Stats: Players who have scored a century in their 100th ODI

The sheer volume of limited-overs games being played these days has nulled the importance of an individual’s 100th ODI game, a milestone that used to be quite significant when the ODI format was gaining ground a few decades back.

David Warner recently became the first Australian to score a hundred in his 100th ODI, against India, amassing a sublime 124 to help overcome the hosts by 21 runs in a high scoring encounter. Warner had a below-par Test record in India, averaging 24 from eight Tests, and had to prove himself in what was his first ODI in the country.

Playing at the Chinnaswamy, a ground he was well versed with courtesy the IPL, Warner took his time to settle down along with Aaron Finch, but once in flow, he let loose, smashing his 14th century to power Australia to 334.

While he was the first Aussie to achieve this feat, there have been seven batsmen who have made the most of their 100th ODI in the past. Here’s the list:

Gordon Greenidge

The Barbadian great, who formed a formidable opening partnership with Desmond Haynes in ODIs, helped West Indies become the first powerhouse of ODIs over the course of his 16-year long career. A right-hand bat, he averaged more than 45, scoring over 5000 runs at a time when the game was slowly shifting to the condensed form and run-rates started becoming relevant.

He developed a strong defensive technique while learning the ropes of the game as a kid, but the innate streak of aggression within him struck as he played for the West Indies, especially in the ODI format.

In his 100th game, against a young Pakistan side at Sharjah in 1988, Greenidge scored a sedate 102, when the rest of the batsmen, stumbled by the pace of a 22-year-old Wasim Akram, contributed a combined 78 runs.

He played 28 more ODIs for the Windies, before retiring in 1991.

Chris Cairns

Chris Cairns hit as many as seven 6s in his whirlwind knock

A cricket ball wasn’t hit sweeter when Chris Cairns was on song, his full-blooded lofted drives were a treat to watch, so was his pace bowling that was menacing on its day. One amongst a crop of Kiwi all-rounders from the 1990s, Cairns played his 100th ODI, against India, in early 1999, striking a brilliant, counter-attacking 115, one of his four centuries in the format.

Batting in his unabashed style, Cairns smote seven sixes and as many fours, sending the Indian attack, a team that he loved scoring against, into a tizzy. He powered the team to 300, and eventually helped the bowlers keep the visiting side 70 short.

Cairns played a total of 215 ODIs, the last of which was in 2006.

Mohammad Yousuf

Youhana was at his sublime best in the finals

Yousuf Youhana, as he was called back then, was elegance personified, making the willow meet the ball with a stylish swoosh of a backlift, and caressing it to the boundary in the most sophisticated of manners. While his Test exploits, especially towards the latter half of his career, rocketed him up in the company of Pakistan’s greatest ever, he was also an indispensable part of the ODI side in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In his 100th ODI game, that came against Sri Lanka in the finals of the 2002 Sharjah Cup, Yousuf struck a delightful 129, supported ably by a young Younis Khan to help Pakistan post 295, and eventually win the game by a canter. Scoring at a healthy strike-rate of 98, Yousuf helped cushion the early loss of Shahid Afridi and Rashid Latif, who was surprisingly promoted up the order.

Yousuf’s last, and 288th ODI game, came against the South Africans in late 2010. A spat with his country’s cricket board ensured that he played no further.

Kumar Sangakkara

Sangakkara resurrected his career with a century in Australia

The bulwark of Sri Lanka’s batting in this millennium, Sangakkara was meant for greater glories as he advanced up the Lankan domestic structure, even before he found his way into a national side laden with match-winners.

However, he truly blossomed once the greats started waning, taking up the responsibility to reinvent his game as age caught up, and ended as one of Sri Lanka’s best ever, if not the greatest.

He played his 100th ODI game, against Australia in 2004, at a time when they were fresh from a World Cup triumph. Until then, Sangakkara was trying to establish himself as a batting-wicket keeper, and was averaging less than 30 with just two hundreds to his name.

Sent in at No.3 to chase down what looked like an easy total, Sangakkara fought bravely, but found no support, scoring a valiant 101 at a time when the rest of the batters failed to even go past 25.

He bowed out after the 2015 World Cup, having played a colossal 404 ODIs.

Chris Gayle

Gayle helped chase down a mammoth 286

The remarkable ferocity with which Chris Gayle strikes a cricket ball is something that truly typifies his game, numbers aside. Tall and scrawny when he started off, Gayle didn’t have the best of starts to international cricket.

By the time he played his 100th ODI, however, he had established himself as an opener synonymous with destruction, caring the least about opponents and conditions.

In the milestone game, Gayle mixed caution with aggression, carrying his bat as the Windies chased down a formidable 286, courtesy the Jamaica’s 132. Gayle set the mood for his onslaught in the England innings itself, prising out centurions Andrew Strauss and Andrew Flintoff, as well as Paul Collingwood with his wily off-breaks.

He was recalled to the ODI format earlier this year, and has, so far, played 273 games.

Marcus Trescothick

Trescothick scored a century off just 76 balls

A highlight of English cricket in the early 2000s, amidst bits-and-pieces cricketers and a dearth of ODI trophies, was a picture of Marcus Trescothick creaming bowling attacks around the world. Tall and composed, Trescothick played to his strengths, resorting to a simple approach that relied on finding gaps in the initial overs and playing the anchor as the innings progressed.

In a career criminally cut short by mental stress, Trescothick played the 100th of his 123 matches, against Bangladesh in 2005, just a year before he played his last ODI. Chasing a meagre target of 192, Trescothick had a ball with the bat (no pun intended), smacking 16 fours in an unbeaten opening partnership with Andrew Strauss that took the side home without even breaking a sweat.

Ramnaresh Sarwan

Sarwan was in top form against India in the 2006 series

Slightly built but mightily talented, Sarwan was a constant in the West Indian batting line-up until the 2007 World Cup, helping keep a fragile middle-order, along with Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in place.

His 100th ODI came against the Indians in the 2006 series, at a time when his average reached an all-time high of 47, showing how vital he was to the side.

Chasing a target of 246, the Windies were jolted by three early dismissals, but the calm batting of Sarwan, along with a valuable contribution from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, helped the side eke out a win in the tight game.

Sarwan played the last of his 181 games in 2013, and retired officially three years later.