5 lesser known players who scored a century on ODI debut
Every cricketer’s ultimate dream would likely be to represent his or her nation at the International level. Adding to the exciting occasion, a century on debut in any format will be an ‘icing on the cake’ moment for the cricketers.
In the history of ODI cricket, only 14 players have achieved his remarkable feat. Dennis Amiss of England was the first player to reach this landmark against Australia. Recently, Reeza Hendricks (South Africa) joined this elusive club by smashing 102 runs from 89 runs with an impressive strike rate of 114.60 against Sri Lanka.
Scoring a century in one’s ODI debut is no small feat; particularly given how much significance is accorded to the first impression that a player makes; not only on the fans, but also (more importantly) on the selectors and peers in the cricketing world.
Given that the landscape of the sport has changed over the past several years—with the advent of a more batsman-friendly cricketing world—going out to the pitch and scoring 3-figures in an innings is still no small feat, be it in the old days or in today’s game.
Let us look at five such players who scored a century on their ODI debut--
#5 Temba Bavuma (South Africa)
Bavuma made his ODI debut for South Africa on Sep 25, 2016, against Ireland. It was a one-off ODI series in South Africa.
Ireland won the toss and opted to bowl first. Bavuma and Quinton de Kock opened the batting for the hosts. The pair added 159 runs for the first wicket before de Kock got dismissed for 82 runs; while Bavuma scored 113 runs from 123 deliveries.
In the process, he became the second South African cricketer to score a century on ODI debut.
Behardien’s quick-fire 50 runs from 22 balls at the end helped the hosts to post a massive score of 354. In reply, Ireland could post only 148 runs as South Africa won the match by a massive margin of 206 runs.
Unfortunately, Bavuma could feature in only one more ODI for South Africa against Bangladesh on Oct 22, 2017. Though he has only two ODI caps, he is a regular in the South African Test setup.
Bavuma has featured in 31 Tests for the Proteas. In Test Cricket, he holds the record for being the first African (*of African ethnicity) cricketer to score a century for South Africa.