23 ODI 100s of AB de Villiers: All innings with a strike rate of over 100
There have been many destructing, attacking and aggressive cricketers in the past and present. But having the same approach in every long innings is something only AB de Villiers has mastered.
When speaking of aggressive ODI batsmen, one would mention players like Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, etc. They all have scored many centuries at a quicker rate but NOT all their centuries innings had a strike rate of over 100.
AB de Villiers scored three centuries in the five-match ODI series against India to take the count of his ODI centuries to 23. With every century, he is making his sequence of having 100+ strike rate in all those innings longer. Only four batsmen have scored more ODI centuries than AB de Villiers’ 23. But he has something special in his centuries.
Let’s have a list of those 23 ODI centuries and his strike rate in those.
List of 23 ODI centuries of AB de Villiers
|
Runs |
Balls |
Fours |
Sixes |
S/R |
Opposition |
Ground |
Date |
|
146 |
130 |
12 |
5 |
112.30 |
West Indies |
St George's |
10-Apr-07 |
|
107 |
89 |
8 |
6 |
120.22 |
Zimbabwe |
Harare |
26-Aug-07 |
|
103* |
95 |
9 |
3 |
108.42 |
Pakistan |
Lahore |
18-Oct-07 |
|
121 |
85 |
14 |
0 |
142.35 |
England |
Cape Town |
27-Nov-09 |
|
114* |
101 |
13 |
2 |
112.87 |
India |
Gwalior |
24-Feb-10 |
|
102* |
59 |
11 |
3 |
172.88 |
India |
Motera |
27-Feb-10 |
|
102 |
101 |
5 |
2 |
100.99 |
West Indies |
North Sound |
22-May-10 |
|
101* |
72 |
5 |
5 |
140.27 |
Zimbabwe |
Potchefstroom |
17-Oct-10 |
|
109 |
99 |
5 |
5 |
110.10 |
Zimbabwe |
Benoni |
22-Oct-10 |
|
107* |
105 |
8 |
2 |
101.90 |
West Indies |
Kotla |
24-Feb-11 |
|
134 |
98 |
13 |
4 |
136.73 |
Netherlands |
Mohali |
03-Mar-11 |
|
125* |
98 |
10 |
4 |
127.55 |
Sri Lanka |
New Wanderers |
22-Jan-12 |
|
106* |
106 |
3 |
4 |
100.00 |
New Zealand |
Wellington |
25-Feb-12 |
|
128 |
108 |
12 |
3 |
118.51 |
Pakistan |
New Wanderers |
17-Mar-13 |
|
115* |
102 |
10 |
3 |
112.74 |
Pakistan |
Sharjah |
11-Nov-13 |
|
109 |
101 |
6 |
5 |
107.92 |
India |
Centurion |
11-Dec-13 |
|
108 |
71 |
11 |
4 |
152.11 |
Sri Lanka |
Hambantota |
12-Jul-14 |
|
136* |
106 |
11 |
2 |
128.30 |
Australia |
Harare |
27-Aug-14 |
|
149 |
44 |
9 |
16 |
338.63 |
West Indies |
New Wanderers |
18-Jan-15 |
|
162* |
66 |
17 |
8 |
245.45 |
West Indies |
SCG |
27-Feb-15 |
|
104* |
73 |
5 |
6 |
142.46 |
India |
Kanpur |
11-Oct-15 |
|
112 |
107 |
10 |
2 |
104.67 |
India |
Chepauk |
22-Oct-15 |
| 119 | 61 | 3 | 11 | 195.08 | India | Wankhede | 25-Oct-15 |
- AB de Villiers’ combined strike rate in all his ODI centuries is 130.90 which is highest for any batsman with 10 or more ODI centuries.
It is not that AB de Villiers scored every century with 100 balls or so, but at the end of the innings he had a strike rate of more than 100. Let’s see how many balls he took to score each of his 23 ODI centuries.
Number of balls to score each ODI century
|
Runs |
Balls to century |
|
146 (130) |
114 |
|
107 (89) |
84 |
|
103* (95) |
93 |
|
121 (85) |
75 |
|
114* (101) |
85 |
|
102* (59) |
58 |
|
102 (101) |
99 |
|
101* (72) |
72 |
|
109 (99) |
91 |
|
107* (105) |
97 |
|
134 (98) |
88 |
|
125* (98) |
88 |
|
106* (106) |
101 |
|
128 (108) |
87 |
|
115* (102) |
99 |
|
109 (101) |
96 |
|
108 (71) |
66 |
|
136* (106) |
82 |
|
149 (44) |
31 |
|
162* (66) |
52 |
|
104* (73) |
73 |
|
112 (107) |
98 |
| 119 (61) | 57 |
- Out of 23 ODI centuries, only two centuries were completed taking more than 100 balls by AB de Villiers. However, he managed to increase his strike rate to at least 100 at the end of the inning.
We have mentioned that even some of the most aggressive batsmen couldn’t have a strike rate of 100 or more in all their century innings. Then, after AB de Villiers, who comes next?
It is a surprising name – he is not from this present generation of cricket. He didn’t have the benefit of powerplays and other batsmen friendly rules. He did not play ODIs in this century even!
He is Ijaz Ahmed from Pakistan who scored 10 centuries in his ODI career all with a strike rate of over 100 in all those innings. Next is Shahid Afridi with six centuries.
Most ODI centuries in career with all at a strike rate of more than 100
|
100s |
Batsman |
|
23 |
AB de Villiers |
|
10 |
Ijaz Ahmed |
|
6 |
Shahid Afridi |
|
4 |
JP Duminy |
|
3 |
Jesse Ryder |
|
3 |
Mike Hussey |
|
3 |
Mushfiqr Rahim |
|
3 |
Sikandad Raza |
Even players of this generation like Brendon McCullum, MS Dhoni, Shane Watson, etc. who scored most of their centuries with a higher strike rate but not all those innings had a strike rate of over 100.
Let’s see, for the top century-makers in ODIs, how many innings had a strike rate of over 100 and how many not.
Players with 15 or more ODI centuries
|
Player |
100 |
100+ S/R century innings |
% of century innings at 100+ S/R |
|
AB de Villiers |
23 |
23 |
100.00 |
|
Adam Gilchrist |
16 |
13 |
81.25 |
|
Virender Sehwag |
15 |
12 |
80.00 |
|
Virat Kohli |
23 |
16 |
69.57 |
|
Brian Lara |
19 |
13 |
68.42 |
|
Sanath Jayasuriya |
28 |
18 |
64.29 |
|
Kumar Sangakkara |
25 |
13 |
52.00 |
|
Tillakaratne Dilshan |
22 |
11 |
50.00 |
|
Sachin Tendulkar |
49 |
24 |
48.98 |
|
Mahela Jayawardene |
19 |
9 |
47.37 |
|
Hashim Amla |
21 |
9 |
42.86 |
|
Chris Gayle |
22 |
9 |
40.91 |
|
Herschelle Gibbs |
21 |
8 |
38.10 |
|
Ricky Ponting |
30 |
11 |
36.67 |
|
Desmond Haynes |
17 |
6 |
35.29 |
|
Ross Taylor |
15 |
4 |
26.67 |
|
Mohammad Yousuf |
15 |
4 |
26.67 |
|
Saeed Anwar |
20 |
5 |
25.00 |
|
Jacques Kallis |
17 |
4 |
23.53 |
|
Sourav Ganguly |
22 |
5 |
22.73 |
|
Mark Waugh |
18 |
3 |
16.67 |
|
Nathan Astle |
16 |
1 |
6.25 |
- Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag missed having 100+ strike rate in three century innings each.
- Nathan Astle, one of the finest ODI players from New Zealand, managed to have a 100+ strike rate in only one of his 16 ODI century innings.
- Nathan Astle, Mark Waugh, Sourav Ganguly and Jacques Kallis had less than 25% of their century innings with a strike rate of over 100 in ODIs.
- Surprising that Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara have a higher percentage of century innings with 100+ strike rate than Chris Gayle.
Yes, AB de Villiers is really special. Let’s hope his streak continues and all his further century innings also have this strike rate.