Suresh Raina was one of the four centurions on Wednesday when he hit a 75-ball 100 against England at Cardiff © Getty Images
Suresh Raina was one of the four centurions on Wednesday when he hit a 75-ball 100 against England at Cardiff © Getty Images

On August 27, 2014 four centuries were scored in the day in ODIs. Bharath Seervi lists the days on which three or more ODI centuries were scored.

Aaron Finch (102), Faf du Plessis (106), AB de Villiers (136*) and Suresh Raina (100) all scored an ODI century on the same day, on August 27, 2014. Four centuries is the second most number of hundreds in a single day in One Day Internationals. The most number of centuries in ODIs in a single day is five, on September 3, 2013 when William Porterfield (112), Eoin Morgan (124*), Ravi Bopara (101*), Aaron Finch (148) and Shaun Marsh (151) were the centurions.

In the past, there have been three other days on which four ODI centuries were scored. They are 10 November 1998, 4 February 2007 and 30 October 2013. There are 37 other days on which three centuries were scored in ODIs. Below are the tables listing the days on which three or more ODI centuries were made.

Five ODI centuries in a single day

There were three centuries in England vs Ireland ODI and two more between Australia vs Scotland on September 3, 203.

Date Batsman 1 Batsman 2 Batsman 3 Batsman 4 Batsman 5
September 3, 2013 WTS Porterfield (Ire) 112 EJG Morgan (Eng) 124* RS Bopara (Eng) 101* AJ Finch (Aus) 148 SE Marsh (Aus) 151

 

Four ODI centuries in a single day

The first time four ODI centuries were scored in a single day was in the Australia vs Pakistan ODI at Lahore on November 10, 1998 when Ijaz Ahmed and Mohammad Yousuf were the centurions from Pakistan and Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting were the centurions from Australia.

The second such instance occured on October 30, 2013 in the ODI between Australia and India. Shane Watson and George Bailey were the centurions from Australian side while Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli were their reply from Indian side. The third instance of four ODI centuries in a single day was on February 4, 2007 but in different matches – in the ODIs of Australia vs New Zealand, Netherlands vs Bermuda and Canada vs Ireland.

Date Batsman 1 Batsman 2 Batsman 3 Batsman 4
November 10, 1998 Ijaz Ahmed (Pak) 111 Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 100 AC Gilchrist (Aus) 103 RT Ponting (Aus) 124*
February 4,  2007 RT Ponting (Aus) 104 RN ten Doeschate (Net) 109* EJG Morgan (Ire) 115 A Bagai (Can) 122
October 30, 2013 SR Watson (Aus) 102 GJ Bailey (Aus) 156 S Dhawan (Ind) 100 V Kohli (Ind) 115*
August 27, 2014 AJ Finch (Aus) 102 F du Plessis (SA) 106 AB de Villiers (SA) 136* SK Raina (Ind) 100

                               

Three ODI centuries in a single day

Three batsmen scoring ODI century on a same day has occured 37 times in ODI history, out of which 21 times it happened in a single ODI. Two batsmen scoring centuries from single side and one more from the other side is not a rare occasion. The first time three batsmen were witnessed scoring three centuries in a single day was on June 3, 1985 when Graeme Wood scored 114* from Australia and Graham Gooch and David Gower scored 117* and 102 from England at Lord’s. All the occasions are listed in the table below.

Date Batsman 1 Batsman 2 Batsman 3
June 3, 1985 GM Wood (Aus) 114* GA Gooch (Eng) 117* DI Gower (Eng)  102
September 7, 1986 GR Marsh (Aus) 104 DC Boon (Aus) 111 K Srikkanth (Ind) 102
March 11,1996 BC Lara (WI) 111 CZ Harris (NZ) 130 ME Waugh (Aus) 110
October 4,1996 Saeed Anwar (Pak) 115 ShahidAfridi (Pak) 102 PA de Silva (SL) 122
January 5,1997 ME Waugh (Aus) 102 BC Lara (WI) 102 CL Hooper (WI) 110*
August 17,1997 MS Atapattu (SL) 118 M Azharuddin (Ind) 111* A Jadeja (Ind) 119
January 18,1998 Saeed Anwar (Pak) 140 Ijaz Ahmed (Pak) 117 SC Ganguly (Ind) 124
January 26, 1998 AC Gilchrist (Aus) 100 GW Flower (Zim) 112 ST Jayasuriya (SL) 102
April 9, 1998 M Azharuddin (Ind) 153* A Jadeja (Ind) 116* GW Flower (Zim) 102
July 7, 1998 SC Ganguly (Ind) 109 SR Tendulkar (Ind) 128 PA de Silva (SL) 105
March 27, 1999 JH Kallis (SA) 100 DPMD Jayawardene (SL) 101 GW Flower (Zim) 140
October 5, 2001 SC Ganguly (Ind) 127 SR Tendulkar (Ind) 101 G Kirsten (SA) 133*
February 10, 2003 CB Wishart (Zim) 172* ST Jayasuriya (SL) 120 SB Styris (NZ) 141
February 23, 2003 JM Davison (Can) 111 SR Tendulkar (Ind) 152 SC Ganguly (Ind) 112*
March 3, 2003 JF Kloppenburg (Net) 121 KJJ van Noortwijk (Net) 134* MS Atapattu (SL) 124
June 28, 2003 JH Kallis (SA) 107 ME TreScohick (Eng) 114* VS Solanki (Eng) 106
January 24, 2004 VVS Laxman (Ind) 131 SV Carlisle (Zim) 109 SM Ervine (Zim) 100
July 6, 2004 AJ Strauss (Eng) 100 A Flintoff (Eng) 123 CH Gayle (WI) 132*
July 1, 2006 ME TreScohick (Eng) 121 WU Tharanga (SL) 109 ST Jayasuriya (SL) 152
January 28, 2007 ML Hayden (Aus) 117 RT Ponting (Aus) 111 JDP Oram (NZ) 101*
January 31, 2007 SR Tendulkar (Ind) 100* WTS Porterfield (Ire) 112* A Bagai (Can) 137*
February 2, 2007 EC Joyce (Eng) 107 WTS Porterfield (Ire) 104* KJ O’Brien (Ire) 142
October 18, 2007 HH Gibbs (SA) 102 AB de Villiers (SA) 103* TM Odoyo (Ken) 111*
June 25, 2008 KC Sangakkara (SL) 101 MS Dhoni (Ind) 109* SK Raina (Ind) 101
July 1, 2008 JAH Marshall (NZ) 161 BB McCullum (NZ) 166 AM Samad (Can) 130
April 1, 2009 NFI McCallum (Sco) 121* WTS Porterfield (Ire) 101 RN ten Doeschate (Net) 106*
July 7, 2009 GM Hamilton (Sco) 119 DF Watts (Sco) 101 S Jyoti (Can) 117
November 5, 2009 BRM Taylor (Zim) 118* SE Marsh (Aus) 112 SR Tendulkar (Ind) 175
February 16, 2010 RN ten Doeschate (Net) 109* Noor Ali Zadran (Afg) 114 Mohammad Shahzad (Afg) 118
August 16, 2010 Karim Sadiq (Afg) 114* Mohammad Shahzad (Afg) 100* GC Wilson (Ire) 113
October 15, 2010 HM Amla (SA) 110 CA Ingram (SA) 124 BRM Taylor (Zim) 145*
March 18, 2011 RN ten Doeschate (Net) 106 PR Stirling (Ire) 101 KC Sangakkara (SL) 111
January 22, 2012 GC Smith (SA) 125 AB de Villiers (SA) 125* KC Sangakkara (SL) 102
February 28, 2012 TM Dilshan (SL) 160* KC Sangakkara (SL) 105 V Kohli (Ind) 133*
March 6, 2012 DA Warner (Aus) 163 MJ Clarke (Aus) 100 TM Dilshan (SL) 117
March 18, 2012 Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) 105 Nasir Jamshed (Pak) 112 V Kohli (Ind) 183
January 23, 2014 CS MacLeod (Sco) 175 W Barresi (Net) 137* IA Karim (Ken) 108

 

There was an interesting sequence in early 2007. There were three centuries on January 28, two on January 30, three on January 31, three on February 2 and four on February 4. 15 centuries in 8 days.

There were three 100s on March 3, 2003 (3 100s on 3-3-03)

 

(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 atwww.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)