Travis Head breaks List A records during his 120-ball 202

Travis Head scored 202 off 120 balls for South Australia against Western Australia at Hurstville Oval, Sydney while chasing a target of 351 in the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup on October 5, 2015. He broke a couple of List A records as listed by Bharath Seervi.

The very first day of Matador BBQs One-Day Cup 2015-16 — on October 5, 2015 — belonged to batsmen. There were 7 different centurions in 3 matches played in 3 different stadiums in Sydney. But the one that broke the major records was the one between South Australia and Western Australia at the Hurstville Oval.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

Western Australia scored 350 for 4 in their 50 overs after being put in. Cameron Bancroft (176) and Shaun Marsh (109) put up an opening stand of 216. In response, Western Australia were 24 for 2 before a 278-run stand between skipper Travis Head and Callum Ferguson helped them chase it down.

Head scored 50 in 41 balls, 100 in 74, and 150 in 93 before reaching his maiden double-century in just 117 balls. Two big List A records were broken by Head during his 120-ball 202 that included 20 fours and 12 sixes.

Travis Head’s double century in 117 balls is the fastest List A double century. He bettered the previous record held by Ali Brown, who scored his maiden double-century in 118 balls on July 20, 1997 — 18 years ago. It was the 5th List A double-hundred.

The second record Head broke was the highest individual score while chasing in List A cricket. He became the first batsman to score a double-century while chasing in List-A cricket.  The previous record-holder was David Warner (197 for New South Wales against Victoria at North Sydney Oval on October 24, 2013 in the semi-final of Ryobi One-Day Cup 2013-14). New South Wales had chased down 322 to enter the final.

Let us list batsmen who follow Head in these two records.

Fastest 200s in List A cricket (150 balls or or less balls)

–    Ali Brown scored two double-centuries, both of which feature in the above table. Rohit Sharma is the other batsman to hit two double tons in List A cricket but none feature on the list: he took 151 and 156 balls for his respective 200s.  READ: Rohit Sharma’s 264 vs Sri Lanka: An era-defining ODI innings

–    Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar’s 200s came in ODIs.

Highest individual scores while chasing in List A cricket (175 or more)

–    James Benning’s 189*, Reeza Hendricks’ 181 and Tendulkar’s 175 came in failed chases.

–    Shane Watson’s 185*, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli’s 183 and Herschelle Gibbs and Tendulkar’s 175 came in ODIs.

–    Wasim Jaffer scored 178* to helped chase down 358. On another occasion he scored 170* to help chase down 298. He is the only batsman in List A history to score two 170s in successful chases.

Bonus trivia: Highest second highest score in a List-A match

The match between South Australia and Western Australia bettered another record which — the highest second-highest score in a List A match. Head scored 202 for South Australia, whereas the next-best score in the match was Bancroft’s 176.

The previous highest second highest score in a List A match was 175 when Hendricks scored 181 in the second innings; in the first innings of the match Morne van Wyk had scored 175*. The match was played between Knights against Dolphins at Bloemfontein in the Momentum One Day Cup on October 17, 2014.

(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)