Published: Jan 05, 2015, 06:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 05, 2015, 03:17 AM (IST)
The year 2014 had started with Corey Anderson smashing the fastest ODI century and it ended with MS Dhoni’s retirement from Test cricket. Bharath Seervi a few such surprises of the year 2014.
Before the major cricketing action in 2015 begins, let us have a review of last year’s some of the unexpected events and records that were made.
Corey Anderson scores the fastest ton in ODIs
The third One-Day International (ODI) between West Indies and New Zealand had started at Queenstown. The match was reduced to 21 overs-a-side due to rain. Corey Anderson and Jesse Ryder started their partnership in the eighth over and went on till the final over. In that period, Ryder reached his 50 off 23 balls and Anderson in 20 balls.
Soon, Anderson brought up his century only in 36 balls to break Shahid Afridi’s 37-ball record in 1996. It was Anderson’s seventh ODI. Ryder also completed his century in 46 balls, but that looked ‘slower’ against Anderson’s. It was also the first time two batsmen got to their centuries in less than 50 balls in an ODI.
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Two batsmen reaching their centuries in 75 or less balls in an ODI
| Date | Batsman 1 | Batsman 2 | Match | Venue |
| July 4, 2006 | Sanath Jayasuriya (64) | Tillakaratne Dilshan (70) | Sri Lanka v Netherlands | Amstelveen |
| December 15, 2009 | Virender Sehwag (66) | Tillakaratne Dilshan (73) | India v Sri Lanka | Rajkot |
| January 1, 2014 | Corey Anderson (36) | Jesse Ryder (46) | New Zealand v West Indies | Queenstown |
Kumar Sangakkara scores 300 and 100 in the same Test and reaching every landmark with a boundary
Sangakkara reached his 50 with a six, 100 with a four, 150 with a four, 200 with a four, 250 with a four and 300 with a six. In the second innings he reached his 50 with a four and 100 with a six. He became only the second batsman after Graham Gooch (333 and 123 vs India, Lord’s, 1990) to score a triple ton and a ton in the same Test; it was also the second such occasion in First-Class cricket. He also became only the second player after Sehwag to reach his triple century with a six.
Sangakkara scored 147 in his next Test innings, against England at Lord’s in June. He became the first batsman to score centuries in three consecutive test innings thrice in a career.
Brendon McCullum becomes first Kiwi to score a triple century and second overall to score it in third innings of a Test
New Zealand started playing tests in 1930 and till 2013 no one scored a Test triple century for them. Martin Crowe had fallen agonisingly short — by one run — against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1991. Finally, Brendon McCullum reached the landmark in an epic match-saving performance. Reduced to 94 for five New Zealand were on the way to an innings defeat against India. McCullum partnered BJ Watling and James Neesham to bring up his triple century. This was only the second time in the history of Test cricket that someone scored a triple century in team’s second inning and match’s third innings. The first to do so was Hanif Mohammad in 1958 for Pakistan against West Indies at Kensington Oval.
Two triple centuries in 14 days
Sangakkara reached his triple-century on February 5 and McCullum on February 18, which meant two 300s were scored in 14 days. This equalled the shortest span between two Test triple-centuries. Virender Sehwag got to his 300 on March 29 and Brian Lara on April 11, 2004 — also with a 14-day gap. Just for the sake of information, the longest period was less than 20 years between Len Hutton (August 1938) and Hanif Mohammad (January 1958) which included World War II.
AB de Villiers scores fifties in 12 consecutive Tests
AB de Villiers had a great run this series. He reached fifty in 12 consecutive Tests from November 2012 to February 2014. He broke the record of 11, held by Viv Richards, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag.
Mark Craig becomes the first batsman to hit a six off career’s first ball in Test cricket
No player in the history of Test cricket had hit his first ball for a six. It took 137 years, 2,122 Tests and 2,746 players before Mark Craig did this in his debut Test against West Indies at Sabina Park on June 11.
Stuart Binny produces best ODI bowling figures for India
On June 17 at Mirpur, India were bundled for 105 by Bangladesh in 25.3 overs. Bangladesh were set a target of 106 in 41 overs as per the Duckworth-Lewis rule. They were going good at 44 for 2 in the 11th over. It was then Binny started his rout. He took six wickets conceding only four runs in his spell of 4.4 overs which included two maidens. For more than 20 years Anil Kumble had the record of the best bowling figures for India in ODIs, six for 12 against West Indies at Eden Gardens in 1993. Kumble also had the joint record of least runs conceding in an ODI taking six or more wickets. Binny was playing only his third ODI.
Two bowlers dismissing the whole opposition in an ODI
In the same innings where Stuart Binny took six for four, Mohit Sharma took four for 22 and hence these two bowlers dismissed the whole opposition. It was only the fourth such occasion in ODIs.
| Date | Bowler 1 | Bowler 2 | Match | Venue |
| June 4, 1977 | Gary Cosier (5/18) | Greg Chappell (5/20) | Australia v England | Birmingham |
| December 8, 2001 | Chaminda Vaas (8/19) | Muttiah Muralitharan (2/1) | Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe | Colombo (SSC) |
| June 21, 2005 | Paul Collingwood (6/31) | Chris Tremlett (4/32) | England v Bangladesh | Nottingham |
| June 17, 2014 | Stuart Binny (6/4) | Mohit Sharma (4/22) | India v Bangladesh | Mirpur |
James Anderson and Joe Root share a record 198-run partnership for the tenth wicket
England were nine down for 298 after India had put on 457 at Trent Bridge. It looked a splendid batting and bowling display from Indians until the tenth wicket pair, Root and Anderson, took them on. They put on 198 before Anderson fell for 81. They broke the previous record of 163 runs put on by Ashton Agar and Phillip Hughes at the same venue in the same month (July) previous year.
The Indian tenth pair Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami had put on 111 runs earlier in the Test. It was the first time ever that two century partnerships for tenth wicket took place in the same Test.
Denesh Ramdin’s batting wonders
Denesh Ramdin had scored 1,193 runs in his first 80 ODI innings at 19.88 with three half-centuries, no centuries and three sixes, suddenly started to score heavily. He scored 128, 74, 34, 169 and 61 in five consecutive innings between March 5 and October 8 — thus scoring 466 runs at 93.20 with two centuries, two fifties and 19 sixes. He scored 28% of his runs in five innings and 72% of his runs in 80 innings!
| Period | Innings | Runs | Avg | S/R | 50s | 100s | Fours | Sixes |
| July 31, 2005 to March 2, 2014 | 80 | 1193 | 19.88 | 74.84 | 3 | 0 | 99 | 3 |
| March 5, 2014 to October 8, 2014 | 5 | 466 | 93.20 | 112.02 | 2 | 2 | 32 | 19 |
In the next two innings he scored three and nine respectively. He also ended as the leading run-getter for West Indies in ODIs in 2014.
Misbah-ul-Haq scores the fastest Test 50 and equals the record of fastest Test 100
The record of the fastest ODI century was broken on the first day of this year, but there was no hint that Viv Richards’ record for the fastest Test century will be broken the same year. But Misbah-ul-Haq, over 40, got to this epic mark. Batting against Australia at Abu Dhabi he scored 101 in the first innings; then, in order to set a set a huge target for the oppositions, Misbah scored his 50 in 21 balls (going past Jacques Kallis’ record of 24 balls) before equalling Viv Richards’ record of a 56-ball 100 that stood for over 28 years.
Misbah scored exactly 101 runs in each innings of a Test, the second-highest identical score in a Test. He also became the first batsman to score twin tons at an age of over 40.
Brendon McCullum scores two consecutive Test centuries in 78 and 74 balls and nearly two 200s with 11 sixes in each
After his 224 and 302 against India, McCullum had not done anything big in his next 10 innings. Then the runs started flowing again. In the last Test in UAE at Sharjah, McCullum reached his century in 78 balls and completed his double-century in 186 balls. It was the fastest century by a New Zealand batsman beating Ross Taylor’s 81-ball feat against Australia at Hamilton in 2009-10 and the fastest double-century by a captain beating Michael Clarke’s 226-ball effort against South Africa at Adelaide in 2012-13.
In the next innings at Christchurch against Sri Lanka, on the first day of the Boxing Day Test, McCullum smashed a 74-ball ton. He reached his 150 in 103 balls, the fastest ever, and ended on 195 off 134 balls. Five more runs would have overcome the fastest ever double century in 153 balls by Nathan Astle.
Fastest 150s in Test cricket
| Balls | Batsman | Final score | For | Against | Venue | Date |
| 103 | Brendon McCullum | 195 (134) | New Zealand | Sri Lanka | Christchurch | December 26, 2014 |
| 115 | Mahela Jayawardene | 150 (115) | Sri Lanka | Bangladesh | Colombo (SSC) | |
| 118 | Ian Smith | 173 (136) | New Zealand | India | Auckland | February 22, 1990 |
| 125 | Shahid Afridi | 156 (128) | Pakistan | India | Faisalabad | September 7, 2001 |
| 128 | David Warner | 180 (159) | Australia | India | Perth | January 14, 2012 |
| 130 | Virender Sehwag | 293 (254) | India | Sri Lanka | Mumbai (BS) | December 3, 2009 |
McCullum hit 11 sixes each in both innings. He became the first batsman to hit 10 or more sixes in two different Test innings and did it in successive innings.
Virat Kohli scores twin centuries in his first Test as captain
In the absence of MS Dhoni, Kohli was asked to lead the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He scored 115 and 141 to become only the second player after Greg Chappell to score two centuries in first Test as captain.
In the second test, Steve Smith was leading for the first time in Tests in the absence of Michael Clarke and scored a century in his first innings as captain.
Sangakkara and Mathews top international chart, the latter as captain
Sangakkara scored 2,868 runs in across all formats in 2014 — 1,493 in Tests, 1,256 in ODIs and 119 in T20Is. He broke the record of Ricky Ponting as the most International runs in a calendar year. Ponting had scored 2,833 runs in 2005.
Mathews scored 2,530 runs in 2014, second to Sangakkara. He scored 2,404 of these as captain to finish as the second-highest accumulator in a calendar year by a captain. The record is held by Ponting (2,833).
Phillip Hughes’ unfortunate death
The cricket world went into a shock after Phillip Hughes went into coma immediately after he was hit by a Sean Abbott bouncer at Sydney in a Sheffield Shield match on November 25. Two days later he lost his life, just three days short of his 26th birthday.
MS Dhoni’s shocking retirement from Tests
India drew the Boxing Day test with MS Dhoni remaining not out at the end. A couple hours later an email from The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that he had retired from Test cricket with immediate effect. Many expected Dhoni to stand down as captain after the series but retirement was never thought of.
These were some of the records and events from Tests and ODIs in 2014. There were a few more in the T20Is and domestic matches as well.
Let us see some more of these in 2015 as well!
