Alex ‘shocked’ to claim record

July 15, 2026

SUFFOLK’S Alex Oxley said he was ‘shocked’ to learn he now holds the highest individual score in international cricket for Belize.

Alex (pictured above) scored 80 not out off 63 balls to not only set the record but win the Most Valuable player of the match award in a T20 World Cup Qualifier versus Brazil in Bermuda.

The 25-year-old Men’s 1st XI bat was involved in four ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Sub-Region Group A games last month.

The opening match versus Panama was abandoned without a ball being bowled, before Oxley top-scored with 22 off 32 balls in a ten-wicket loss to Bermuda.

After Brazil posted 133 for 9, Oxley ensured Belize chased down their target by striking eight fours and a six in his unbeaten knock to guide Belize to an eight-wicket win.

He made a run-a-ball 15 in Belize’s last match, which ended in a 22-run loss to the Bahamas as Belize tied in third place in the five-team group.

Alex, who was born in Bury St Edmunds, qualifies for Belize through his mum, who was born in the south of Belize in Punta Gorda.

The former Culford School student, who became Suffolk’s youngest player since the Second World War in June 2017 at the age of 16 years and 60 days, made his debut for Belize in December 2024.

That match against Mexico was the first of seven in which Alex, who plays his club cricket for Copdock & Old Ipswichian CC, featured in at the T20 World Cup qualifiers in Buenos Aries in Argentina.

He recorded a highest score of 35 back then, but his innings of 80 not out was not only his personal best for Belize but eclipsed the national side’s previous highest individual innings.

Alex Oxley, who top-scored with 71, batting during Suffolk’s second innings in their
NCCA Cluberly Championship match versus Northumberland at Bury St Edmunds

Alex said: “I was shocked when I found out to be fair. I had no idea that I had broken the record, so when I found out afterwards it was quite cool.

“It was a tricky deck to bat on. The wicket was two-paced and the bounce was not consistent, so the ball was going up and down.

“It was nice to get off to a good start and to be able to anchor the innings and for everyone to bat around me. I knew if I was there at the end, we would be close to their total.”

The win was a significant one for Belize, which has a population of just 400,000 and therefore a small pool of players to select from.

“Brazil is a big country which receives a lot of ICC funding, so it was huge for Belize to beat a team like that on the international stage. It is probably the most important win we have had.

“We have beaten some of the smaller countries, but to beat a big country like Brazil was massive for us.”

Alex, whose parents now live back in Belize, said that the national side had a mix of experienced and inexperienced players.

“It is nice to bring some of my knowledge to the team to help them to progress higher in the world rankings as when I started playing for them expectations were not that high,” he said.

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