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Joe Root’s epic 166 not out to seal the one-day series against West Indies at Cardiff on Sunday was one of England’s greatest ODI innings. But where does it rank in the top 10 of all time?
As a sneak preview, there’s no place for Ben Stokes’s 2019 World Cup final knock against New Zealand – we’ll explain why later – but who does crack the list?
Counting down, Wisden Editor LAWRENCE BOOTH delivers his verdict.
10th: Allan Lamb 77* (102) v Australia at Sydney, 1987
With the Ashes already in the bag, Mike Gatting’s England set about winning the long-forgotten Benson & Hedges World Series.
The highlight came before the final, when Allan Lamb took 18 off Bruce Reid’s final over to pinch a three-wicket win under the SCG lights.
That may not sound like much, but the pitch was slow and England had begun the 50th over on 216 for seven.
MS Dhoni later turned finishes like this into strolls in the park, but in the mid-1980s it was like conquering the North Face of the Eiger.
Allan Lamb took 18 off Bruce Reid’s final over to pinch a three-wicket win under the SCG lights
9th: Eoin Morgan 148 (71) v Afghanistan at Old Trafford, 2019
Eoin Morgan’s 230 ODI innings yielded a total of 220 sixes, or just under one per game. Against Afghanistan in Manchester during England’s nervy progress through the group stage, he hit 17 of them – still a world record.
Rashid Khan, one of the great white-ball spinners, disappeared for 110 from nine overs.
Morgan faced 71 balls in all, which meant he hit a six every four and a bit deliveries.
And as England discovered at the 2023 World Cup and the Champions Trophy earlier this year, no one can now say: ‘But it was only Afghanistan.’
Eoin Morgan faced 71 balls in all, which meant he hit a six every four and a bit deliveries
Rashid Khan, one of the great white-ball spinners, disappeared for 110 from nine overs
8th: Jos Buttler 59 (60) v New Zealand at Lord’s, 2019
Granted, it was Ben Stokes – helped by outrageous good fortune – who got England to the Super Over in the World Cup final six years ago.
But only one batsman all day mastered a stodgy Lord’s surface that limited both teams to 241: Jos Buttler.
He walked out to bat with England 86 for four, and in danger of fluffing their lines, and calmly hit 59 at a run a ball, as if batting on a flat one in a meaningless group game.
For all his 11 ODI hundreds, this is the innings he should remember most fondly.
For all his 11 ODI hundreds, this is the innings Jos Buttler should remember most fondly
Buttler would later seal England’s first 50-over World Cup by running out Martin Guptill
7th: Graham Gooch 129* (118) v West Indies at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, 1986
England had almost nothing to write home about during their tour of the Caribbean in 1986 against a West Indies side at the peak of their powers.
But, chasing 230 from 37 overs to win the second ODI in Trinidad, they briefly put pen to paper – thanks entirely to Graham Gooch.
He made an unbeaten 129 off 118 balls against Joel Garner, Patrick Patterson, Courtney Walsh and Malcolm Marshall, taking England home by five wickets from the last ball.
And he even upstaged Viv Richards, whose brutal 39-ball 82 had seemed certain to inspire West Indies to another win.
Graham Gooch is accompanied off the field after securing a famous victory for England at Trinidad
6th: Eoin Morgan 113 (82) v New Zealand at Trent Bridge, 2015
England were only four games into their new white-ball era when they found themselves chasing 350 to stay in the series against New Zealand.
They had never managed more than 306 for five (against Pakistan in Karachi in October 2000) to win an ODI batting second, but Morgan led the way with a majestic 113 off 82 balls, helping England to victory with an absurd six overs to spare.
It was the game which convinced him and his team nothing was impossible. Since that night in Nottingham, they have surpassed that Karachi chase on 11 other occasions.
England were only four games into their new white-ball era when they found themselves chasing 350 to stay in the series against New Zealand
It was the game which convinced Eoin Morgan and his team nothing was impossible
5th: Joe Root 166* (139) v West Indies at Cardiff, 2025
At two for two in pursuit of 309, England’s latest white-ball reset was sputtering before it had even begun.
And it wasn’t looking great at 133 for five, either. But Joe Root has always been easy to overlook as a one-day batsman, possibly because he creams fours rather than belts sixes.
No matter: with the help of Will Jacks, he kept England up with the rate on a two-paced Sophia Gardens surface, despite Alzarri Joseph bowling beautifully.
His 166 not out compared with his team-mates’ 125 for seven, and meant Root had overhauled Morgan to become England’s leading runscorer in ODIs.
Joe Root has always been easy to overlook as a one-day batsman, possibly because he creams fours rather than belts sixes
His 166 not out compared with his team-mates’ 125 for seven, and meant Root had overhauled Morgan to become England’s leading runscorer in ODIs
4th: Robin Smith 167* (163) v Australia at Edgbaston, 1993
These days, an innings of 167 from 163 balls – and in a losing cause too – would not necessarily qualify as a hall-of-famer, but 32 years ago Robin Smith’s performance was precisely that. It wasn’t until 2016 that an England batsman did better.
Smith’s pyrotechnics – ‘an innings of physical strength allied to magnificent technique’, reckoned Wisden – dominated an England innings of 277 for five, in which the next-best score was Graham Thorpe’s 36.
And he was up against Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes, Paul Reiffel and Tim May. It wasn’t Smith’s fault that Mark Waugh and Allan Border made the chase look easy.
This was a very modern innings, almost lost in the murk of history.
It took 23 years for an England batter to better Robin Smith’s wonderful 167* against Australia
3rd: Jos Buttler 116* (52) v Pakistan at Dubai, 2015
Having just been dropped by the Test team during the 2–0 defeat by Pakistan in the UAE, Buttler had a point to prove.
And with England 2–1 up in the four-match ODI series, he made it, thrashing a magnificent 116 not out from just 52 balls.
Only one other ODI century for England has finished with a better strike rate – and that was Buttler’s unbeaten 162 off 70 at Amstelveen in 2022. But that was on a club ground against the Netherlands. This was against a Pakistan attack including Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah.
Buttler reached three figures from 46 balls, which bettered his own national record by a ridiculous 15 deliveries, and remains England’s fastest even a decade later.
Having just been dropped by the Test team during the 2–0 defeat by Pakistan in the UAE, Buttler had a point to prove
Buttler reached three figures from 46 balls, which bettered his own national record by a ridiculous 15 deliveries, and remains England’s fastest even a decade later
2nd: Jason Roy 180* (151) v Australia at Melbourne, 2018
Laughing stocks during their 4–0 Ashes defeat, England finally won a game on their tour of Australia with the help of a national-record 180 not out from just 151 balls by Jason Roy – made out of 281 while he was at the crease.
His heroics meant England became the first team to chase more than 300 to win an ODI at the MCG, and set them up for a 4–1 series win, a psychologically crucial stepping stone on their path between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.
Jason Roy’s heroics meant England became the first team to chase more than 300 to win an ODI at the MCG, and set them up for a 4–1 series win
1st: Jos Buttler 150* (77) v West Indies at St George’s, Grenada, in 2019
On a day of murderous hitting from both sides, Buttler murderously out-hit the rest, smashing 12 sixes during a 77-ball innings in which he moved from 45 to 150 in just 32 deliveries.
By way of a bonus, he celebrated one six by saluting West Indies quick Sheldon Cottrell, who had made the gesture his wicket-taking trademark.
It’s almost impossible trying to place Buttler’s various white-ball masterpieces in some kind of order, but this is hard to beat.
On a day of murderous hitting from both sides, Buttler murderously outhit the rest, smashing 12 sixes during a 77-ball innings in which he moved from 45 to 150 in just 32 deliveries
It’s almost impossible trying to place Buttler’s various white-ball masterpieces in some kind of order, but this was hard to beat
An end to substitute subterfuge
Even India fans were embarrassed when their side were allowed by (Indian) match referee Javagal Srinath to replace batting all-rounder Shivam Dube with fast bowler Harshit Rana during the fourth T20 against England at Pune in January – a switch that played hard and fast with regulations that require like-for-like concussion substitutes.
Rana took three wickets, and India won by 15 runs, triggering a sarcastic response from England’s then captain Jos Buttler.
But such subterfuge should become a thing of the past now that the ICC have tweaked the rubric. Before each game, both teams must submit a list of five potential concussion subs, with one in each of five categories: batsman, bowler, all-rounder, spinner, seamer.
The new regulations will kick in on June 17, with the ICC hoping they will ‘bring more structure and transparency to the process, ensuring that substitutions don’t unintentionally tilt the balance of the game’. Which is one way of putting it.
Harshit Rana took three wickets against England in Pune after coming in as a concussion sub
Fancy an IPL gig next year, Jimmy?
Perhaps the IPL franchises were wrong to ignore Jimmy Anderson after he threw his name into the auction for this year’s tournament, which ends in Ahmedabad today.
Playing his first game of T20 cricket in nearly 11 years for Lancashire on Sunday, he took a career-best three for 17 to set up a four-wicket win over Durham at Chester-le-Street.
And his victims – the top three in Durham’s order – were high calibre: Graham Clark, Alex Lees and Colin Ackermann.
Anderson turns 43 next month, and was also overlooked in this year’s Hundred draft, but his continued efforts to reinvent himself are a lesson for cricketers half his age.
Jimmy Anderson took a career-best three for 17 in his first T20 for 11 years
Farewell to Mighty Maxwell
It’s hard to imagine how anyone will ever play a more astonishing ODI innings than Australian Glenn Maxwell’s 201 not out from 128 balls, on one leg, against Afghanistan at Mumbai during the 2023 World Cup.
Yesterday, he announced his retirement from the format, to focus on T20.
Catch him while you still can.
