Glenn Maxwell played a magnificent knock of 154*, registering the highest ever score in the history of the Big Bash League.
When Maxwell is at his swashbuckling, destructive best, there are only a few things a team can do to stop him besides lining up players in the stands. That was the case when Hobart Hurricanes came up against a brute force in Maxwell and Melbourne Stars in what was essentially a dead rubber.
Hurricanes had already beaten the Stars to the fifth qualification spot. Maybe it was that sense of their fate being sealed, which allowed MS to play without any restraint, but the Australia international was on top of the opposition from the very first over until the last.
He smashed a record-breaking 154 off just 64 deliveries and helped his side post a mammoth total of 273/2, the highest total in Big Bash League and the fourth-highest by a T20 team.
Maxwell’s knock is the highest individual score by a batter in the history of the competition. In fact, he’s the first and only Big Bash League player in history to get the mark of 150 runs. The captain took only 20 deliveries to bring up his half-century while he reached the three-figure-mark in only 41 deliveries as the Hurricanes bowlers were punished with plenty of disdain.
This was the second-fastest century in the tournament’s history, with Craig Simmons scoring a century in 39 balls in BBL03. Maxwell hit as many as 22 boundaries and four sixes en route to his magnificent 154 not out.
“A lot of things have to go right for something like that to happen, I had great support the whole way through … it’s still a nice feeling to finish this tournament with a really nice innings,”
the 33-year-old said after the first innings.
Melbourne Stars ended up winning quite comfortably by a margin of 106 runs to end their BBL11 campaign on a high note.
The record for the previous highest score in Big Bash League history belonged to Marcus Stoinis, who had scored 147 not out. On this occasion, he had the best seats in the house to watch the Maxi-carnage unfold as Stoinis was at the non-striker’s end.
Stoinis also had a brilliant day in the office with the bat as he remained not out on 75 off 31 deliveries and his knock included four fours and six sixes.
The timing of the groundbreaking knock couldn’t have been better for Maxwell. One of the greatest players in BBL history marked his 100th appearance in the competition with a special record-shattering knock that will be remembered for a long time.
