Published: Mar 13, 2015, 07:00 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 16, 2016, 11:05 PM (IST)
September 4, 2012. Tariq Ali Awan of Spain smashed 150 not out in a European Championship Division Two Twenty20 match against Estonia at Corfu. Still not content, he went after Portugal — on the same day — racing to 148. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at a day of relentless savagery.
The Alcorcon Club website writes in Tariq Ali Awan’s profile: “Right-hand aggressive opening batsman. Always likes to mark high score with lot of fours and huge sixes. And medium fast bowler.” They were certainly not exaggerating about the “aggressive” bit, and neither did they go overboard with “likes to mark high score with lot of fours and huge sixes”.
In a 40-over match against Sporting Alfas 2 on May 9, 2010, Tariq had once scored 226 in a team score of 389. The opposition managed a mere 184 for 7 — forty-two less than Tariq’s individual score. However, it was not his greatest feat.
Tariq’s greatest moment under the Sun came at Maessonghi, Corfu. Greece was certainly an unusual venue for the European Championship Division Two Twenty20 tournament of 2012. Spain (with the rather exotically named Luis Pedro Venus Valiente in their line-up — who would have imagined a cricketer to be called thus?) had beaten Luxembourg by nine runs on September 3. They were scheduled to play two back-to-back matches — against Estonia and Portugal — the next day.
Stoning Estonians
Spain batted first, and Tariq tore into the bowling almost immediately. Armaghan Khan, provided solid support at the other end, scoring a 28-ball 38, helping Tariq add exactly 100 for the opening stand. Armaghan was snared by Moshiur Rahman, but that did not deter Tariq’s progress.
None of the other Spaniards managed to reach double-figures, but Tariq batted on like a man possessed. He added 56 with James Morgan for the second stand (Morgan scored 4). Wickets fell in a heap around Tariq, but he managed to keep his cool and bat out the full 20 overs, finishing on a round 150 not out with 5 fours and 16 sixes. Spain piled up 218 for 6.
The poor Estonians did not stand a chance. Rahman clobbered 2 sixes, but barring him, Tim Heath (the Estonian captain) was the only one to put up some resistance, scoring 40 off 22 balls with a four and 4 sixes. The others did not reach double-figures, and Estonia managed to reach a poor 93 for 9, losing by 125 runs.
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Portending Portugal defeat
As soon as the match against Estonia got over, Portugal took field as Armaghan and Tariq walked out again. This time Armaghan scored a 21-ball 26, helping Tariq put on 53. Once again Morgan scored seven in a 38-run partnership, and it was during the 135-run fourth wicket partnership with Christian Munoz-Mills that Tariq finally cut loose.
Tariq’s onslaught ended after a mere 55 balls this time, and included 6 fours and 18 sixes. He was eventually bowled by Zafar Ali for 148. He became the second known batsman score two hundreds in a day in any format of the sport since Ranji’s 100 and 125 for Sussex against Yorkshire at Hove on August 22, 1896.
There was some solid lower-order hitting (especially from Munoz-Mills, who scored 30 from 28 balls), and Spain finished on 248 for 6 from 20 overs. Portugal were reduced to 42 for 4 (the wickets included that of a man called Paolo Buccimazza, who was fourth out). Rizwan Khaliq helped Bilal Safdar put up 117 before the former got out for 40. Portugal were never in the hunt, though Safdar raced to a 37-ball 82 with three fours and nine sixes. They finished on 173 for 7, losing by 75 runs.
Tariq Ali Awan’s two hundreds at Corfu on September 4, 2012
| Against | Score | Balls | SR | 4s | 6s | Runs in boundaries | % Runs in boundaries | Team score | % of team score |
| Estonia | 150* | 66 | 227.3 | 5 | 16 | 116 | 77.30% | 218/6 | 68.80% |
| Portugal | 148 | 55 | 269.1 | 6 | 18 | 132 | 89.20% | 248/6 | 59.70% |
| Total | 298 | 121 | 496 | 11 | 34 | 248 | 83.20% | 466 | 63.90% |
What followed?
– Spain lost to Israel, but steamrolled Malta by a ten-wicket margin to enter the semi-finals as Group A runners-up. They played Sweden and put up 190 for 6; the Scandinavians were reduced to 69 for 4, but eventually scraped through by the narrowest possible margin — by 1 wicket off the last ball.
– Spain thrashed Israel by a 90-run margin to secure the third place. Isle of Man won the tournament following an 8-wicket victory over Sweden.
– Tariq’s scores remained the two highest scores of the tournament. His teammate Morgan scored the other century — a 53-ball 100 against Luxembourg. He finished with 476 runs at 95.20 with a strike rate of 214.4. A whopping 386 of these came in boundaries.
Brief scores:
Spain 218 for 6 in 20 overs (Armaghan Khan 38, Tariq Ali Awan 150*; Sivalingham Arunachalam 3 for 31) beat Estonia 93 for 9 in 20 overs (Tim Heath 40; Tanveer Iqbal 2 for 12, Armaghan Khan 2 for 19, Sajad Ali 3 for 17) by 124 runs.
Spain 248 for 6 in 20 overs (Tariq Ali Awan 148, Christian Munoz-Mills 30; Muhammad Mirza 2 for 61, Intesab Medhi 2 for 23) beat Portugal 173 for 7 in 20 overs (Rizwan Khaliq 40, Bilal Safdar 82; Talat Nadeem 3 for 24) by 75 runs.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)
