Pushing the boundaries: how the record for the T20I high score has changed hands
After Aaron Finch broke his own record for the highest individual score in a T20I innings, here's a look through the six knocks which have redefined what seemed possible in the game's shortest format.
Ricky Ponting, 98* v New Zealand, Auckland, 17 Feb 2005
It’s only natural that one of the new inductees into the ICC’s Hall of Fame took to T20 Internationals like a duck to water. The match itself was a peculiar one. The format was still new, and no one really knew how seriously to take it – both sides wore retro kits, the Kiwis sported wigs and fake moustaches, and with victory in the bag, Glenn McGrath even bowled a delivery underarm, poking fun at the controversy sparked by Trevor Chappell doing the same against the Blackcaps in 1981 to prevent a match-winning last-ball six, to which umpire Billy Bowden responded by brandishing a card and giving McGrath a send-off.
After the game, Ricky Ponting said “I think it’s difficult to play seriously. If it does become an international game then I’m sure the novelty won’t be there all the time.” The irony being that Punter’s unbeaten 98 from 55 balls, all typical Ponting drives and pulls, just with a little added adventure and flourish, showed exactly how T20 could be serious cricket.
Chris Gayle, 117 v South Africa, Johannesburg, 11 Sep 2007
Just as Ponting got T20 Internationals off to a flying start, so another legend, Chris Gayle, the undisputed king of T20 cricket, made sure the first-ever World T20 started with several bangs. The Universe Boss remains the owner of the highest score in all T20s and has three times as many hundreds (21) as the next best on the list, and, with this innings, became the first to ton up at international level. Considering no batsman had passed 100 in T20Is before, the ease with which the Master Storm managed to reach the landmark was remarkable – by the time he was dismissed for 117 there was still almost a fifth of the innings to go.
Just as remarkable was that his monster knock came in defeat – no other Windies batsman was able to keep up with Gayle, with their next highest score Devon Smith’s 34-ball 35, and South Africa chased it down at a canter, Herschelle Gibbs’ unbeaten 90 and Justin Kemp’s 22-ball 46 seeing them to their 206-run target with 14 balls to spare.
Richard Levi, 117* v New Zealand, Hamilton, 19 Feb 2012
The Lou Bega of T20 Internationals, a one-hit wonder who still holds a place in our hearts to this day. This innings was his 'Mambo No.5'. Playing just his second international match, and chasing what seemed like a stiff target of 174 against New Zealand, the powerful Richard Levi targeted a short square boundary again and again, striking an incredible 13 sixes in his 51-ball 117, completing the chase almost by himself.
It takes something special to reduce AB de Villiers to a supporting act, but that’s what he was, the generational talent only managing to contribute a 36-ball 39. Levi’s next 11 innings contained eight single figure scores and a solitary half-century, a sedate 44-ball affair in a low chase, and by the end of the year he was out of the side, seemingly for good. But he’d already left an indelible mark on cricket history.
Brendon McCullum, 123 v Bangladesh, Pallekele, 21 Sep 2012
For a player and a format associated with slogging from ball one, this was a masterclass in taking your time, getting set, assessing the conditions, and then exploding. No one else got to grips with pitch. Seven batsmen scored at or under a run a ball, while Ross Taylor’s 14 off 12 was the next quickest Blackcaps innings.
James Franklin’s 36-ball 35 epitomised the difficulty the batsmen faced, but Brendon McCullum credited it for laying the platform, and after taking just nine off his first 10, Baz plundered 114 off his next 48 to take New Zealand to a winning total.
Aaron Finch, 156 v England, Southampton, 29 Aug 2013
Against his favourite opponents – six of his 11 ODI tons have come against England, as well as this whirlwind – Finch didn’t just break the record for the highest T20I score, he smashed it to smithereens, beating McCullum’s mark by a whopping 33 runs, and taking Australia to the then-highest T20I total. His 14 sixes remains a record. What makes this all the more remarkable was that Finch fell with 16 balls left to face. What might have been possible had he batted through?
Aaron Finch, 172 v Zimbabwe, Harare, 3 July 2018
Against Zimbabwe, he showed exactly what was possible, with what can lay claim to being the most destructive T20 innings of all time. Finch fell short of Gayle’s overall record for the format by three runs, but in many ways this was more remarkable – no one scored anywhere near as freely as Finch who dragged Australia past 200 virtually by himself.
He was responsible for the highest percentage of runs in a T20 innings, accounting for more than 75 per cent of Australia’s total by himself, he and D’Arcy Short shared a stand of 223, the highest in T20Is with Short contributing just 46, and the knock also contained a record number of boundaries for a T20I innings.
When will the mark next be broken? Considering the form Finch is in – three consecutive 50-plus T20I scores and an ODI hundred two innings before that – you wouldn’t bet against it being in two days’ time when Australia next play, against Pakistan.