Bangalore, March 01: Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien smashed the fastest century in World Cup history on Wednesday when he reached the landmark off just 50 balls against England and give Ireland to win the match by 3 wickets..
O’Brien beat Australian Matthew Hayden’s record of a century off 66 balls against South Africa at St Kitts in the 2007 tournament.
The 26-year-old O’Brien hit 13 boundaries and six sixes in his blistering century at the Chinnaswamy Stadium which was also the sixth fastest ODI ton of all time.
Chasing England’s 327-8, O’Brien shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 162 with Alex Cusack (47) as Ireland targeted a famous victory.
Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi hit the fastest century of all time off 37 balls against Sri Lanka in Kenya in 1996.
Scorecard:
England innings (50 overs maximum) R B 4s 6s SR
AJ Strauss* b Dockrell 34 37 2 1 91.89
KP Pietersen c †NJ O’Brien b Stirling 59 50 7 2 118.00
IJL Trott b Mooney 92 92 9 0 100.00
IR Bell c Stirling b Mooney 81 86 6 1 94.18
PD Collingwood c KJ O’Brien b Mooney 16 11 0 1 145.45
MJ Prior† b Johnston 6 5 1 0 120.00
TT Bresnan c Johnston b Mooney 4 8 0 0 50.00
MH Yardy b Johnston 3 6 0 0 50.00
GP Swann not out 9 5 1 0 180.00
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 20) 23
Total (8 wickets; 50 overs) 327 (6.54 runs per over)
Did not bat SCJ Broad, JM Anderson
Fall of wickets1-91 (Strauss, 13.3 ov), 2-111 (Pietersen, 16.6 ov), 3-278 (Bell, 42.6 ov), 4-288 (Trott, 44.3 ov), 5-299 (Prior, 45.6 ov), 6-312 (Collingwood, 46.6 ov), 7-317 (Yardy, 48.3 ov), 8-327 (Bresnan, 49.6 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
WB Rankin 7 0 51 0 7.28 (4w)
DT Johnston 10 0 58 2 5.80
AR Cusack 4 0 39 0 9.75 (1w)
GH Dockrell 10 0 68 1 6.80 (5w)
JF Mooney 9 0 63 4 7.00 (1w)
PR Stirling 10 0 45 1 4.50
Ireland innings (target: 328 runs from 50 overs) R B 4s 6s SR
WTS Porterfield* b Anderson 0 1 0 0 0.00
PR Stirling c Pietersen b Bresnan 32 28 5 1 114.28
EC Joyce st †Prior b Swann 32 61 3 0 52.45
NJ O’Brien† b Swann 29 36 2 1 80.55
GC Wilson lbw b Swann 3 14 0 0 21.42
KJ O’Brien run out (†Prior/Bresnan) 113 63 13 6 179.36
AR Cusack run out (Broad/Collingwood)47 58 3 1 81.03
JF Mooney not out 33 30 6 0 110.00
DT Johnston not out 7 4 1 0 175.00
Extras (b 5, lb 16, w 12) 33
Total (7 wickets; 49.1 overs) 329 (6.69 runs per over)
Did not bat GH Dockrell, WB Rankin
Fall of wickets1-0 (Porterfield, 0.1 ov), 2-62 (Stirling, 9.5 ov), 3-103 (NJ O’Brien, 20.2 ov), 4-106 (Joyce, 22.2 ov), 5-111 (Wilson, 24.2 ov), 6-273 (Cusack, 41.3 ov), 7-317 (KJ O’Brien, 48.1 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
JM Anderson 8.1 1 49 1 6.00 (1w)
SCJ Broad 9 0 73 0 8.11 (2w)
TT Bresnan 10 0 64 1 6.40 (2w)
MH Yardy 7 0 49 0 7.00 (2w)
GP Swann 10 0 47 3 4.70
PD Collingwood 5 0 26 0 5.20
–Agencies–