Stats - The World Cup of centuries
We are just nine matches into the 2023 ODI World Cup but the batters seem to be enjoying their time in India
Sampath Bandarupalli
12-Oct-2023
Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Quinton de Kock - South Africa's three centurions against Sri Lanka • ICC via Getty Images
The centuries at the 2023 ODI World Cup have touched new heights right in the first week with as many as 11 players from six teams passing the three-figure mark in just ten matches. The tournament has already seen records piling up and there could be new benchmarks set up in the coming days.
Climbing up the ladder in the first week
Though only one-fifth of the tournament has been completed by Thursday, the 12 hundreds have already surpassed the total tally scored in the 1975 (6), 1979 (2), 1983 (8), 1987 (11), 1992 (6) and 1999 (11) editions. If we only take into account the first ten matches in a World Cup, the 12 centuries in 2023 are by far the highest in any of the 13 editions. None of the previous 12 editions had more than five centuries in the first ten matches.
Scoring hundreds like never before
The frequency of centuries in the 2023 World Cup is a rarity in this format as it is only the 17th series or tournament with ten-plus hundreds in men's ODIs. Only two of those 17 events - including the ongoing World Cup - have had their first ten hundreds coming as early as the eighth match.
The lone bilateral ODI series with ten or more hundreds - the five-match series during India's tour of Australia in 2016, witnessed 11 hundreds. The only other tournament to have ten or more hundreds inside the first ten matches was the Asia Cup in 2008, hosted by Pakistan, where the tenth hundred came in the ninth game.
Quinton de Kock, who scored 17 ODI hundreds before his maiden World Cup ton against Sri Lanka, added one more to his tally on Thursday against Australia.
Delhi and Hyderabad - the batters' haven
The South Africa batters racked up three centuries in Saturday's game against Sri Lanka, the first-ever instance of three individual tons in an innings at the World Cup. A feat that has occurred only three times before in all ODIs. The Sri Lanka and Pakistan batters then went one step ahead on Tuesday in Hyderabad smashing two centuries each - the first instance of any World Cup game with four individual hundreds. Also, only the third time that four players have managed to breach the three-figure mark in an ODI match.
Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan, the stars of the record chase, became the first pair from Pakistan to rack up hundreds in a World Cup match. Earlier, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra became the first New Zealand pair to score tons in a World Cup game, on the opening day against England. The duo also became the first pair to score hundreds in the same game while making their World Cup debuts.
Hundreds at a fast clip
The hundreds scored so far have come rapidly - 11 of the 12 came in less than 100 balls. Three found a place in the top seven of thefastest hundreds at a men's ODI World Cup, which includes the fastest by Aiden Markram off 49 balls against Sri Lanka. Rohit Sharma's 63-ball ton against Afghanistan and Kusal Mendis' century off 65 balls against Pakistan are the sixth and seventh fastest. Those three centuries have also been the fastest for their respective countries at a World Cup.
Rohit bettered the Indian record by 18, previously held by Virender Sehwag - an 81-ball effort against Bermuda in 2007. Mendis broke Kumar Sangakkara's record ton that came off 70 balls against England in 2015. Even the hundreds from Rachin and Conway in the tournament opener - off 82 and 83 balls were the fastest for New Zealand, beating Martin Guptill's 88-ball hundred against Bangladesh in 2015.
Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo