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Cricket is all about runs. Batters are always hunting for more, but sometimes a match turns completely one-sided and a team produces a truly outrageous scoreboard total. A quick look at the highest cricket scores in history can be genuinely startling! It’s hard to believe a team can bat with such overwhelming authority.
Read on for a look at the biggest scores in international cricket across all formats. We start with the shortest version, T20Is, before working our way up to the longest format, Test cricket.
Highest Scores in T20Is
Zimbabwe 344/4 vs Gambia, Nairobi, 23 October, 2024
In a jaw-dropping display during the men’s T20 World Cup Africa sub-regional qualifiers, Zimbabwe reached 344/4 against Gambia in October 2024. It stands as the highest total in international T20s as of now.
The Zimbabweans were favourites to win this match across cricket betting sites, but few could have foreseen the sheer dominance they showed with the bat.
Sikandar Raza led the charge with a blazing century – Zimbabwe’s first ever in T20s – coming off just 33 balls. He finished unbeaten on 133, smashing 15 sixes, while his teammates added another dozen maximums to help set the record.
Nepal 314/3 vs Mongolia, Hangzhou, 27 September, 2023
Nepal had set the record for the highest score in T20Is a year before Zimbabwe’s onslaught against Gambia. It was the first time a team scored more than 300 in the format as Nepal went on to demolish Mongolia in the Asian Games in China.
Kushal Malla powered his way to a 34-ball century, while Dipendra Singh Airee grabbed a quickfire 50. Airee reached his half-century in just nine balls, finishing unbeaten on 52 from 10, as Malla piled on 137 not out from 50 deliveries.
Airee’s innings featured eight sixes. In fact, incredibly, the right-handed batsman sent five of the first six balls he faced out of the park.
England 304/2 vs South Africa, Manchester, 12 September, 2025
England racked up their highest-ever T20I total and the highest score in a match involving two full-member nations against South Africa in September 2025, at Manchester. Phil Salt went on a rampage and broke his own record to post the highest individual score by an Englishman in T20Is. He also scored the fastest century in the format for England, in only 39 balls.
England made the most of a flat, batting-friendly pitch, hitting 30 fours and 18 sixes to pick up 228 runs from boundaries alone. At one point they seemed set to dethrone Zimbabwe. Even though they fell short of that mark, England managed to put together one of the highest cricket scores in history against a formidable South African bowling attack.
Highest Scores in ODIs
England 498/4 vs Netherlands, Amstelveen, 17 June, 2022
Staying within white ball cricket but shifting to the slightly longer format of the game, England hold the record for the highest ODI score in history.
In 2022, they obliterated the Netherlands by 232 runs at Amstelveen, with Jos Buttler’s brilliant 162 driving them to a record ODI total of 498/4. Buttler set the tone under new white-ball coach Matthew Mott, delivering a thrilling innings that included 14 sixes and seven fours.
England hammered the Netherlands’ bowlers all over the park before bowling them out for 266. Dawid Malan (125) and Phil Salt (122) both notched their maiden ODI centuries, off 90 and 82 balls respectively.
A staggering 26 sixes flew into the stands in Amstelveen and some even made their way into the forest that surrounds the ground.
England 481/6 vs Australia, Nottingham, 19 June, 2018.
That’s not the only time England have treated cricket fans to a runfest. Four years earlier, they’d set the previous record at Trent Bridge with a power-hitting display against their arch-nemeses Australia.
Alex Hales (147) and Jonny Bairstow (139) powered England to a commanding 3-0 series lead with a crushing 232-run victory. Both innings, each lasting 92 balls, set the stage for a colossal total. Skipper Eoin Morgan provided the late acceleration with a 67-run cameo.
Australia had to leave out Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins from their bowling attack due to injuries. The hosts took full advantage of that and secured a mammoth win against their Ashes rivals.
England 444/3 vs Pakistan, Nottingham, 30 August, 2016.
Familiar name? That’s right, England hold all three of the highest ODI scores, with their 444/3 sitting in third spot.
Hales struck a brilliant 171 and Buttler raced to 50 off 22 balls as England amassed 444/3 against Pakistan. Having managed just 7 and 14 in previous one-day outings against the same opponents, Hales capitalised on Trent Bridge’s ideal batting conditions after England won the toss.
Root held the innings together with Hales. England faced a potential collapse when he fell in the 37th over after scoring 85 off 86, but Butler and Morgan continued the carnage and led England to a then-record 444/3.
Highest Test Scores
Sri Lanka 952/6 vs India, Colombo, August 1997
The 1997 Test series between India and Sri Lanka proved rather uneventful, with both Tests ending in draws. Still, the series in Colombo is immortal in record books for producing the highest score in Test cricket history.
The hosts scored a staggering 952/6, in response to India’s 537/8. Sanath Jayasuria scored 340, while Roshan Mahanama and Arvinda de Silva contributed 225 and 126, respectively.
England 903/7 vs Australia, The Oval, August 1938
Though England had already lost the 1938 Ashes, they restored some pride in the final Test at the Oval, with Len Hutton scoring a monumental 364 to help England reach 903/7 declared.
It stood as the highest score in a single Test cricket innings for 59 years before Sri Lanka scored 952 against India.
England went on to win by an innings and 579 runs. Hutton’s 364, a Test record at the time, remains the highest individual score by an England batsman.
England 849 vs West Indies, Kingston, April, 1930
This was a unique series. England were playing against New Zealand at the same time with a different set of players. So, the international status of this Test remains vague, but we still considered it for our highest cricket scores in history discussion.
Andy Sandham played a 325-run knock to steer England to a whopping 849. The match ended in a draw, and it was the last time Sandham played for England.
