Overnight Jonny Bairstow became the first Englishman and the ninth in 4008 ODIs to score three consecutive centuries.
Bairstow teed off in Edinburgh against Scotland with 105 to go with his 138 and 104, both against New Zealand – all of them this year.
Interestingly, not one of the nine have come from Australia, nor the West Indies, despite any number of iconic batsmen since the first ODI in 1971.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara is the only ODI batsman to crack four consecutive centuries with 105* against Bangladesh, 117* (England), 104 (Australia), and 124 against Scotland in 2015.
Pakistan’s elegant Zaheer Abbas was the first with three against India in 1982 and 1983 with 118, 105, and 113.
India’s Saeed Anwar’s three were all against Pakistan in 1993 with 107, 131, and 111.
South Africa has provided three of the elite with Hershelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, and Quentin de Kock.
Gibbs’ three were in 2002 with 116 against Kenya, 116* (India), and 153 against Bangladesh.
De Villiers were 114* and 102 against India, and 102 against the West indies, in 2010.
And de Kok’s were 135, 106, and 101 all against India in 2013.
Kiwi Ross Taylor’s three were in 2014 with 112* and 102 against India, and 105* against Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Babar Azam’s were all against the West Indies in 2016 with 120, 123, and 117.
Bairstow’s record was timely with the five-game ODI series against Australia to start next week at The Oval after a shock six-run defeat overnight by Scotland at Edinburgh.
The Scots set an Associate team ODI record score of 5-371, beating the previous record set by Kenya of 3-347 against Bangladesh in 1997.
Australia will be without their world class batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner, still under ball-tampering suspension, and the trio of world-class quicks with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood all injured.
The pace replacements Kane Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jhye Richardson, and Billy Stanlake have only 35 ODI caps between them.
So it’s another taxing transition period for Australia under Tim Paine’s captaincy.
Whether there will be as much interest in the series as a normal England-Australia clash, remains to be seen.
KenoathCarnt
Guest
Yea but Gilchrist and co made imppressive totals agaisnt any opposition really.
JayG
Guest
Agree. The article is strange considering Scotland are understandably chuffed at winning the match.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
good article, although the mistake about Saeed Anwar was surprising.
James
Guest
Yeah Scotland are not a great team but the fact that only 9 guys have done it speaks to its impressiveness. By your logic we discount all the runs that Gilchrist and co got against England because lets be honest they sucked for like a decade. The guy did good accept it.
KenoathCarnt
Guest
Lol seriously Bairstow making that total against Scotland a sub par bowling attack on a flat pitch. No disrespect he is a good batsman but I wouldn't be going to crazy over if it was an English fan. Jason Gillespie made 200 against Bangladesh, but I wouldn't put him in the all rounder category. The best thing about this match is that maybe England are starting to fade and Australia's B team might just stand some kind of chance.
JohnB
Guest
I'm continuing to have trouble deciding just how much more significant a story Scotland beating England in an ODI is compared to Bairstow happening to score 3 ODI hundreds in a row (with 2 and 3 separated by some months). The expression "order of magnitude" gets bandied around a lot, but doesn't seem over the top here.
Noah Barling
Roar Pro
he is far from the best ODI opener, I could count at least 5 better than him. I almost threw up at how trash England was during the ashes, you may have a good ODI side but that is because it is well balanced not because the players are amazing.
Paul
Roar Guru
Yet him and his 6 mates are flat out getting ball of the square when they play Tests. Leave it up to a night watchman to make runs in 2 Tests. Must be a worry, the English bowling though? Only getting 5 wickets and getting carted for not much short of 400 by a team that doesn't rate in the ICC ODI top 10? Clearly Scotland's better than that, but the Indians, Kiwi's etc, must be delighted with what was served up as bowling to Scotland
Paul
Roar Guru
I had to go the CA website to see the result and the highlights. Scotland played inspired cricket.
cantab
Guest
+1
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Alternate opening sentence: "Overnight the decision by the ICC, led by India and Australia, to hold a ten team World Cup was again shown for the backwards farce it actually is."
Camo McD
Roar Guru
* barely a mention. I see the actual result is hidden in there.
Camo McD
Roar Guru
Agreed. This article is a bit bizarre. No mention of the biggest win in the history of Scottish cricket? Bairstow's knock wasn't even the best of the match. Calum McLeod was magnificent today, as were the whole team. Apparently we get about 1/6th of the ICC funding that Zimbabwe get. Well we beat them. We've now beaten the world's no 1 ranked team. We're not in the World Cup thanks to a mixture of greed, rain and a Blocker Wilson howler. Not sure if or when we will play our next ODI but it was absolutely beautiful to be there at The Grange to witness this.
Nudge
Guest
Saeed Anwar is from Pakistan
David a Pom
Guest
Yep, he's the best ODI opening bat in the world right now. I shudder at the thought of just how many this English top order will score against the pitiful Australian trundlers.
Paul
Roar Guru
Good on Bairstow for making the record books, but the end result, a first win to Scotland over England, is the real story. The Scots did to England's attack what England have been doing to other sides in recent times - they hammered their attack and never let up for the full 50 overs. The telling numbers were the bowling figures; the Poms only took 5 wickets and their best bowler went for 66 runs. Hopefully Australia has seen this game, looked at the tactics used by the Scots and learned something. The upcoming series might be closer than first thought