On New Year’s day in 2014, BLACKCAPS all rounder Corey Anderson made history with a stunning 36-ball century in the third ANZ ODI v the West Indies. He became the fastest player to bring up the milestone in ODI cricket, beating Shahid Afridi’s previous mark of 37 balls against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in 1996.
This morning, Anderson woke up to find his record had been beaten by five balls by South Africa’s AB de Villiers in this morning’s ODI v West Indies (again!) in Johannesburg.
Speaking in Nelson ahead of the fourth ANZ ODI v Sri Lanka, Anderson was quick to offer congratulations to de Villiers.
“It’s one of those things, records are there to be broken – congratulations to AB, it was obviously a hell of an innings, and to get 149 off 44 is probably even more special,” said Anderson.
“You never go out there and try and take down records, it’s one of those things that happens and you get in that situation like I did down in Queenstown and so did AB.
In Queenstown, Anderson went on to score an unbeaten 131 from just 47 balls, while AB de Villiers, who only arrived at the crease in the 39th over, was dismissed for 149 from 44 balls – so how does it feel to play that kind of innings?
“You’re in the zone and feel like every ball is going to go for a boundary. And then when you mis-hit, it goes for four or there’s a misfield or something like that. It’s just one of those days when it all comes off. It’s a good feeling, it definitely is, and you try and replicate it as many times as you can.
At the time of the record breaking Queenstown ton, Anderson had established a place in the BLACKCAPS in all three forms, but the innings put his name on the world stage big time, arguably leading to his place in the Mumbai Indians' IPL side in 2014.
So will the record be broken again? “Never say never! 31 balls is very quick, we’ve got the World Cup around the corner so that could be a good chance for someone to take it down.”
Anderson, and the rest of the BLACKCAPS, will get a chance to take down AB de Villiers record in the fourth ANZ ODI v Sri Lanka in Nelson, starting at 11.00am tomorrow.
