Top 5 batting performances - The Ashes in England 2013

England won the 5-match Test series 3-0 (Getty Images)

Test cricket can be a funny game.  In the recently concluded Ashes, Australia had first innings leads in four of the five matches. They were the only team to touch 500 in an innings and almost did it twice; England never went beyond 377. Four of the Australian top six made centuries along with a 98 from a number 11; England had only three batsmen who breached the three figure mark. Yet, at the end of the series, the scoreline reads 3-0 to England.

Similarly, four of the top five batting performances in the series belong to the Australians according to me. I rate Kevin Pietersen’s last day 62 very highly – he does seem to have something for the last day of an Ashes series. That however slots in at number 6 in my list, only and only because of the end result of the match; I believe that had Pietersen been out there in the middle, the match would have been over much earlier and we would not have to go into all this controversy.

The top five performances are not just high scores, but high scores made in relatively difficult conditions and/or match (and series) situations. Hence, without taking away anything from his performances, neither of Ian Bell’s three centuries figure in this list as I feel that, more often than not, he came in when the fragile Australian attack (consisting of injury-prone pacers and inconsistent spinners) had already expended most of its energy on dismissing the top three (Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Jonathan Trott).