Top 5 Best Test Innings of 2023

The 2023 year is coming to an end and many such cricketing incidents made the fans happy and few went back in tears. With the year ending the ongoing year saw Australia becoming the new champions of the World Test Championship in 2023 beating India as the Men in Blue lost in yet another edition of the WTC final. The mighty Aussies also retained the Ashes after drawing the series 2-2 in England.

India won the BGT series for the third time in a row, as they defended the trophy in the home conditions. People who say Test cricket is boring should watch the above-mentioned series and matches, they will find out how interesting the longest format of the game can be. 

The eventful year of test cricket coming to an end with some incredible performances throughout the years. This year saw some brilliant fights between bat and ball. Stuart Broad involved the crowd while bowling during the Ashes series. In the article, we will be looking at the best Test innings that have been played in the year 2023.    

Here are the top 5 best Test innings in 2023

5. Dean Elgar, 185 vs India 

Dean Elgar is one of the finest openers in test cricket of this generation. The left-handed batter is an underrated batter of this generation in the longest format of the game. He is playing his last test series against India and the 36-year-old batter scored a brilliant century in the 1st Test against the Men in Blue at the Supersport Park, Centurion. Elgar scored 185 runs smashing 24 fours in the innings as the Proteas defeated India by an innings and 32 runs on Thursday. He will also be captaining the last Test match of his career as Temba Bavuma is missing the match due to an injury. 

4. Kane Williamson, 215 vs Sri Lanka 

Kane Williamson is currently the No.1 Test batter in the Men's Rankings. He has been the greatest cricketer of red-ball cricket. Williamson has been a class apart in the longest format of the game, being out for almost a year he still holds the No.1 spot. The 33-year-old scored a brilliant double hundred against Sri Lanka as he equalled the record of Virender Sehwag, Ricky Ponting, and Javed Miandad for most double hundreds in Tests. The former skipper played a knock of 215 runs off 296 balls. This was his 6th double hundred in the traditional format of the game. 

3. Zak Crawley, 189 vs Australia (Ashes 2023)

Zak Crawley played the innings of his life. He hit 189 from 182 balls at Old Trafford. The explosive innings by Zak Crawley in the fourth Test at Old Trafford was the highest score in an Ashes Test at a strike rate of over 100, beating the previous record of 152 by Adam Gilchrist. Crawley became the 6th English batter to score a hundred runs in a single session of an Ashes Test and it was his maiden test hundred as well. This is the 3rd best score by an England batter on a single day of an Ashes Test. 

2. Ben Stokes, 155 vs Australia (Ashes 2023)

Ben Stokes the England Test captain is one of the finest all-rounders in the longest format of the game. But his career has been shortened due to long injuries he has suffered. His valiant 155 at Lord's was the 27th time a batter has reached 150 in the fourth innings of a Test. England were struggling at 45/4 when the batter came in and took on the Aussie bowlers. But his heroics failed as his team was not able to get to the target and he became the 2nd captain to score a hundred after Graham Gooch. 

1. Travis Head, 163 vs India (WTC final)

Travis Head has been the best batter for Australia across formats in recent times. Head is known for his aggressive approach in every format of the game. He is a big match player as he scored a hundred in the final of the ODI World Cup 2023 against India. But his best test knock in the year was in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-2023 final where he scored 163 runs against the Men in Blue in the first innings at Oval, England.