Top 10 highest scores by batsmen in Tests

#2 MATTHEW HAYDEN (380)

A picture of Hayden relaxing in the dressing room after the monumental knock

In 2002, Steve Waugh had predicted that the burly Australian opener, Matthew Hayden, would usurp Brian Lara’s then highest score of 375. In October 2003, against a Zimbabwean attack led by Heath Streak, Hayden rewrote Test cricket’s chapters with a brilliant knock.

He started slowly, and took his time to reach his first hundred, almost half the time he took to reach the other 280 runs of his. He switched gears thereafter, and made a mockery of the attack on the way to the record. He worked Ray Prince to long on for a single to go past Brian Lara’s record, celebrating with the Baggy Green in one hand, and the bat in the other. It was a remarkable turnaround for a player that had played his first six Tests in an interval of three years.