Merry Christmas! Today we choose our innings of the decade. Tell us yours in the comments below.

John Stern (Editor of TWC)

Sachin Tendulkar, 98,  India v Pakistan, Centurion, 2003 World Cup

More than a cameo, less then an epic but unbeatable for fizzing, bar-emptying brutality. India v Pakistan for the first time in three years and Sachin v Shoaib. As Wisden said : “Almost incredibly, the cricket lived up to the hype.” He took 15 off Shoaib’s first over including a cut six. India ought to have won the tournament but sadly choked in the final against Australia.

Edward Craig (Deputy Editor)

Andrew Flintoff, 95, England v South Africa, 5th Test, The Oval, 2003

This was the moment – the catalyst – that began England’s brief rise to the top. He had threatened before in Tests, scored a dead-end hundred at Lord’s earlier in the series even, but here Flintoff delivered when it mattered and won the game. He added 99 with Steve Harmison for the ninth wicket. Harmison made 3. Flintoff hit four enormous sixes – one off Ntini into the upper part of the dressing room, another hooked nearly into a gas tower. A slender lead became a substantial one and England tied a series from nowhere. This started what finished in the 2005 Ashes win.

Daniel Brigham (Assistant editor)

Benj Moorehead (Editorial assistant)

Graeme Smith, 154*, England v South Africa, 3rd Test, Edgbaston, 2008

High skill. Smith was faced with unenviable circumstances: his team were 93-4 chasing 281 on a pitch turning enormously out of hideous spots of rough. Monty Panesar was derided for not taking advantage of this. That’s nonsense. Panesar tested Smith time and again with accurate, advantage-taking bowling. Smith’s survival depended on a bit of luck, immaculate shot selection and above all by his own state of calm which had the reverse effect on the England bowlers. No batsman had ever made a fourth-innings century at Edgbaston. And this one mattered: it sealed South Africa’s first series win in England for 33 years.

Sam Collins (Website editor)

Virender Sehwag, 293, India v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Kanpur 2009

Simply the most extraordinary innings I have ever seen. Only 254 balls, seven runs short of being the first person ever to score three Test triple hundreds. He is so much more than just brute force. The part I remember most vividly was after he had got 200, in the space of a couple of overs he produced a late-cut and a sweep that went so fine they would have been inside slip and leg-slip. Since his return to the Indian team in early 2008 he has come closer than anyone to redefining the art of batting. His 83 at Chennai in late 2008 is also up there – brutally exposing England’s conservative approach. Sentimentally I would love to include some of Michael Vaughan’s purple patch.

Monday: Bowler of the decade