First ODIs Double Hundred
In One-Day Internationals (ODIs), which cricketer holds the distinction for scoring the first double hundred? The answer from most cricket-lovers is bound to be ‘Sachin Tendulkar.’ Surprisingly the answer is wrong. Tendulkar, who accomplished this feat in early 2010 against South Africa at Gwalior, was not the first cricketer to do so.
The honor of hitting the first double hundred of ODI cricket goes to Belinda Clark, Australian women’s cricket team, on 17 Dec 1997. Clark scaled the cricketing Everest precisely 23 years ago. The Aussie batswoman pillaged a spectacular 229 off 155 balls playing against minnows Denmark in a women’s World Cup match at Mumbai.
First ODIs team over 400 runs
In the same record-breaking match in which Belinda Clark first crossed the 200-run mark, the Australian Women’s cricket team broke the record by becoming the first to score more than 400 runs in an ODI inning.
Once again, the 2006 Johannesburg match between Australia and South Africa was mistakenly claimed by many fans as the first instance of 400 plus runs being scored in an ODI Inning. The record that the match held was that of scoring 400 plus in ‘both the teams’ during an ODI match in their innings, and that of the highest active ODI run-chase.
The Australian side, led by Clark’s double hundred, managed to score 412 runs at the loss of just three wickets in the women’s World Cup Match at Mumbai. She was supported by Lisa Keightley and Karen Rolton in their fifties. The Denmark Women were disqualified by the Aussies for 49, bringing the Australian a massive win and strengthening their race for the World Cup.
Hence, before their male counterparts caught up, the records of both the first ODI double hundred and the first 400 over team total were broken by female cricketers. And oddly enough, both of these records were achieved in the same match. It can be said that the Australia-Denmark Women’s World Cup match set the ball rolling out in International Cricket for further records.
