Richards, Collingwood, Dilshan . . . and Kerr
Has a 17-year-old Kiwi just played the greatest all-round game of international 50-over cricket? The statistics say yes.
Teenage White Fern Amelia Kerr has scored 232 not out and chimed in with 5-17 against Ireland in Dublin yesterday.
Statistically, her recordbreaking performance easily puts her at the top of the tree for the greatest one-off ODI performance from an all-rounder.
Kerr is being touted as a player who could go on to be one of the best female cricketers in the world but at just 17, bettering the likes of Sir Viv Richards and Tillakaratne Dilshan is one memory that she is unlikely to forget in a hurry. Opening the batting against Ireland, the 17-year-old White Fern smashed 232 not out – the highest ever score in women’s ODI history – before backing it up with figures of 5-17 with the ball in Dublin.
Her seven overs included two maidens. Her 145-ball innings with the bat included 31 fours and two sixes.
The White Ferns (440-3) won the match by 305 runs. The middle-order batsman, who had a knack of breaking partnerships with the ball, took 6-31 and scored 112 not out against Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005 to help England to a 168-run victory.
Collingwood hit 10 fours and five sixes in his 85-ball knock before he claimed 6-31 off 10 overs with his medium pacers. England (391-4) won the match by 168 runs. The man who made the ‘‘Dilscoop’’ famous – it was named after him – smashed the Zimbabwe attack all over Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in 2011 as he stroked his way to 144.
His 131-ball stay featured 16 fours and one six as Sri Lanka set Zimbabwe 328 to win. Dilshan played a major role in Zimbabwe being bowled out for 188 when he took 4-4 off three overs. Arguably the most devastating batsman of all time, Sir Viv Richards carted the New Zealand bowling attack to all corners of Carisbrook in 1987 when he blasted his way to 119 in a team score of 237-9.
He hit 10 fours and four sixes in the 113-ball innings. He then helped bowl New Zealand out for 142 when he finished with figures of 5-41 from his 10 overs. He still had the best part of eight overs to bat when he was run out but opening batsman Rohan Mustafa still managed 109 runs from 125 balls against Papua New Guinea at Abu Dhabi in 2017.
On its own, hardly all-time great stuff against a minnow side as United Arab Emirates posted 251 but Mustafa then backed it up with figures of 5-25 off 8.2 overs as Papua New Guinea were bowled out for just 148.