Top 10 Highest Individual Scores in International Cricket History
Marathon innings, mountains of runs and one captain who declined a world record. Meet the ten greatest individual knocks ever played in Test cricket.
Every cricket fan remembers a big hundred. Very few innings, though, cross the 350-run mark. In more than 140 years of international cricket, only a handful of batters have batted for the better part of two days and still been hungry for more.
This list ranks the ten highest individual scores in Test cricket, the format where such monsters are possible. At the end, we also cover the record-holders in ODIs and T20Is so you have the complete picture.
The Top 10 Highest Test Scores
An asterisk (*) means the batter finished not out. Bars show each score relative to Lara’s 400*.
400*Brian Lara
The untouchable summit. Lara took back the record he had lost six months earlier, batting more than twelve hours in the fourth Test. He is also the only batter to ever reach 400 in a Test innings. It is the signature of a man who simply refused to get out.
380Matthew Hayden
Hayden’s brutal, front-foot power took him past Lara’s previous mark of 375. His record stood for just six months before Lara reclaimed it, but 380 remains the highest score by an Australian in Test history.
375Brian Lara
The innings that broke Garry Sobers’ 36-year-old record. Lara was only 24 and the same ground would later host his 400*. Two of the three highest Test scores in history belong to one man at one ground.
374Mahela Jayawardene
Elegant wristwork and endless patience. Jayawardene put on a world-record partnership with Kumar Sangakkara in this match, and the 374 is still the highest score in Test cricket by an Asian batter.
367*Wiaan Mulder
The newest name on the list, and the most talked-about. Standing in as captain, Mulder was 33 short of Lara’s 400* when he declared the innings, saying he wanted the record to stay with the great man. Whatever you make of the decision, it made him a modern legend.
365*Sir Garry Sobers
A 21-year-old Sobers broke the Test record on his way to becoming the greatest all-rounder the game has seen. It was his first Test century, and the record stood for 36 years.
364Sir Leonard Hutton
A monument to concentration. Hutton batted for over 13 hours as England piled up 903/7, then the highest Test total. The 364 stood as the world record for nearly 20 years.
340Sanath Jayasuriya
The ODI blaster showed he could play the long game too. Jayasuriya’s 340 formed part of a mammoth Sri Lankan total of 952/6, the highest team score in Test history.
337Hanif Mohammad
Pakistan were 473 behind on first innings. Hanif answered with an epic that lasted roughly 16 hours and saved the Test, the longest innings in Test history by time at the crease. It earned him the nickname “Little Master”.
336*Wally Hammond
Hammond’s unbeaten knock was an astonishing display of fast scoring for its era, reached at a brisk pace and featuring a then-record number of sixes. It was the highest Test score at the time.
Quick Comparison Table
| # | Batter | Score | Opposition | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Lara (WI) | 400* | England | St John’s | 2004 |
| 2 | Matthew Hayden (AUS) | 380 | Zimbabwe | Perth | 2003 |
| 3 | Brian Lara (WI) | 375 | England | St John’s | 1994 |
| 4 | Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 374 | South Africa | Colombo | 2006 |
| 5 | Wiaan Mulder (SA) | 367* | Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 2025 |
| 6 | Garry Sobers (WI) | 365* | Pakistan | Kingston | 1958 |
| 7 | Len Hutton (ENG) | 364 | Australia | The Oval | 1938 |
| 8 | Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 340 | India | Colombo | 1997 |
| 9 | Hanif Mohammad (PAK) | 337 | West Indies | Bridgetown | 1958 |
| 10 | Wally Hammond (ENG) | 336* | New Zealand | Auckland | 1933 |
Beyond Tests: ODI and T20I Records
Tests allow unlimited time, so the biggest scores come there. In the shorter formats, the records look very different.
ODI: 264
Rohit Sharma hit 264 for India against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in November 2014. He is the only batter with three ODI double centuries.
T20I: 172
Aaron Finch smashed 172 off 76 balls for Australia against Zimbabwe in 2018, still the highest score in men’s T20 internationals.
Note that Chris Gayle’s famous 175* came in the IPL, which is a franchise league and not an international match, so it does not count here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has the highest individual score in international cricket?
Brian Lara of the West Indies, with 400 not out against England in 2004, is the highest individual score in Test cricket.
Has anyone scored a triple century recently?
Yes. Wiaan Mulder made 367 not out for South Africa against Zimbabwe in July 2025, the fifth-highest Test score of all time.
Why did Wiaan Mulder not try to break Lara’s record?
Mulder declared with the record in sight, saying he wanted it to remain with Lara. Opinions are divided, but the gesture was widely discussed.
Which batter has two scores in the top three?
Brian Lara. His 400* and 375 are both at the St John’s ground in Antigua.
