5 one-hit wonders in cricket

#4 Richard Levi

Richard Levi created a world record for fastest T20I ton but nothing else

Richard Levi became an overnight superstar when he smashed what at that time was the fastest hundred in T20I cricket against New Zealand at Hamilton in February 2012, in only his second international game. But all the predictions of him becoming the next big thing in the shortest format of the game proved to be wrong after bowlers discovered major chinks in his armour.

His 117* was laced with 13 sixes – many of them being the lethal sweeps off deliveries pitching around leg stump. He got to his century in 45 balls. But it was in that innings that his future decline’s seeds were sown.

His propensity to hit the ball fiercely on the leg side meant that bowlers realized the importance of giving him absolutely nothing on or around leg stump. When this strategy was implemented Levi was found heavily wanting and unable to score runs. He played 11 more matches after his hundred and his scores from those games, with very few exceptions, read like a telephone number.

Levi became a sitting duck and couldn’t correct the flaw of being too heavily biased towards scoring on the on-side. Eventually, he was left out of the South African team and is now plying his trade in some of the T20 leagues around the world.