The highest individual Test scores by England batsmen against West Indies

The history of England-West Indies clashes is sprinkled with some of the highest scores in Test history, although most have come from the Caribbean side. Both of West Indies legend Brian Lara’s world record-breaking knocks for the highest Test score came against England, almost exactly a decade apart at the same venue in Antigua, and those are just two of 17 200-plus scores made by West Indian batsmen in the fixture, with Jason Holder’s 202* at Bridgetown, Barbados in January 2019 the most recent.

By contrast, England have had just 11 double- and triple-centuries, with four of them ‘baby’ doubles that finished before crossing 210. But there have still been a smattering of huge knocks to remember in a rivalry England have had the better off in recent times, winning seven and losing just two of the last 10 series played between the sides.

Here’s a look at all those 11 double centuries.

The highest individual Test scores made by England batsmen against West Indies:

Andy Sandham – 325

4th Test, Sabina Park, Jamaica, 1930

The series was something of an oddity, played concurrently with another Test series England were contesting against New Zealand with a completely different set of players. The series was level at 1-1 coming into the final game, but despite the Test being, in theory, timeless, and Andy Sandham’s 325 propping up a mammoth first-innings total of 849, the game was drawn with England needing to catch the boat home.

Despite playing on for another seven years and crossing 100 first-class centuries, Sandham never represented England again, and his 325 remains the highest score made by a player in their final Test match.

Peter May – 285*

1st Test, Edgbaston, England, 1957

One of a few epic match-saving efforts in this list, with this one almost turning a first-innings deficit of almost 300 into a remarkable come-from-behind victory. Sonny Ramadhin’s 7-49 helped skittle England for 186 in the first innings, and when West Indies racked up 474 and reduce England to 113-3, a procession seemed on the cards.

Enter Peter May and Colin Cowdrey, who put on 409 for the fourth wicket, with May selflessly declaring on himself, 15 short of a triple-century, to set up an exciting final afternoon. Chasing a theoretical 296 runs in 60 overs, Fred Trueman, Tony Lock, and Jim Laker tied West Indies in knots, and by the time stumps were drawn, they were 72-7.

Dennis Amiss – 262*

2nd Test, Sabina Park, Jamaica, 1974

Another stone-walling classic. England conceded a first-innings lead of 230, and were it not for Dennis Amiss – the next highest score in the third innings was 38 – West Indies would have had an easy victory. “After we’d saved the match I was gone, my concentration went completely,” he told Wisden Cricket Monthly. “When I went in for tea and they gave me a brandy they said I looked like a sack of potatoes, and I probably did. I batted nine hours and was exhausted.

“We went out again after tea and I was gone. Alvin Kallicharran and people like that were bowling, and I could hardly hit the joke bowlers for four, I was just patting them back until it was time to walk off. I said to Bob Willis, ‘You can get out now if you like. We’ve saved the match, they can’t win’. He said, ‘I’m not getting out now because I’ll have to bowl at them again’. He’d gone for plenty in the first innings. He didn’t get out, which is a shame really because there aren’t very many people who have carried their bat through an innings.”

Tom Graveney – 258

3rd Test, Trent Bridge, England, 1957

Don Smith must look back and feel he missed out. He nicked off for one to Frank Worrell early on, only to see the rest of the top four rack up 488 runs between them, to which Tom Graveney was the major contributor. England piled on 619-6dec, and West Indies just about scraped together enough in both innings to reach safety. Frank Worrell, who opened the batting and the bowling, carved out a magnificent unbeaten 191, carrying his bat in the first innings, while Collie Smith’s 168 rescued West Indies from holes of 89-5 and 194-6 in the second.

Alastair Cook – 243

1st Test, Edgbaston, England, 2017

Alastair Cook made the first day/night Test played in England one to remember, and though there were questions asked about whether the pink ball made batting conditions too easy, that was put into perspective by West Indies only just managing to cross Cook’s individual effort collectively in their two innings combined.

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This was the phase of Cook’s career, towards the end, when general struggles were punctured by the odd big score on a flat deck. In 45 innings up until his swansong century at The Oval, this was one of just two centuries. The other – against Australia at the MCG – surpassed it by a run.

Kevin Pietersen – 226

2nd Test, Headingley, England, 2007

Like Cook’s, this was another big score in a one-sided thrashing, but at least Kevin Pietersen had the decency to inject some flair into his knock, taking up just 262 balls in total and striking 24 fours and two sixes. Again, West Indies only just crossed his score in their two innings combined.

Rob Key – 221

1st Test, Lord’s, England, 2004

The high point of Rob Key’s 15-Test long career; it remained his only Test century. The Kent batsman took full toll of a pacy but wayward West Indies attack, with four of the five bowlers to get through a sizeable amount of work going at more than four and a half runs per over. The game itself was a run-fest, with 1,576 runs scored across the four innings, and England winning on the final day.

Patsy Hendren – 205*

2nd Test, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad, 1930

Weeks before Sandham’s mountainous effort, Patsy Hendren played the decisive hand in England’s only win of the series. After West Indies claimed a 46-run lead in the first innings, he and Les Ames joined forces at 52-3, leading by just six runs, and pushed England into the ascendancy. West Indies wouldn’t get close to their 380-run target, with Bill Voce taking 7-70 to seal victory.

Len Hutton – 205

5th Test, Sabina Park, Jamaica, 1954

Len Hutton led from the front, seventh out to help England to a big first-innings lead in a game they would go on and win. It was a near single-handed effort. The next highest score was 66, and he made almost half his side’s runs. After West Indies rallied in the second innings, England had Hutton to thank that they didn’t face a sizeable chase.

Dennis Amiss – 203

5th Test, The Oval, England, 1976

Though it came in a defeat, and didn’t scale the same heights of endurance as his 262* in the Caribbean, many rate this as the greater of Amiss’ two entrants on this list. On a rapid Oval pitch, the Warwickshire man took on the fearsome West Indies quicks to extraordinary effect, striking 28 fours in his 320-ball innings. Michael Holding – who took 14 wickets in the match – and Andy Roberts need no introduction, and while Wayne Daniel didn’t build up the same career record, he was as fast as any of them. No other England batsman passed 50.

Len Hutton – 202*

4th Test, The Oval, England, 1950

The final entry on this list, and Len Hutton’s second. He would have had a third if he had managed four more runs at Lord’s in 1930. This is in an innings in the Amiss vein of a lone hand in a sizeable defeat, and numerically this is the more impressive. Hutton carried his bat, the next highest score was just 44, and he accounted for 58.72 per cent of England’s runs.