The second World Test Championship (WTC) is almost finished. In less than a week, the final match will happen between Australia and India at the Oval Stadium in London. This match will start on June 7th. This marks the end of the second cycle of the WTC, which has been successful.
In Test cricket, it’s getting harder to score runs because the pitches favor bowlers more, especially in countries like India, South Africa, England, and Australia. Despite this, we should recognize the efforts of batsmen who have scored a lot of runs. In this article, we’ll look at the highest individual scores of this WTC edition.
Here’s the list of Top 10 Highest individuals scores in WTC:
5. Steve Smith – 200 vs West Indies (Perth, 2022), Kane Williamson – 200* vs Pakistan (Karachi, 2022) and Henry Nicholls – 200* vs Sri Lanka (Wellington, 2023)
Three players, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, and Henry Nicholls, each scored 200 runs without getting out during a cricket competition called the WTC cycle. Steve Smith and Henry Nicholls made their big scores in the same match, while Kane Williamson’s came during a tour to Pakistan.
Kane Williamson’s impressive 200 runs helped New Zealand in a Test match in Karachi in 2022. His performance gave his team a lead of 174 runs, putting them in a good position to win the match. Even though the match ended in a tie, people will remember Williamson’s excellent play. It was his fifth time scoring 200 runs in a Test match, and the first time he did it outside of New Zealand.
This was also Kane Williamson’s first series after stepping down as captain. His performance showed that he is still a top-notch Test batsman.
4. Marnus Labuschagne – 204 vs West Indies (Perth, 2022)
Marnus Labuschagne, the best Test batter in the world, scored a lot of runs in the 2nd edition of the World Test Championship. He made 1509 runs over two years and is among the top 5 highest individual run-scorers.
In a recent Test match at the new Perth Stadium, Marnus played exceptionally well. He hit his second Test double century. Australia batted first and scored a huge 598/4, mainly because of Marnus’s 204 runs and Steve Smith’s 200 runs. Marnus also scored another century in the second innings. This helped Australia win by a big margin of 164 runs against West Indies. This win keeps Australia doing well in the World Test Championship.
3. Dinesh Chandimal – 206* vs Australia (Galle, 2022)
Dinesh Chandimal played one of the best Test matches ever for a Sri Lankan player against Australia. Even though his score was the third highest in this list, it was still considered one of the greatest performances. It was the first time a Sri Lankan player scored a double century against Australia in Test cricket.
In the match, Sri Lanka was in trouble because they lost the first Test and Australia had scored 364 runs in their batting innings. This meant Sri Lanka needed a big score because they were going to bat last. Dinesh Chandimal made sure they got it. The top-order batsmen started well, and then Chandimal, in the middle-order, played amazingly well. He scored his 13th century in Test cricket and then went on to score his first ever double century. After reaching his century, he attacked the Australian bowlers, surprising them.
Sri Lanka scored a total of 554 runs, mostly thanks to Chandimal’s fantastic performance. Then, the Sri Lankan spinners did a great job, getting the Australian team out for only 151 runs in their second innings. This gave Sri Lanka a big win by an innings and 39 runs, leveling the series at 1-1.
2. Kane Williamson – 215 vs Sri Lanka (Wellington, 2023)
Another New Zealand cricket player, Kane Williamson, scored a lot of runs while playing in his own country. He’s their best scorer ever. New Zealand wasn’t in the running for a big final tournament, so this series didn’t really matter for them.
But it was important for Kane Williamson and his team. He had recently stepped down as captain, so this was his first series without that responsibility. In the first match, he scored a century, and in the second, he did even better, scoring over 200 runs.
New Zealand made a huge total of 580/4 in one of the matches, with Kane scoring 215 of those runs. Another player, Henry Nicholls, also did well, scoring 200 runs himself. New Zealand won that match easily. They had won the first match too, though it was a closer contest.
1. Tom Latham – 252 vs Bangladesh (Christchurch, 2022)
Tom Latham, a really good cricket player from New Zealand, scored the most runs by any player in the 2nd World Test Championship. He did this by hitting the second highest score of his career in a game against Bangladesh, which was played in New Zealand.
In that game, he did really well, especially since he was also leading the New Zealand team because their regular leader, Kane Williamson, wasn’t there. Even though they had to bat first on a tricky pitch, Latham handled the tough early part of the game well. Once the pitch got easier to play on, he scored a lot of runs. This was the second time in his career that he scored more than 200 runs in a Test match, and the first time as the team’s captain.
His score of 252 helped New Zealand reach a big total of 521 runs, and they easily won the game because they played better than Bangladesh. They won by a lot of runs without having to bat again.
Throughout the 2nd World Test Championship, Latham scored a total of 1084 runs in 27 innings. His average score was almost 42 runs per innings. He also scored another century in a game against Pakistan in Karachi during the 2022 Boxing Day match. Even though New Zealand didn’t do as well overall in the 2nd World Test Championship, Latham’s excellent performance was a good thing for them.
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