Rilee Rossouw and other highest ‘third-highest’ scores
Rossouw and other highest ‘3rd-highest’ scores
At Johannesburg for South Africa against West Indies, three centuries were scored for the same team in a One-Day International (ODI). Rilee Rossouw’s 128 was the highest third-highest score in an ODI innings. Bharath Seervi lists relevant numbers.
Hashim Amla scored 153 not out, AB de Villiers 149 and Rilee Rossouw 128 for South Africa against West Indies at New Wanderers on January 18, 2015. It is the first ever occasion when three men scored centuries for the same team in an ODI. The closest was Shikhar Dhawan’s 95 when Rohit Sharma (141 not out) and Virat Kohli (100 not out) scored centuries against Australia at Jaipur on October 16, 2013.
Rossouw’s 128 is therefore the highest ‘third-highest’ score in an ODI innings. There has been only one more instance of three batsmen scoring 90 or more runs for a team in an ODI innings: against South Africa at Basseterre in ICC World Cup 2007 Ricky Ponting was the third-highest scorer with 91 while the top two were Matthew Hayden (101) and Michael Clarke (92).
Highest ‘third highest’ score in an ODI innings (80 or more)
| Runs | Batsman | Highest | Second highest | For | Against | Venue | Date |
| 128 | Rilee Rossouw | 153* – Hashim Amla | 149 – AB de Villiers | South Africa | West Indies | Johannesburg | 18-Jan-15 |
| 95 | Shikhar Dhawan | 141* – Rohit Sharma | 100* – Virat Kohli | India | Australia | Jaipur | 16-Oct-13 |
| 91 | Ricky Ponting | 101 – Matthew Hayden | 92 – Michael Clarke | Australia | South Africa | Basseterre | 24-Mar-07 |
| 87 | Hashim Amla | 104* – Jacques Kallis | 102* – AB de Villiers | South Africa | India | Motera | 27-Feb-10 |
| 85 | Marcus Trescothick | 152 – Andrew Strauss | 112* – Paul Collingwood | England | Bangladesh | Trent Bridge | 21-Jun-05 |
| 83 | Yuvraj Singh | 114 – Virender Sehwag | 89 – Sourav Ganguly | Inda | Bermuda | Port of Spain | 19-Mar-07 |
| 83 | Irfan Pathan | 93 – Sachin Tendulkar | 85* – Rahul Dravid | India | Sri Lanka | Nagpur | 25-Oct-05 |
| 80 | Alviro Petersen | 147* – Mark Boucher | 88 – Loots Bosman | South Africa | Zimbabwe | Potchefstroom | 20-Sep-06 |
| 80 | Arjuna Ranatunga | 96 – Sanath Jayasuriya | 90 – Aravinda de Silva | Sri Lanka | Pakistan | Mohali | 24-May-97 |
There are 11 more instances when the third-highest score was between 75 and 80.
If the entire match is considered, there have been 25 occasions when there were three centuries in the same ODI. However, Rossouw’s 128 is the highest third-highest score in an ODI. It is also the only occasion of three batsmen scoring more than 125 in the same ODI.
Highest ‘third-highest’ score in an ODI (105 or more)
| Runs | Batsman | Highest | Second highest | Match | Venue | Date |
| 128 | Rilee Rossouw (SA) | 153* – Hashim Amla (SA) | 149 – AB de Villiers (SA) | South Africa v West Indies | Johannesburg | 18-Jan-15 |
| 117 | Ijaz Ahmed (Pak) | 140 – Saeed Anwar (Pak) | 124 – Sourav Ganguly (Ind) | Pakistan v India | Dhaka | 18-Jan-98 |
| 111* | Mohammad Azharuddin (Ind) | 119 – Ajay Jadeja (Ind) | 118 – Marvan Atapattu (SL) | India v Sri Lanka | Premadasa | 17-Aug-97 |
| 110 | Hashim Amla (SA) | 145* – Brendan Taylor (Zim) | 124 – Colin Ingram (SA) | South Africa v Zimbabwe | Bloemfontein | 15-Oct-10 |
| 109 | Upul Tharanga (SL) | 152 – Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 121 – Marcus Trescothick (Eng) | Sri Lanka v England | Headingley | 01-Jul-06 |
| 107 | Virat Kohli (Ind) | 150* – Gautam Gambhir (Ind) | 118 – Upul Tharanga (SL) | India v Sri Lanka | Eden Gardens | 24-Dec-09 |
| 106 | Vikram Solanki (Eng) | 114* – Marcus Trescothick (Eng) | 107 – Jacques Kallis (SA) | England v South Africa | Kennington Oval | 28-Jun-03 |
| 105 | Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) | 183 – Virat Kohli (Ind) | 112 – Nasir Jamshed (Pak) | Pakistan v India | Dhaka | 18-Mar-12 |
| 105 | Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 160* – Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) | 133* – Virat Kohli (Ind) | Sri Lanka v India | Hobart | 28-Feb-12 |
| 105 | Aravinda de Silva (SL) | 128 – Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) | 109 – Sourav Ganguly (Ind) | Sri Lanka v India | Premadasa | 07-Jul-98 |
Note:
The highest third-highest score in a Test innings is 169 by Joe Hardstaff jnr for England against Australia in the Ashes 1938 where the top two scores were 364 by Len Hutton and 187 by Maurice Leyland.
The highest third highest score in a Test is 231 by Thilan Samaraweera for Sri Lanka against Pakistan at Karachi; Younis Khan top-scored with 313 and while Mahela Jayawardene scored 240.
Highest ‘second highest’ score in an ODI innings
(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)