ODI: In the era of T20’s immense popularity, batsmen are seen competing to break records. Naturally, that aggressive batting has also left its mark in other formats. In 2015, AB de Villiers set the world record for the fastest half-century in ODIs. Now, after 10 years, Caribbean pacer Matthew Ford has shared his record.
Against Ireland, the Windies tail-ender came in at number eight and scored a fifty in just 16 balls. He eventually scored 58 runs off 19 balls, including 2 fours and 8 sixes. Ford was close to breaking the record for the fastest fifty in ODIs. However, the 23-year-old Caribbean player did share the record with de Villiers, who had stood for 10 years.
Coincidentally, the fastest fifty in ODIs was scored by Villiers against the West Indies. In that match in Johannesburg, de Villiers not only broke the fifty record, but also the world record for the fastest century. His 31-ball century is still the fastest in an international ODI. In the end, the Protea legend scored 149 runs off 44 balls against the Caribbeans, including 9 fours and 16 sixes. South Africa, having scored 439 runs, defeated the Windies by 148 runs.
Meanwhile, Ford set another record in yesterday’s match. Out of his 58 runs, 56 came on boundaries. That is, he scored 96.95 percent of his runs on boundaries. Which is the highest percentage of boundaries in men’s ODIs. Earlier, this record was held by another compatriot of Ford, Andre Fletcher. In 2009, he scored 50 out of 52 runs against Bangladesh by hitting only boundaries. Where the percentage of boundaries was 96.16 percent.
Ford put on a 68-run stand for the seventh wicket with Justin Greaves off just 25 balls, which helped the Caribbeans post a massive 352-run total against the Irish. Greaves remained unbeaten on 44 off 36 balls. Earlier, Casey Carty scored 102 off 109 balls and captain Shai Hope scored 49. However, the match was eventually abandoned due to rain. The hosts Ireland did not even get a chance to bat in Dublin.
Incidentally, the joint record for the fastest fifty in ODIs is now held by Ford and de Villiers. They are followed by Sanath Jayasuriya, Kusal Perera, Martin Guptill and Liam Livingstone. All four of them scored fifties off 17 balls. And among the Windies, the fastest fifty in ODIs after Ford are Chris Gayle (19), Darren Sammy (20), Brian Lara (23) and Kieron Pollard (23).
