cricket.

oh ok that makes some sense

[10DuLKaR]

Notice who figures thrice on the list? http://reliancemobileiccrankings.blogspot.com/2008/10/greatest-innings-of-all-time.html 8 - Virender Sehwag, IND, 306 v PAK, Multan, 28/03/2004 Pressure? What pressure! Batting against his side’s fiercest rivals, he brought up India’s first Test triple-century with a six, and the match was won by an innings.

I thought that was 309!!! :giggle:

[Dark Warrior]

laxman's inn was turn around for indian cricket i guess thts my personal opinion

[Macj]

laxman's inn was turn around for indian cricket i guess thts my personal opinion

Indeed , we started believing in ourselves and shed the colonial rags once and for all. Another point, i think we really underestimate Gavaskar's many fine knocks against the WI and Australian quicks.

[Dhondy]

From the same ICC site, blogged before sehwag's double in SL. http://reliancemobileiccrankings.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-is-greatest-innings-this-century.html Ashwell Prince and AB de VIlliers both played excellent innings at Headingley. As did the four Sri Lankans who all scored centuries in their one-sided match with India at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. But how do those innings compare with the all-time great innings? Using the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings, it is possible to compare these innings and see how they fit into the top innings played since 2000. Each innings that a batsman plays is rated using certain criteria. The fundamental starting point is the number of runs scored, but this is then adjusted depending on a number of other factors, such as the strength of the opposition bowling attack, the level of run-scoring in the match and the result of the match. As a result of these adjustments, none of these innings actually feature all that prominently in the top ten recent innings. This is partly due to the fact that they were all scored in relatively high totals by their teams against medium-strength bowling attacks. In fact de Villiers's innings of 174 - after all the complex adjustments - rates as precisely - 174! So - if these are not great innings, which are? Two of the top ten rated innings of all time since Test cricket started way back in 1877 have been played this decade according to the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings. Astonishingly - they were both played by the same man - Virender Sehwag of India. His innings of 309 at Multan in March 2004 comes out top in this decade. Coming as it did against a Pakistan attack including Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq, it took India to victory by an innings and 52 runs. Not to be outdone, his innings of 319 at Chennai earlier this year is only just behind. On that occasion, the opposing South African attack was exactly the same as the one who bundled out England twice relatively easily at Leeds this past week. So - as good an innings as de Villiers played, it only rates as the 155th 'best' innings since 2000. Here are the top ten rated innings in Test cricket since 2000 - what is it about batting in March? 1 V.Sehwag IND 309 v PAK Multan 28 Mar 2004 2 V.Sehwag IND 319 v SA Chennai 26 Mar 2008 3 D.P.M.D. Jayawardena SL 374 v SA Colombo 27 Jul 2006 4 Younis Khan PAK 267 v IND Bangalore 24 Mar 2005 5 V.V.S.Laxman IND 281 v AUS Kolkata 11 Mar 2001 6 K.C.Sangakkara SL 232 v SA Colombo 11 Aug 2004 7 B.C.Lara WI 400* v ENG St John's 10 Apr 2004 8 S.T.Jayasuriya SL 253 v PAK Faisalabad 20 Oct 2004 9 Inzamam-ul-Haq PAK 329 v NZ Lahore 01 May 2002 10 M.L.Hayden AUS 380 v ZIM Perth 09 Oct 2003 Posted by ICC-Cricket at 10:00 AM

[Holysmoke]

No VVS = Thread Fail. Cant believe we're discussing this.

[suraj]

From the same ICC site, blogged before sehwag's double in SL. http://reliancemobileiccrankings.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-is-greatest-innings-this-century.html Ashwell Prince and AB de VIlliers both played excellent innings at Headingley. As did the four Sri Lankans who all scored centuries in their one-sided match with India at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. But how do those innings compare with the all-time great innings? Using the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings, it is possible to compare these innings and see how they fit into the top innings played since 2000. Each innings that a batsman plays is rated using certain criteria. The fundamental starting point is the number of runs scored, but this is then adjusted depending on a number of other factors, such as the strength of the opposition bowling attack, the level of run-scoring in the match and the result of the match. As a result of these adjustments, none of these innings actually feature all that prominently in the top ten recent innings. This is partly due to the fact that they were all scored in relatively high totals by their teams against medium-strength bowling attacks. In fact de Villiers's innings of 174 - after all the complex adjustments - rates as precisely - 174! So - if these are not great innings, which are? Two of the top ten rated innings of all time since Test cricket started way back in 1877 have been played this decade according to the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings. Astonishingly - they were both played by the same man - Virender Sehwag of India. His innings of 309 at Multan in March 2004 comes out top in this decade. Coming as it did against a Pakistan attack including Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq, it took India to victory by an innings and 52 runs. Not to be outdone, his innings of 319 at Chennai earlier this year is only just behind. On that occasion, the opposing South African attack was exactly the same as the one who bundled out England twice relatively easily at Leeds this past week. So - as good an innings as de Villiers played, it only rates as the 155th 'best' innings since 2000. Here are the top ten rated innings in Test cricket since 2000 - what is it about batting in March? 1 V.Sehwag IND 309 v PAK Multan 28 Mar 2004 2 V.Sehwag IND 319 v SA Chennai 26 Mar 2008 3 D.P.M.D. Jayawardena SL 374 v SA Colombo 27 Jul 2006 4 Younis Khan PAK 267 v IND Bangalore 24 Mar 2005 5 V.V.S.Laxman IND 281 v AUS Kolkata 11 Mar 2001 6 K.C.Sangakkara SL 232 v SA Colombo 11 Aug 2004 7 B.C.Lara WI 400* v ENG St John's 10 Apr 2004 8 S.T.Jayasuriya SL 253 v PAK Faisalabad 20 Oct 2004 9 Inzamam-ul-Haq PAK 329 v NZ Lahore 01 May 2002 10 M.L.Hayden AUS 380 v ZIM Perth 09 Oct 2003 Posted by ICC-Cricket at 10:00 AM

Well with the assumptions and metrics used, maybe these rankings make sense ( although I still doubt it) but there are other more important metrics to be considered. I can see a thousand lists but IMO if VVS' 281 is not ranked above Veeru's it makes little sense to me

[Shehezaada]

how is Virender Sehwag's 319 against SA on a road an innings of all time? His 201* I think is his best test knock along with his 150+ at Adelaide

[nikred]

No VVS = Thread Fail. Cant believe we're discussing this.

+1 to that.:two_thumbs_up:

[Dhondy]

Nothing is meaningless. There is a method to this. Consider this: In that innings in SL, a total of 1026 runs were scored in 4 innings. In that innings, Sehwag scored 201, 19.6% of the total runs scored. The next highest individual score was 86, a ratio of 2.34. VVS scored 281 out of 1485, 18.9%. The second highest was 180, a ratio of 1.56. Unfortunately, the ICC algorithm does not take account of the match situation, where Laxman would have found favour.

[cowboysfan]

veeru's 201* is better than his triple hundreds so its an ok list but this kind of list making is going to piss off most people anyway.

[Holysmoke]

Nothing is meaningless. There is a method to this. Consider this: In that innings in SL, a total of 1026 runs were scored in 4 innings. In that innings, Sehwag scored 201, 19.6% of the total runs scored. The next highest individual score was 86, a ratio of 2.34. VVS scored 281 out of 1485, 18.9%. The second highest was 180, a ratio of 1.56. Unfortunately, the ICC algorithm does not take account of the match situation, where Laxman would have found favour.

Here, a century on the last day of the test is the same as one on the first day. Also, A matchwinning century is rated the same even if the game was a patta draw. (assuming all other players played the same.) All the runs are taken out of context. For example, in the recent India England series, Yuvraj's 86 in the second test would count for more points than Sehwags 83 in the last innings of the first test.