Top 5 highest individual scores at Lord's in Test cricket

The Lord's in London is considered vital and mighty in terms of its standing in the game as a colossus venue because it has occupied a sacred space in the hearts of true cricket lovers. And those who have excelled in their journey in the sport have become, in the past many decades of playing here, desirious of succeeding and doing something spectacular in Cricket.

In some ways, maybe it won't be incorrect to consider it the gateway to true cricketing excellence; more like a garden to glory and one where your fantastical deeds anoint you a place among the pantheons of cricketing greats.

In that sense, Lord's as entertained and awed not just cricketers or fans alike, but even the commentators and historians. It's considered coveted to score big hundreds here but not always does the best in the business manage to do so. For instance, think of Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, none of whom have ever scored a hundred at this prestigious venue. 

But then, so many have. So who are they? We have the top 5 for you:

Top 5 Highest individual scores at Lord's in Test cricket

Graham Gooch's 333 in 1990

One of the big cricketing discussions that never really happens but must is whether cricket has afforded the amount or volume of respect to Gooch that he so richly deserves even in all these years?

Perhaps the answer to that question is a strong no, though, some would still feel it did.

As a matter of factly, it was the stoic right hander from England, one of the finest batting-technique and timing-wise who holds the record for making the most number of runs in a single batting inning played here at Lord's.

And his, make no mistake about it, was a titanic score in the context of the time spent at the wicket whilst snubbing India from the smashing of his cricket bat: 628 minutes.

Graham Gooch played this knock exactly 35 years back in the day at Lord's.

Graeme Smith's 259 in 2003

He scored no fewer than a remarkable tally of 5 Test double hundreds over the course his mega career for South Africa, but it could be argued that Graeme Smith's finest hundred, rather his finest double hundred came here at Lord's in 2003.

If you think about it today, it's an event that occurred over 2 decades back in time. But the 370-ball-stay at the wicket for the belligerent left hander eventually enabled his fighting South African team to enjoy a victory by a margin of an inning and 92 runs.

In the same test, Ntini bowled a mesmerising spell of quality fast bowling, claiming out 10 wickets in the game.

Sir Don Bradman's 254 in 1930

There are good batters. There are great batters. Then, there come the legends. And then, the timelss icons! And yet, and yet, Sir Don's fans occupy a front row seat having witnessed sheer thrill and wizardry back in the day with the hero behind great run scoring seated even above the bracket of legends and icons of cricket.

95 years back in the day, Sir Don scored a remarkable 254 here at Lord's against England and seemed like an immovable object at the wicket.

Wally Hammond's 240 in 1938

The younger fans of the game, it ought to be said, ought to know a lot and a lot more passionately about the big heroes of the game belonging to the yesteryears.

That's the general feeling that one gets when one notes that in the current context of cricket, it's also a lot about marketing players and selling them on the basis of hype. Not to belittle their talent, but the true grit with which huge test scores were made in the bygone era that was utterly uncompromising with there not being anything even remotely close to the concepts prevalent today such as a "PowerPlay", things were extremely competitive back then.

And it is during these times that someone like Wally Hammond smashed his way to a giant knock of 240 at the Lord's. This came nearly eight and a half decades back in time and remains the 4th-highest individual test score ever struck at Lord's.

Jonathan Trott's 210 in 2010

One of the finest modern-day batters for England, and one who from the top order could play cautiously as well as with an increased tempo of scoring, there was an element of grace and of calm about Jonathan Trott, the studious right hander.

Back in the day, he managed to tame the visiting Bangladesh side with big names like Shakib in their ranks on his way to a career-best run score at Lord's. He made 210 runs of his own displaying sheer class.