Marcus Stoinis: 146* (117b, 9x4s, 11x6s), 1st ODI v New Zealand, Eden Park, Auckland, 30 January

For most of the innings in this list, there is something in their context that elevates them from being merely good to great. Perhaps it signifies a turning point in a player’s career or a team’s fortunes, or it comes in a match with some particular meaning. Rarer are innings like this one, in an otherwise soon-to-be-forgotten ‘meaningless’ bilateral ODI series, that demand recognition simply for their audacity and skill, and for their sheer impossibility as Marcus Stoinis almost single-handedly smashed Australia over the line against all odds.

But his innings reached the level of the supersonic in his partnership with last man Josh Hazlewood, and it was a passage that displayed Stoinis’ calculation as well as his belligerence; having scythed his way through the first five balls of each over, he found a way to retain the strike without fail on the sixth, and throughout their 54-run, four-over partnership, the No. 11 didn’t face a ball.

Then came the denouement, and Hazlewood’s first significant act of the innings. With Australia somehow needing just seven to win, but with Stoinis facing the prospect of losing the strike with three overs to go, Hazlewood backed up too far, and was run out by Kiwi captain Kane Williamson, placed deliberately at short mid-on for the ploy.

It left Stoinis 146 not out, cruelly denied what would have been one of the greatest match-winning ODI performances of all time.