Waiting for that hundred at home

Kevin Pietersen's just got his first, Younis Khan doesn't have any, and Steve Waugh waited ten years before he finally made one. What we're referring to is a one-day international century at home.

Pietersen nearly scored a hundred in his first innings in England, remaining unbeaten on 91 against Australia at Bristol in 2005. He had to wait another 27 matches before a maiden century at home - 110 not out in the first one-day international of the ongoing series against New Zealand at Chester-le-Street. This week we look at batsmen who've played the most matches before scoring a hundred.

Steve Waugh scored only three hundreds in his 325-ODI career and it wasn't until his 187th game that he scored his first. Waugh is the only batsman to have played more than 100 matches at home before scoring a century, an unbeaten 102 against Sri Lanka at the MCG in his 105th ODI. His only century away from home was in the 1999 World Cup: a match-winning 120 not out against South Africa at Headingley. He remained unbeaten once again when he scored his third century, against South Africa at the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne in 2000.

Chris Gayle wasted no time in clocking up hundreds but fans in West Indies had to wait much longer than crowds in Kenya, India, South Africa, Zimbabwe and England to witness a Gayle century first hand. He scored nine hundreds in his first 116 matches but all of them were outside the Caribbean. His first home hundred was against South Africa in Bridgetown in 2005, his 41st match in the West Indies, the same game in which Charl Langeveldt took a hat-trick in the final over to pip the home side.

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Younis Khan has made only four hundreds in his 170-match career so far and none of them have been scored in Pakistan. His first came in his 103rd ODI, out of which 82 had been away from home, against Hong Kong in the 2004 Asia Cup. Younis scored 144 in that match in Colombo and it remains his highest score. Since then he's scored hundreds in England, India and Bangladesh.

Unless either Chaminda Vaas or Muttiah Muralitharan scores a hundred, the record for playing the most ODIs before scoring a maiden ton is likely to remain with Shaun Pollock for a while. Pollock scored his first hundred in his 285th match, 130 for Asia XI during the Afro-Asia Cup in June 2007. He hasn't scored any while representing South Africa.

Pollock's lack of centuries is largely because he batted at Nos 7 and 8 for the majority of his career, but the second name on the table below is far more surprising. Mark Boucher has batted predominantly at No. 6 for South Africa and he scored his first hundred in his 220th one-dayer, a match for which he was promoted to No 4. Zimbabwe dropped Boucher six times during that innings in Potchefstroom in 2006 and he cashed in, scoring 147 off 68 balls. It was only the fifth time he had batted at No. 4 and he's never batted at that position since.

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The list of bowlers who played the most matches before taking their maiden four-for in ODIs is dominated by part-timers - Aravinda de Silva did it in his 230th ODI, Viv Richards in his 129th, and Kris Srikkanth, who bowled in only 33 matches in his 146-ODI career, took five-fors in his 104th and 106th games.

The first specialist bowler on the table is Pramodya Wickramasinghe, who played 134 ODIs for Sri Lanka. His best performance came in his 108th match, when he took 4 for 48 against Pakistan in Jamshedpur in 1999. It was the only four-wicket haul of his career.

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Wasim Akram took 17 four-fors and one five-wicket haul in one-day internationals but only one of each came in the 67 matches he played in Pakistan. By the time he took his first haul of four or more at home - 5 for 15 in his 31st match in Pakistan - Akram already had 13 four-wicket hauls in 127 away ODIs.

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