Slow and steady: Three players with slowest ODI hundreds in 21st century
With the advent of T20 cricket, we have seen the scoring rate getting impacted even in the ODI format. The batsmen are scoring runs at a much faster pace than before in the 50-over format. Particularly when a batsman scores a hundred in ODIs, it is expected that he has not taken too many balls while playing that long inning. However, that has not been the case every time. In this article, we will be discussing three players who have scored the slowest ODI hundreds in the 21st century.
3. David Hemp – 150 balls vs Kenya, 2009
Bermuda’s David Hemp played a knock of 102 runs in 152 balls against Kenya in ICC World Cup Qualifier 2008-09. He completed his hundred in 150 balls and hit nine fours in the innings. Bermuda put up a total of 259/5 after they were asked to bat first.
Chasing this total, the batting line-up of Kenya responded quite well with four of the top 5 batsmen scoring over 40 runs. They won the match in 45 overs by seven wickets. Opener KO Otieno played a fine knock of 63 runs off 87 balls with the help of 5 fours.
2. Tom Cooper – 151 balls vs Afghanistan, 2010
Tom Cooper completed his century against Afghanistan in 151 balls in 2010. This match was part of ICC World Cricket League Division One. He finished with 101 runs off 155 balls including 9 fours. The Netherlands team could score only 202/8 in 50 overs while batting first.
Afghanistan won this match in only 42.3 overs by 6 wickets. For them, Mohammad Shahzad and Nawroz Mangal slammed half-centuries.
1. Scott Styris – 152 balls vs SL, 2007
This was in the Super Eight encounter between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the ODI World Cup 2007. Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming won the toss and elected to bat first in the game. New Zealand lost their first two wickets at only 4 runs and were under tremendous pressure. From there, Scott Styris played a marathon knock facing 157 balls and scoring 111 runs. He hit only 8 fours in his unbeaten knock.
New Zealand posted a total of 219 runs at the loss of seven wickets in 50 overs. In response to this, Sri Lanka chased down the total quite comfortably winning by 6 wickets in 45.1 overs. It can be debated whether Styris’ innings did more harm than benefit to the team.
