Ben Mayes made history by setting the highest individual score by an England player at the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, scoring 191 runs from only 117 balls against Scotland on Wednesday in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Mayes’ score is also the joint second-highest of all time in U-19 World Cup history, tying with Sri Lanka’s Hasitha Boyagoda and just one run short of the world record set by Viran Chamuditha earlier in the tournament against Japan.
Coming in to bat after England lost Ben Dawkins early, Mayes quickly began to attack the opposition. He formed an aggressive partnership with Joe Moores, putting together an 188-run stand in roughly 22 overs.
The 18-year-old played a crucial role in the partnership, consistently overpowering the Scottish bowlers. During his innings, he struck 18 boundaries and eight sixes, thoroughly dismantling the Scottish bowling attack.
His performance helped England reach a total of 404/6 against Scotland, marking the sixth-highest score in ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup history and the highest of the tournament so far.
“I wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen this morning. I just tried to take it a ball at a time. Really well helped by Morsi (Moores), and people chipping in with Rew and Caleb as well. It helped, kept me in the moment,” Mayes said after England’s innings.
Reflecting on his record knock, he stated, “No other words for it. It feels amazing. As a team, we’ve tried to identify areas where we can score best, bowlers we can target. The whole team did that well today, not only me. Strong wind, short boundaries. We used that to our advantage. It’s brilliant.”
When discussing his notable partnerships in the middle, Mayes said, “He (Moores) and Rew are my favourite two people to bat with. You see all the shots he plays. I’m down the other end going, mate, it’s unbelievable. It’s really fun. We try to keep it light, pretty jokey, and have a good time. Even though we lost the toss, it’s quite a good wicket to bowl second on. There’ll be a bit of turn in the second innings, like there was when we played Zimbabwe on it.”
He added, “It’s the same message as always – hit the stumps as much as possible with a bit of variable bounce. That should help us defend the score,” referring to the bowlers who now look to defend the 405-run target set by the English side.