Starc zooms to 100 wickets in record time

When Mitchell Starc had Dhananjaya de Silva caught at midwicket off a slower ball, he became the fastest to 100 ODI wickets, achieving the landmark in his 52nd match, a game quicker than Saqlain Mushtaq, and two quicker than Shane Bond. After an inauspicious start to his ODI career - 0 for 51 off 8.5 overs against India - Starc has been on an ODI roll, with 11 hauls of four or more wickets. No other bowler has as many four-wicket hauls at the time when they got to 100 - the next best is Waqar Younis, who had ten such hauls when he reached the 100-wicket mark.

Starc's first 50 wickets took 29 games; while that was still impressive, 21 players had reached that mark faster, with Ajantha Mendis getting there in just 19. Starc was ten matches behind Mendis at that stage, but he is 11 games ahead at the 100-wicket mark - Mendis only got there in his 63rd ODI.

Starc's strike rate of 24.4 is the best at the 100-wicket mark among all bowlers (strike rate at the end of the match in which they got their 100th). Shoaib Akhtar, who got to his 100th in his 60th game - and took his career-best figures of 6 for 16 in that game - was next best at the 100-wicket mark, with a strike rate of 26.24. In terms of averages, he is fifth, after Saqlain Mushtaq, Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner and Waqar Younis.

Best ODI strike rates at 100 wickets*

Bowler	Mats	Wickets	Ave	SR
Mitchell Starc	52	100	19.61	24.6
Shoaib Akhtar	60	105	19.64	26.2
SE Bond	54	101	19.53	27.16
Saqlain Mushtaq	53	101	19.25	27.7
Waqar Younis	59	101	19.40	28.3
M Morkel	59	102	23.33	28.5

Best ODI averages at 100 wickets

Bowler	Mats	WKts	Ave	SR
Saqlain Mushtaq	53	101	19.25	27.7
Curtly Ambrose	61	101	19.26	32.6
Joel Garner	67	101	19.4	37.4
Waqar Younis	59	101	19.4	28.3
Mitchell Starc	52	101	19.52	24.4
Shane Bond	54	101	19.53	27.2

Starc's ODI numbers are quite incredible in most parts of the world. Apart from England and Zimbabwe, where he has strike rates of more than 35, his strike rate is less than 30 in every other country. He has done better in Australia than in other countries, but an overseas average of 22.66 and strike rate of 26.6 is outstanding too. (Click here for his bowling career summary in ODIs.)