Ask The Spider #101

How many times has exactly 100 been scored in an ODI?

As of this column there have been 62 scores of exactly 100 in the 2970 ODIs played so far, the first by Dennis Amiss against New Zealand in the sixth-ever ODI at Swansea in July 1973, constituting the second ever ODI century (Amiss had also scored the first the previous summer against Australia at Old Trafford). Nobody managed exactly 100 for the next 14 years until Gordon Greenidge and Salim Malik both achieved it in 1987. The most recent occurrence was by Travis Dowlin of West Indies, with 100* against Bangladesh at Roseau in July 2009.

Has anyone scored exactly 100 in ODIs more than once?

Yes, this has been achieved by six players, led by the recent double-centurion Sachin Tendulkar with six. The others to have achieved multiple hundreds are Mohammad Yousuf and Jacques Kallis, with three each, and David Boon, Kevin Pietersen and Salim Malik with two. Interestingly Malik scored 5 ODI tons, none higher than 102.

Has there ever been an instance of more than one player scoring exactly 100 in an ODI?

This has happened on only one occasion – when New Zealand played Australia at Auckland in 1991/92 during the first match of the World Cup: both Martin Crowe and David Boon scored exactly 100, with Boon slightly shading Crowe with 133 balls faced, one fewer than Crowe, though Crowe’s knock was undefeated and he was able to enjoy victory.

How many players have a best score of 100 or 100* in ODIs?

There are eight players with a best score of exactly 100 – Carlisle Best, Robin Singh, Hemang Badani, Faisal Iqbal, Douglas Marillier, Sean Ervine, Justin Kemp, and the aforementioned Dowlin. Faisal, Kemp and Dowlin’s knocks were undefeated.

Of those who have scored exactly 100 or 100*, has anyone done so off exactly 100 balls (i.e., a-run-a-ball)?

Again this has happened only once, by the aforementioned Ervine for Zimbabwe against India at Adelaide during the VB Series in 2003/04, Zimbabwe falling just four runs short of victory.

Has anyone taken exactly 100 wickets in ODIs?

Three players have exactly 100 ODI wickets to their names – Winston Benjamin, Sourav Ganguly and Roger Harper.

Has anyone played exactly 100 ODIs?

England’s Nick Knight is the only player to have played in 100 ODIs, Knight having retired after the 2002/03 World Cup. His final game was a heartbreaking loss to Australia with two balls left.