Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi: Two players sharing Man of the Match Award in an ODI
Elliott, Ronchi: 2 players sharing Man of the Match
Luke Ronchi and Grant Elliott were both awarded the Man of the Match in the fifth One-Day International (ODI) against Sri Lanka at Dunedin. Bharath Seervi lists the occasions when two players shared the Man of the Match award in ODIs.
Luke Ronchi scored an unbeaten 170 off 99 balls sharing record sixth-wicket partnership of 267 with Grant Elliott who scored an unbeaten 104 off 96 balls. New Zealand managed to reach 360 in 50 overs after struggling at 93 for five at the end of 20 overs. Sri Lanka could manage only 252 with help of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 116 and were bowled out in the 44th over. New Zealand won the match by 108 runs.
At the presentation ceremony, both batsmen — Ronchi and Elliott — were named Man (Men?) of the Match. It is not a common occurrence, especially when both men were the same team. So, when was the last time that two players from the same team shared an ODI Man of the Match award? How many times this has happened?
Overall, it was the 12th such occurrence, and for the first time in seven years. It is indeed a rarity in the new millennium. The last two men to share an award were also from New Zealand — Brendon McCullum and Jamie How against South Africa at Port Elizabeth on November 30, 2007. The first such occasion was also for New Zealand — Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe against Australia at Dunedin in 1986. The table below contains all details.
Two players from same team sharing Man of the Match award in an ODI
| MOM 1 | MOM 2 | Match | Venue | Date | Winner |
| Richard Hadlee (NZ) | Martin Crowe (NZ) | New Zealand v Australia | Dunedin | 19-Mar-86 | New Zealand |
| Wayne Phillips (Aus) | Steve Waugh (Aus) | Australia v New Zealand | Wellington | 26-Mar-86 | Australia |
| Sunil Gavaskar (Ind) | Chetan Sharma (Ind) | India v New Zealand | Nagpur | 31-Oct-87 | India |
| Aaqib Javed (Pak) | Waqar Younis (Pak) | Pakistan v New Zealand | Port Elizabeth | 13-Dec-94 | Pakistan |
| Saleem Raza (UAE) | Shaukat Dukanwala (UAE) | UAE v Netherlands | Lahore | 01-Mar-96 | UAE |
| Craig Evans (Zim) | Paul Strang (Zim) | Zimbabwe v India | Centurion | 07-Feb-97 | Zimbabwe |
| Gavin Larsen (NZ) | Nathan Astle (NZ) | New Zealand v England | Auckland | 02-Mar-97 | New Zealand |
| Waqar Younis (Pak) | Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) | Pakistan v India | Sharjah | 26-Mar-00 | Pakistan |
| Matthew Sinclair (NZ) | Kyle Mills (NZ) | New Zealand v Sri Lanka | Sharjah | 17-Apr-01 | New Zealand |
| Imran Farhat (Pak) | Yasir Hameed (Pak) | Pakistan v New Zealand | Rawalpindi | 07-Dec-03 | Pakistan |
| Brendon McCullum (NZ) | Jamie How (NZ) | New Zealand v South Africa | Port Elizabeth | 30-Nov-07 | New Zealand |
| Luke Ronchi (NZ) | Grant Elliott (NZ) | New Zealand v Sri Lanka | Dunedin | 23-Jan-15 | New Zealand |
There have been two instances when the whole team got Man of the Match award in an ODI. Once again New Zealand were the first to do it (against West Indies at Bourda on April 3, 1996) after they won by four wickets, followed by Pakistan against England at Trent Bridge on September 1, 1996 — a match they won by two wickets.
A player from each side getting Man of the Match award in an ODI
Barring the above, there have been 13 occasions when two players from opposing sides have shared the Man of the Match award. The last occasion was in the tied ODI between West Indies and Pakistan at Gros Islet on July 19, 2013, the players being Misbah-ul-Haq and Lendl Simmons.
| MOM 1 | MOM 2 | Match | Venue | Date | Winner |
| Dennis Amiss (Eng) | Ian Chappell (Aus) | England v Australia | MCG | 01-Jan-75 | England |
| Dilip Vengsarkar (Ind) | Mike Gatting (Eng) | India v England | Pune | 05-Dec-84 | England |
| Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) | Allan Donald (SA) | India v South Africa | Eden Gardens | 10-Nov-91 | India |
| Saeed Anwar (Pak) | Bryan Strang (Zim) | Pakistan v Zimbabwe | Harare | 22-Feb-95 | Tied |
| John Crawley (Eng) | Paul Strang (Zim) | England v Zimbabwe | Harare | 01-Jan-97 | Zimbabwe |
| Robin Singh (Ind) | Eddo Brandes (Zim) | India v Zimbabwe | Paarl | 27-Jan-97 | Tied |
| Sourav Ganguly (Ind) | Gary Kirsten (SA) | India v South Africa | East London | 04-Feb-97 | South Africa |
| Steve Waugh (Aus) | Mervyn Dillon (WI) | Australia v West Indies | Bourda | 21-Apr-99 | Tied |
| Ricky Ponting (Aus) | Herschelle Gibbs (SA) | Australia v South Africa | New Wanderers | 12-Mar-06 | South Africa |
| Charl Langeveldt (SA) | Lasith Malinga (SL) | South Africa v Sri Lanka | Providence | 28-Mar-07 | South Africa |
| Charles Coventry (Zim) | Tamim Iqbal (Ban) | Zimbabwe v Bangladesh | Bulawayo | 16-Aug-09 | Bangladesh |
| Suresh Raina (Ind) | Ravi Bopara (Eng) | India v England | Lord’s | 11-Sep-11 | Tied |
| Misbah-ul-Haq(Pak) | Lendl Simmons (WI) | West Indies v Pakistan | Gros Islet | 19-Jul-13 | Tied |
Most occasions have come in the 1990s, while the last two occasions were both from tied ODIs. Of late, though there are equally good performances, the one from winning team receives the award most of the times.
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)