Five best ODI innings of all time...

In light of Virender Sehwag's pyrotechnics against the West Indies last week, I came across the following blog on the All Out Cricket website.

This is what AOC believe to be the five greatest ODI knocks in history:

http://www.alloutcricket.com/blogs/international/best-one-day-innings-cricket-sehwag

Do you agree with their suggestions? If not, which innings would make up your five?

I will work on it, but O'briens at the WC was fun to watch.

That was a corking innings, and one absolutely nobody expected! I wasn't best pleased at the time!

I most certainly agree with their mention of Strauss' knock at the World Cup, what a cracking batting display that was, and kind of unexpected, too!

Some excellent choices, but one I disagree with is the de Silva one. If memory serves Australia really should have got more than the 241 they ended up with on what was a pretty flat pitch. Sure it was a great knock coming in under pressure in a WC final, but I wouldn't rank it anywhere near the top 5 of all time. Off the top of my head, another innings that deserve a mention would be Clive Lloyed's century in the first WC final.

From the innings i have seen

1.Gibbs's 170 against aus chasing 434
2.Gilchrist's 100 in 2007 wc final
3. dhoni's 183 against srilanka
4. sachin's 180 odd against australia at hyderabad
5.strauss's 150 against india

@mad for chelsea

if it is so easy to score runs on a flat pitch , why did england not in a ODI in india on very very flat (apparently) pitches??
undervalueing a 100 in world cup finals??

Viv's 189 no vs England
Ponting's 140 no vs India
Tendulkar's 98 vs Pakistan
Gooch's 129 (ish) vs West Indies
G Chappel's ton vs England in the rain

cricketfan wrote:@mad for chelsea

if it is so easy to score runs on a flat pitch , why did england not in a ODI in india on very very flat (apparently) pitches??
undervalueing a 100 in world cup finals??

woah, easy tiger

not exactly undervalueing it, more saying that IMO it's not worthy of "top five of all time" status. It was a great knock, but one of the very best? Really don't think so. In fact I'd probably rate at least another three WC final knocks above it (Lloyd, Richards and Dhoni, possibly Ponting too).

Sehwag 219 against windies

Tendulkar 200 against south africa

Gilchrist 100 vs sri lanka in world cup 2007 final

Strauss 150 vs India

Ross Taylor in world cup 2011

Cricketfan, I like your Gilchrist shout.

I remember watching that innings and was mesmerised. He absolutely annihilated Sri Lanka's bowlers, including Murali, right from the off. Fearsome batting.

Kapil Dev's 175no should be up amongst the best and most important.

Stella wrote:Kapil Dev's 175no should be up amongst the best and most important.

great shout.

@stells i like your list
but to me gibbs's 170 and gilly's 100 against srilanka and dhoni's 183 are the best because they have come under pressure

i disagree with ponting's 140 , it came after hayden and gilly tearing indian bowling apart and scaring them

cricketfan
There would have been pressure being a world cup final but I see your point.
I rate hit highly because I saw it unfold and couldn't believe the ease in which he tore the Indian attack apart.

I don't know much about Dhoni's knock but the other two are worthy candidates.

I'd give a nod to KP's 158 against the Aussies. It cemented the win and he took it to the Aussies on a day when playing sensible and safe was called for.

Viv Richards 189 v Eng
Sachin Tendulka 200no v SA
Herschelle Gibbs 175 v Aus
Andrew Strauss 158 v India
Kapil Dev 175 v Zimbabwe

Inzamam's 60 v NZ in the '92 world cup semifinal, won the game from a hopeless position & enabled them to go on and win the trophy.

King Beer wrote:I'd give a nod to KP's 158 against the Aussies. It cemented the win and he took it to the Aussies on a day when playing sensible and safe was called for.

It was similar in nature to an ODI innings, KB, but that was actually a Test match.

Everybody's going for the big hundreds...

I have a couple I wish to mention:
Bevan 78* against the West Indies in 95(ish) when he needed 4 off the last ball and promptly smashed Roger Harper straight down the ground for just that. Australia won by 1 wicket, chasing 173 off around 43 overs. IIRC Reiffel made 30odd.

Symonds 91* against Sri Lanka in the 2003 WC semi-final (the match where Gilchrist walked). Perhaps not the most obvious innings from Symonds (there was the small matter of his 143 against Pakistan) but IMO his best ODI innings. On a slow, low, turning wicket not at all conductive to stroke play, Symonds reigned himself in and took Australia from 3-51 to 212, which was always a winning total (Australia in those days just didn't lose games if they scored more than 200).

I disagree with Strauss being up there. It was on an absolute Road, against a fairly mediocre India attack who bowled absolute rubbish. and he was well assisted by Pietersen and Bell. frankly I wouldn't have this knock in my top 20.

How about S. Waugh's 120* in the 99 WC. Without it Aus wouldn't have won the tournament you know...

My top 5:
Bevan 78* - out of all the great Bevan finish jobs this is probably his best.
S. Waugh 120* - kept Aus in the WC.
Shewag 219 - the guy scored 219 runs in 46 overs. Amazing!
C. Lloyd's ton in the 75 final, IIRC he reached 100 off just 82 deliveries. Against a decent Aus attack which included Lilee and Thompson. Pas mal!
Gilchrist's 149 in '07. Clean, brutal hitting.

In my opinion Herschelle gibbs and Greame Smith chasing that big 434 target, under pressure having to bat at 9 runs an over for the whole match, then getting 175 of 125 balls must be the best innings in ODI, even though there are higher scores.

That was one of the great innings, Biltong, in the greatest ODI of them all. I remember watching that match in sheer awe.

Fists of Fury wrote:

King Beer wrote:I'd give a nod to KP's 158 against the Aussies. It cemented the win and he took it to the Aussies on a day when playing sensible and safe was called for.

It was similar in nature to an ODI innings, KB, but that was actually a Test match.

Oooops. Should've read that.

ganguly's 100 in 1998 while chasing 324 against pak in dhaka , against akram,saqlain,azhar mahmood,afridi and co

Belinda Clark's 229 not out against Denmark
still the highest score in ODIs...

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Belinda Clark's 229 not out against Denmark
still the highest score in ODIs...

Kapil Dev's 175 came from a position of India being at 17-5, and I'll have it right up there.
Virender Sehwag, as Mike pointed out, scored 219, of 149 balls, that has to be an absolutely stunning effort.
Steve Waugh's 120 during which Gibbs is said to have dropped the World Cup, has to be in there.
Gibbs smashing 175 of 112 balls to help SA chase down 434 was a superb effort.
Sachin Tendulkar, scoring a fantastic 143 against the Australians at Sharja, in dificult conditions, under pressure has to be there.

Tendulkar's 200 against SA, his 98 against Pakistan, his 175 against Australia where he almost pulled off a chase of a 350+ total,
Sir Brian Charles' twin stunning efforts against South Africa in the 1996 and 2003 World Cups,
Andrew Simond's 143 against Pakistan in the 03 WC,
Kevin O'Brien's explosive knock against England in the 2011 WC,
Chris Cairns match winning hundred for New Zealand in the Champion's trophy against India in 2000 are some of the knocks that deserve a mention.

Some fine examples, msp.

Gooch's knock in the 1987 world cup semi final against India was a good one.
He swept us to victory that day.

Mike Sellig
Agree about Clive Lloyd. Reckon room must be found in the top five for his 102 in the first WC final in 1975. One of the most electrifying innings I've seen and I saw my first cricket match in 1958.
He absolutely tore Lillee and Thomson apart. He was hitting them back over their heads for one-bounce fours and absolutely murdering them square of the wicket.
I think Viv's 189 is a must and for a complete rescue act the Kapil Dev hundred in the 75 WC might be worth a shout, too.

Stella wrote:Gooch's knock in the 1987 world cup semi final against India was a good one.
He swept us to victory that day.

I was going to mention that. Excellent call!

Very good list from msp. To be honest it's quite hard to select only 5.

And who could forget Lamb's heroics against Bruce Reid?

Not the greatest knock until that final over.

Agree with almost all of the aforementioned innings. A great one this year was Dhoni in the WC final. Simply stunning

Mike Selig wrote:Everybody's going for the big hundreds...

I have a couple I wish to mention:
Bevan 78* against the West Indies in 95(ish) when he needed 4 off the last ball and promptly smashed Roger Harper straight down the ground for just that. Australia won by 1 wicket, chasing 173 off around 43 overs. IIRC Reiffel made 30odd.

Symonds 91* against Sri Lanka in the 2003 WC semi-final (the match where Gilchrist walked). Perhaps not the most obvious innings from Symonds (there was the small matter of his 143 against Pakistan) but IMO his best ODI innings. On a slow, low, turning wicket not at all conductive to stroke play, Symonds reigned himself in and took Australia from 3-51 to 212, which was always a winning total (Australia in those days just didn't lose games if they scored more than 200).

I agree with Mike that it's not just about ''the big hundreds''.

One other innings worthy of the most honourable mention was that made by the comparatively unknown Collis King of the West Indies in the World Cup Final of 1979.

Batting first, the Windies were in trouble at 99-4 when King walked out to join Viv Richards.

Those of you who don't know what happened next but are aware of my liking for support batting acts (such as Larry Gomes) might well guess that King dug in and helped the maestro Richards get to a century. Well, part of that would be correct but not all at all.

Attacking from the off, King blasted 86 runs from 66 balls. With Richards uncharacteristically but splendidly playing the role of supporting batsman, they added 139 in just 21 overs to turn the match. Cricket journalist and former England seamer Mike Selvey wrote, ''Never for certain has Richards, in royal form himself, been outshone quite so much.''

Following Kings' dismissal, Richards took on the role of aggressor and ended with an undefeated 138 off 157 balls. At this time, a strike rate of 100 in ODIs was almost unknown which illustrated the impact of Kings' innings.

Sadly, King's international career was like a meteor which burned so brightly but for too short a time (blatantly stealing a wonderful quote from the Corporal about the late Ben Hollioake). In a total of 18 ODIs, this was the only occasion upon which King reached fifty.

I recommend most highly the clip below if you have 12 minutes to spare. It consists of a fascinating review of this Final by Richards. About a minute in, Richards pays tribute to the innings of his friend ''Kingdom''. I actually found his comments quite moving. Listen out too for fascinating speculation about Clive Lloyd dropping the slow scoring Boycott.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ0P2htjM2I


PS Mike - I noted recently your comments about Garner's magnificent bowling performance in the same match as England belatedly tried to put their foot on the gas. Totally agree.

Btw, if you ever need to coach your players how not to play a limited overs final, try and get a video of England's whole approach and performance for the '79 World Cup Final. A fifth bowler combo of Gooch, Boycott and Larkins (who? please don't ask!) and then an opening stand of about 130 in almost 40 overs chasing 287.

G'fordbat - I always thought Lloyd deliberately dropped Boycott. Apparently it was Randall, at tea, who persuaded Brearley - batting with Boycs - to carry on batting slowly after tea, when Brearley wanted to hit out and get out.

Thanks, Sir Fred.

Were you at Lord's for this World Cup Final in '79? Envy you if you were. I just watched it on tv.

Absolutely bizarre batting. What was Randall thinking of? Possibly - Brearley and Boycott to consolidate the platform and then he, Gower, Gooch and Larkins (!) would make hay in the closing overs? Incredibly optimistic if that was the case.

All very wrong in my book. Hence, my missive above to Mike about it being how not to play a limited overs final!

How about Kleusners knock in the 1999 WC Semi-Final?

guildfordbat wrote:

One other innings worthy of the most honourable mention was that made by the comparatively unknown Collis King of the West Indies in the World Cup Final of 1979.

Batting first, the Windies were in trouble at 99-4 when King walked out to join Viv Richards.

Those of you who don't know what happened next but are aware of my liking for support batting acts (such as Larry Gomes) might well guess that King dug in and helped the maestro Richards get to a century. Well, part of that would be correct but not all at all.

Attacking from the off, King blasted 86 runs from 66 balls. With Richards uncharacteristically but splendidly playing the role of supporting batsman, they added 139 in just 21 overs to turn the match. Cricket journalist and former England seamer Mike Selvey wrote, ''Never for certain has Richards, in royal form himself, been outshone quite so much.''

Following Kings' dismissal, Richards took on the role of aggressor and ended with an undefeated 138 off 157 balls. At this time, a strike rate of 100 in ODIs was almost unknown which illustrated the impact of Kings' innings.

Sadly, King's international career was like a meteor which burned so brightly but for too short a time (blatantly stealing a wonderful quote from the Corporal about the late Ben Hollioake). In a total of 18 ODIs, this was the only occasion upon which King reached fifty.

I recommend most highly the clip below if you have 12 minutes to spare. It consists of a fascinating review of this Final by Richards. About a minute in, Richards pays tribute to the innings of his friend ''Kingdom''. I actually found his comments quite moving. Listen out too for fascinating speculation about Clive Lloyd dropping the slow scoring Boycott.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ0P2htjM2I


PS Mike - I noted recently your comments about Garner's magnificent bowling performance in the same match as England belatedly tried to put their foot on the gas. Totally agree.

Btw, if you ever need to coach your players how not to play a limited overs final, try and get a video of England's whole approach and performance for the '79 World Cup Final. A fifth bowler combo of Gooch, Boycott and Larkins (who? please don't ask!) and then an opening stand of about 130 in almost 40 overs chasing 287.

Thanks for the memories Guilford. And how strange that what was clearly such a talented batsman couldn't replicate what he'd done on the biggest stage.

Certainly England's tactics (or lack of them if we are to be honest) that day left a lot to be desired. In their defence, limited overs cricket was still fairly new, and no one really had come up with genuine gameplans. West Indies just played as they thought they should and that pretty much worked.

IIRC Brearley still beats himself up over not backing himself at tea, when with England on 80 or so without loss after a fair few overs already, he was all for having a bash, but let more experienced players (like Willis and of course Boycott) talk him out of it. The key thing to take from this as a coach is that you should always back yourself. Know your gameplan (if it's rubbish the rest won't do much good), trust your gameplan and then apply it.

From a personal perspective I would never go into an ODI without 5 bowlers I felt could get me 10 overs. this is where England go wrong ATM, I don't think Patel is good for 10 overs at international level. Bresnan has to bat at 7, unless a genuine all-rounder (Stokes?) emerges. With the bat. at our level we don't like required rates much above 6 and certainly nothing above 7. Our batting is usually our weak point though...

I have another I wish to mention, not necessarily for the quality of the innings, but for the overall impact it had on the game of cricket:

Jayasuriya's 82 against England in the 96 WC quarter-final, made off I believe 44 balls. Now England's attack was pretty pedestrian (Illingworth the younger, Martin, De Freitas, Gough who bowled well, Hick, Reeve) and the pitch was a belter with a really fast outfield, and in fact it was arguably only the 4th best innings of the round (Harris scored 130 against the Ausies, M. Waugh scored a wonderful 110 in reply and Lara made a stunning hundred against the favourites South Africa) but this innings more than any other ensured that "bash it over the top in the powerplay" became the default option. One-day cricket would never be the same again.

Mike, great way to look at that innings and you're right, a pivotal moment in ODI cricket history, you'd have to say.

good shout Mike, without Jayasuriya there would probably have been no Sehwag, no Gilchrist, and England just might be a decent ODI outfit

Some highlights of the game from youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlIRzRqMXR4

Robin Smith copped a shocker there...