G.A. Gooch

333

G.A. Gooch 333 v IndiaBack to boards

Graham Gooch’s iconic 333, which contributed to his record-breaking aggregate score of 456 in the match against India at Lord’s in 1990, was voted as the greatest ever individual performance at the Home of Cricket in 2014.

The poll was organised by MCC as part of the Lord’s bicentenary celebrations, and was open to users of Lords.org and readers of The Times.

At the time, the innings was the sixth highest score in Test cricket, and the third highest by an Englishman, behind Len Hutton’s 364 and Wally Hammond’s 336 not out.

Esteemed cricket writer Matthew Engel described Gooch as having ‘batted sensationally’ and that his on-driving ‘was of a quality he had never seen surpassed’.

Gooch batted for more than ten and a half hours, faced 485 balls, hit 43 fours and three sixes. It inspired England to their first instance of winning successive Tests since 1985.

England went on to win a match that included another five centuries by 247 runs, but it is Gooch’s knock that will live long in the memory for those who were fortunate enough to witness it.