Five ODI centuries in the same day – Luke Ronchi, Grant Elliott, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Ian Bell and Steven Smith

Luke Ronchi celebrates his century as Sri Lanka's Thisara Perera looks on

There were five centuries scored in different matches on January 23, 2015 in ODIs. At Dunedin, first Luke Ronchi smashed an unbeaten 170 and Grant Elliott scored unbeaten 104 for the Kiwis. In reply, Tillakaratne Dilshan scored 106 runs to end up losing the match by 108 runs as the target set was 361. In the same continent, in Australia at Hobart another ODI was played – between Australia and England.

Ian Bell scored 141 runs for England batting first and set Australia a target of 304 to win. For Australia Steve Smith scored an unbeaten 102 and won the match for Australia by three wickets. That is, five centuries were scored within 12 hours in the same day.

So, is five centuries the most number of centuries in ODIs in a single day? Or there have been more?

It is only the second time in the history of ODIs since 1971 that five centuries have been scored in the single day in ODIs. It is the highest in the case. The previous and the only occasion of five ODI centuries in a single day were on September 3, 2013 when William Porterfield, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh scored centuries.

Five ODI centuries in a single day

Date	Batsman 1	Batsman 2	Batsman 3	Batsman 4	Batsman 5
September 3, 2013	WTS Porterfield (Ire) 112	EJG Morgan (Eng) 124*	RS Bopara (Eng) 101*	AJ Finch (Aus) 148	SE Marsh (Aus) 151
January 23, 2015	L Ronchi (NZ) 170*	GD Elliott (NZ) 104*	TM Dilshan (SL) 116	IR Bell (Eng) 141	SPD Smith (Aus) 102*

There have been four occasions of four ODI centuries in a single day. Two of those happened in the same match where two centuries were scored from each side. The latest day on which four ODI centuries were recorded in a single day was just five days back, on January 18, 2015 when Hashim Amla, Rilee Rossouw and AB de Villiers scored centuries in the match and Rohit Sharma scored century earlier in the day.

Four ODI centuries in a single day

Date	Batsman 1	Batsman 2	Batsman 3	Batsman 4
November 10, 1998	Ijaz Ahmed (Pak) 111	Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 100	AC Gilchrist (Aus) 103	RT Ponting (Aus) 124*
February 4, 2007	RT Ponting (Aus) 104	RN ten Doeschate (Net) 109*	EJG Morgan (Ire) 115	A Bagai (Can) 122
October 30, 2013	SR Watson (Aus) 102	GJ Bailey (Aus) 156	S Dhawan (Ind) 100	V Kohli (Ind) 115*
August 27, 2014	AJ Finch (Aus) 102	F du Plessis (SA) 106	AB de Villiers (SA) 136*	SK Raina (Ind) 100
January 18, 2015	HM Amla (SA) 153*	RR Rossouw (SA) 128	AB de Villiers (SA) 149*	RG Sharma (Ind) 138

There has been numerous numbers of days which saw three ODI centuries, many of them having happening in the same ODI.

Three ODI centuries in a single day

Date	Batsman 1	Batsman 2	Batsman 3
June 3, 1985	GM Wood (Aus) 114*	GA Gooch (Eng) 117*	DI Gower (Eng) 102
September 7, 1986	GR Marsh (Aus) 104	DC Boon (Aus) 111	K Srikkanth (Ind) 102
March 11, 1996	BC Lara (WI) 111	CZ Harris (NZ) 130	ME Waugh (Aus) 110
October 4, 1996	Saeed Anwar (Pak) 115	Shahid Afridi (Pak) 102	PA de Silva (SL) 122
January 5,1997	ME Waugh (Aus) 102	BC Lara (WI) 102	CL Hooper (WI) 110*
August 17, 1997	MS Atapattu (SL) 118	M Azharuddin (Ind) 111*	A Jadeja (Ind) 119
January 18, 1998	Saeed Anwar (Pak) 140	Ijaz Ahmed (Pak) 117	SC Ganguly (Ind) 124
January 26, 1998	AC Gilchrist (Aus) 100	GW Flower (Zim) 112	ST Jayasuriya (SL) 102
April 9, 1998	M Azharuddin (Ind) 153*	A Jadeja (Ind) 116*	GW Flower (Zim) 102
July 7, 1998	SC Ganguly (Ind) 109	SR Tendulkar (Ind) 128	PA de Silva (SL) 105
March 27, 1999	JH Kallis (SA) 100	DPMD Jayawardene (SL) 101	GW Flower (Zim) 140
October 5, 2001	SC Ganguly (Ind) 127	SR Tendulkar (Ind) 101	G Kirsten (SA) 133*
February 10, 2003	CB Wishart (Zim) 172*	ST Jayasuriya (SL) 120	SB Styris (NZ) 141
February 23, 2003	JM Davison (Can) 111	SR Tendulkar (Ind) 152	SC Ganguly (Ind) 112*
March 3, 2003	JF Kloppenburg (Net) 121	KJJ van Noortwijk (Net) 134*	MS Atapattu (SL) 124
June 28, 2003	JH Kallis (SA) 107	ME TreScohick (Eng) 114*	VS Solanki (Eng) 106
January 24, 2004	VVS Laxman (Ind) 131	SV Carlisle (Zim) 109	SM Ervine (Zim) 100
July 6, 2004	AJ Strauss (Eng) 100	A Flintoff (Eng) 123	CH Gayle (WI) 132*
July 1, 2006	ME TreScohick (Eng) 121	WU Tharanga (SL) 109	ST Jayasuriya (SL) 152
January 28, 2007	ML Hayden (Aus) 117	RT Ponting (Aus) 111	JDP Oram (NZ) 101*
January 31, 2007	SR Tendulkar (Ind) 100*	WTS Porterfield (Ire) 112*	A Bagai (Can) 137*
February 2, 2007	EC Joyce (Eng) 107	WTS Porterfield (Ire) 104*	KJ O'Brien (Ire) 142
October 18, 2007	HH Gibbs (SA) 102	AB de Villiers (SA) 103*	TM Odoyo (Ken) 111*
June 25, 2008	KC Sangakkara (SL) 101	MS Dhoni (Ind) 109*	SK Raina (Ind) 101
July 1, 2008	JAH Marshall (NZ) 161	BB McCullum (NZ) 166	AM Samad (Can) 130
April 1, 2009	NFI McCallum (Sco) 121*	WTS Porterfield (Ire) 101	RN ten Doeschate (Net) 106*
July 7, 2009	GM Hamilton (Sco) 119	DF Watts (Sco) 101	S Jyoti (Can) 117
November 5, 2009	BRM Taylor (Zim) 118*	SE Marsh (Aus) 112	SR Tendulkar (Ind) 175
February 16, 2010	RN ten Doeschate (Net) 109*	Noor Ali Zadran (Afg) 114	Mohammad Shahzad (Afg) 118
August 16, 2010	Karim Sadiq (Afg) 114*	Mohammad Shahzad (Afg) 100*	GC Wilson (Ire) 113
October 15, 2010	HM Amla (SA) 110	CA Ingram (SA) 124	BRM Taylor (Zim) 145*
March 18, 2011	RN ten Doeschate (Net) 106	PR Stirling (Ire) 101	KC Sangakkara (SL) 111
January 22, 2012	GC Smith (SA) 125	AB de Villiers (SA) 125*	KC Sangakkara (SL) 102
February 28, 2012	TM Dilshan (SL) 160*	KC Sangakkara (SL) 105	V Kohli (Ind) 133*
March 6, 2012	DA Warner (Aus) 163	MJ Clarke (Aus) 100	TM Dilshan (SL) 117
March 18, 2012	Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) 105	Nasir Jamshed (Pak) 112	V Kohli (Ind) 183
January 23, 2014	CS MacLeod (Sco) 175	W Barresi (Net) 137*	IA Karim (Ken) 108

There was an interesting sequence in early 2007. There were three centuries on January 28th, two on January 30th, three on January 31st, three on February 2nd and four on February 4th. 15 centuries in 8 days!!

There were three 100s on March 3, 2003 (3 100s on 3-3-03)!