Stats: Highest individual Test scores for each year starting from 1877 to 2015

Sehwag's 319 turned out to be the highest score of the year 2008

There are many well-known Test centuries made by players that most of us have heard of. Many of us know about Brian Lara’s 400* or Matthew Hayden’s 380. Every die-hard cricket fan will know about Don Bradman and Virender Sehwag’s two triple centuries in Tests or Mahela Jayawardena’s 374 against South Africa in Tests.

But do you know the highest score made by a player in each year starting from 1877 to 2015 in Tests? You might have read about all who hold the records for the respective ages in Tests, but you may not know the same for years.

Even if you are a cricket fanatic, some of the record holders will certainly surprise you. While some legends like Don Bradman, Brian Lara are on this list, there are some you would least suspect of holding the record.

So, here we have presented a table that includes the highest score made by players in each year starting from 1877 to 2015 in Test cricket to this day:

Note: There were no Tests played in 1878, 1891, 1900 and during two World Wars 1915-1919 and 1940-1945.

Year	Player name	Country	Runs	Opposition	Ground
1877	Charles Bannerman	Australia	165*	England	Melbourne Cricket Ground
1879	Alec Bannerman	Australia	73	England	Melbourne Cricket Ground
1880	William Murdoch	Australia	153*	England	Kennington Oval
1881	Thomas Horan	Australia	124	England	Melbourne Cricket Ground
1882	George Ulyett	England	149	Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground
1883	Allan Steel	England	135*	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1884	William Murdoch	Australia	211	England	Kennington Oval
1885	George Bonnor	Australia	128	England	Sydney Cricket Ground
1886	William Grace	England	170	Australia	Kennington Oval
1887	Dick Barlow	England	42*	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1888	Robert Abel	England	70	Australia	Kennington Oval
1889	Robert Abel	England	120	South Africa	Newlands
1890	William Grace	England	75*	Australia	Lord’s
1892	John Lyons	Australia	134	England	Sydney Cricket Ground
	Andrew Stoddart	England	134	Australia	Adelaide Oval
	Henry Wood	England	134*	South Africa	Newlands
1893	Henry Graham	Australia	107	England	Lord’s
1894	Sydney Gregory	Australia	201	England	Sydney Cricket Ground
1895	John Brown	England	140	Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground
	Francis Iredale	Australia	140	England	Adelaide Oval
1896	Kumar Ranjintsinhji	England	154*	Australia	Old Trafford
1897	Kumar Ranjintsinhji	England	175	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1898	Clement Hill	Australia	188	England	Melbourne Cricket Ground
1899	Thomas Hayward	England	137	Australia	Kennington Oval
1901	Arechibald MacLaren	England	116	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1902	Warwick Armstrong	Australia	159*	South Africa	Old Wanderers
1903	Reginald Foster	England	287	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1904	Victor Trumper	Australia	113	England	Adelaide Oval
1905	Reginald Duff	Australia	146	England	Kennington Oval
1906	Gordon White	South Africa	147	England	Old Wanderers
1907	Charles Fry	England	129	South Africa	Kennington Oval
1908	Victor Trumper	Australia	166	England	Sydney Cricket Ground
1909	Vernon Ransford	Australia	143*	England	Lord’s
1910	George Faulkner	South Africa	204	Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground
1911	Victor Trumper	Australia	214*	South Africa	Adelaide Oval
1912	Jack Hobbs	England	187	Australia	Adelaide Oval
1913	Wilfred Rhodes	England	152	South Africa	Old Wanders
1914	Charles Mead	England	117	South Africa	St George's Park
1920	Warwick Armstrong	Australia	158	England	Sydney Cricket Ground
1921	Herbert Collins	Australia	203	South Africa	Old Wanderers
1922	Herbert Taylor	South Africa	176	England	Old Wanderers
1923	Charles Mead	England	181	South Africa	Kinsmead
1924	Jack Hobbs	England	211	South Africa	Lord’s
1925	John Ryder	Australia	201*	England	Adelaide Oval
1926	Warren Bardsley	Australia	193*	England	Lord’s
1927	George Tyldesley	England	122	South Africa	Old Wanderers
1928	Walter Hammond	England	251	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1929	Walter Hammond	England	177	Australia	Adelaide Oval
1930	Don Bradman	Australia	334	England	Headingley
1931	Don Bradman	Australia	226	South Africa	Brisbane Cricket Ground
1932	Don Bradman	Australia	299*	South Africa	Adelaide Oval
1933	Walter Hammond	England	336*	New Zealand	Eden Park
1934	Don Bradman	Australia	304	England	Headingley
1935	Georgy Headley	West Indies	270*	England	Sabina Park
1936	Walter Hammond	England	231*	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1937	Don Bradman	Australia	270	England	Melbourne Cricket Ground
1938	Lenoard Hutton	England	364	Australia	Kennington Oval
1939	Edward Paynter	England	243	South Africa	Kingsmead
1946	Sidney Barnes	Australia	234	England	Sydney Cricket Ground
	Don Bradman	Australia	234	England	Sydney Cricket Ground
1947	Denis Compton	England	208	South Africa	Lord’s
1948	Don Bradman	Australia	201	India	Adelaide Oval
1949	Martin Donnelly	New Zealand	206	England	Lord’s
	Leonard Hutton	England	206	New Zealand	Kennington Oval
1950	Frank Worrell	West Indies	261	England	Trent Bridge
1951	Eric Rowan	South Africa	236	England	Headingley
1952	Mulvantrai Mankad	India	184	England	Lord’s
1953	Derrick McGlew	South Africa	255*	New Zealand	Basin Reserve
1954	Denis Compton	England	278	Pakistan	Trent Bridge
1955	Bert Sutcliffe	New Zealand	230*	India	Feroz Shah Kotla
1956	Mulvantrai Mankad	India	231	New Zealand	Nehru Stadium (Chennai)
1957	Peter May	England	285*	West Indies	Edgbaston
1958	Garry Sobers	West Indies	365*	Pakistan	Sabina Park
1959	Rohan Kanhai	West Indies	217	Pakistan	Bagh-e-Jinnah
1960	Garry Sobers	West Indies	226	England	Kensington Oval
1961	Vijay Manjrekar	India	189*	England	Feroz Shah Kotla
1962	Ted Dexter	England	205	Pakistan	National Stadium
1963	Conrad Hunte	West Indies	182	England	Old Trafford
1964	Robert Simpson	Australia	311	England	Old Trafford
1965	John Edrich	England	310*	New Zealand	Headingley
1966	Robert Cowper	Australia	307	England	Melbourne Cricket Ground
1967	Geoffrey Boycott	England	246*	India	Headingley
1968	Graham Dowling	New Zealand	239	India	AMI Stadium
1969	Seymour Nurse	West Indies	258	New Zealand	AMI Stadium
1970	Graeme Pollock	South Africa	274	Australia	Kingsmead
1971	Zaheer Abbas	Pakistan	274	England	Edgbaston
1972	Glenn Turner	New Zealand	259	West Indies	Bourda
1973	Mushtaq Mohammad	Pakistan	201	New Zealand	Carisbrook
1974	Lawrence Rowe	West Indies	302	England	Kensington Oval
1975	Clive Lloyd	West Indies	242*	India	Wankhede Stadium
1976	Viv Richards	West Indies	291	England	Kennington Oval
1977	Doug Walters	Australia	250	New Zealand	AMI Stadium
1978	Zaheer Abbas	Pakistan	235*	India	Gaddafi Stadium
1979	Sheik Bacchus	West Indies	250	India	Green Park
1980	Greg Chappell	Australia	235	Pakistan	Iqbal Stadium
1981	Kimberley Hughes	Australia	213	India	Adelaide Oval
1982	Gundappa Viswanath	India	222	England	MA Chidambaram Stadium
1983	Javed Miandad	Pakistan	280*	India	Niaz Stadium
1984	Gordon Greenidge	West Indies	223	England	Old Trafford
1985	David Gower	England	215	Australia	Edgbaston
1986	Dean Jones	Australia	210	India	MA Chidambaram Stadium
1987	Javed Miandad	Pakistan	260	England	Kennington Oval
1988	Javed Miandad	Pakistan	211	Australia	National Stadium
1989	Javed Miandad	Pakistan	271	New Zealand	Eden Park
1990	Graham Gooch	England	333	India	Lord’s
1991	Martin Crowe	New Zealand	269	Sri Lanka	Basin Reserve
1992	Ravi Shastri	India	206	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1993	Brian Lara	West Indies	277	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
1994	Brian Lara	West Indies	375	England	Antigua Recreation Ground
1995	Michael Slater	Australia	219	Sri Lanka	WACA Ground
1996	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	257*	Zimbabwe	Sheikhupura Stadium
1997	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	340	India	R Premadasa Stadium
1998	Mark Taylor	Australia	334*	Pakistan	Arbab Niaz Stadium
1999	Daryll Cullinan	South Africa	275*	New Zealand	Eden Park
	Gary Kirsten	South Africa	275	England	Kingsmead
2000	Andy Flower	Zimbabwe	232*	India	Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground
2001	VVS Laxam	India	281	Australia	Eden Gardens
2002	Inzamam-ul-Haq	Pakistan	329	New Zealand	Gaddafi Stadium
2003	Matthew Hayden	Australia	380	Zimbabwe	WACA Ground
2004	Brian Lara	West Indies	400*	England	Antigua Recreation Ground
2005	Chris Gayle	West Indies	317	South Africa	Antigua Recreation Ground
2006	Mahela Jayawardena	Sri Lanka	374	South Africa	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
2007	Sourav Ganguly	India	239	Pakistan	M Chinnaswamy Stadium
2008	Virender Sehwg	India	319	South Africa	MA Chidambaram Stadium
2009	Younis Khan	Pakistan	313	Sri Lanka	National Stadium
2010	Chris Gayle	West Indies	333	Sri Lanka	Galle International Stadium
2011	Alastir Cook	England	294	India	Edgbaston
2012	Michael Clarke	Australia	329*	India	Sydney Cricket Ground
2013	Greame Smith	South Africa	234	Pakistan	Dubai International Cricket Stadium
2014	Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	319	Bangladesh	Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium
2015	Ross Taylor	New Zealand	290	Australia	WACA Ground

Here is an another table that shows team-wise distributions of highest scores made by their players in Test cricket:

Count	Team
39	Australia
38	England
17	West Indies
10	Pakistan
9	South Africa
8	India
6	New Zealand
3	Sri Lanka
1	Zimbabwe