BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor
24th February is known in cricket history for historic records. On this day in 2010, Sachin Tendulkar scored the first double century in ODI history, and in 2015, Chris Gayle made the first World Cup double century with 215 runs. In 2013, MS Dhoni also played a memorable Test innings of 224 runs against Australia. Apart from this, Kenya’s win over Sri Lanka in the 2003 World Cup and Pakistan’s victory over the UAE in 1996 also came on this date. It is also the birthday of two great England cricketers Brian Close and Derek Randall.
On 24 February 2010, the “Master Blaster” Sachin Tendulkar created history in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh against South Africa, a moment the cricket world will always remember. He became the first male cricketer in the history of One Day International (ODI) cricket to score a double century. Sachin played a brilliant innings of 200 runs not out off 147 balls. Even a strong South African bowling attack featuring Dale Steyn and captain Jacques Kallis could not stop him from scoring. Despite the early dismissal of fellow opener Virender Sehwag, Sachin continued to dominate the bowlers and played excellent shots all around the ground.
During his historic 200-run innings, Sachin hit 25 fours and 3 sixes. With this double century, he also broke the previous record for the highest individual score in ODI cricket, which was 194 runs, a record held by Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry and Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar. Thanks to Sachin’s magical innings, the Indian team posted a huge total and defeated South Africa by 153 runs in the match. With this historic victory, India also won the ODI series.
On 24 February 2015 in Canberra, West Indies batsman Chris Gayle created history by scoring the first double century in World Cup cricket. Playing against Zimbabwe, Gayle smashed 215 runs off just 147 balls, including 10 fours and 16 sixes. The 16 sixes equaled the record for most sixes in an ODI innings. He completed his double century in just 138 balls, which was the fastest double century at that time. With this innings, he broke the previous highest World Cup score of 188 runs set by South Africa’s Gary Kirsten in 1996.
In this historic match, Gayle shared a massive 372-run partnership with Marlon Samuels, who remained unbeaten on 133 runs. This became the highest partnership for any wicket in ODI history. Thanks to their outstanding batting, West Indies posted a huge total of 372/2. In reply, due to rain, Zimbabwe were given a revised target of 363 runs in 48 overs under the D/L method. Despite fighting knocks from Sean Williams with 76 runs and Craig Ervine with 52 runs, Zimbabwe were all out for 289 runs. Gayle also impressed with the ball by taking 2 important wickets and helped his team secure a strong 73-run victory.
On 24 February 2013, Indian captain MS Dhoni played a historic and aggressive innings of 224 runs against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In reply to Australia’s first-innings total of 380 runs, Virat Kohli scored 107 runs and Sachin Tendulkar made 81 runs to put India in a strong position. After that, Dhoni attacked the Australian bowlers and scored 224 runs off just 265 balls, hitting 24 fours and 6 sixes. Thanks to his powerful double century, India posted a huge total of 572 runs in their first innings.
Australian bowlers like James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon looked helpless against Dhoni’s brilliant batting. Along with Dhoni’s innings, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s outstanding bowling, where he took 7 wickets in the first innings and 5 wickets in the second innings for a total of 12 wickets in the match, gave India complete control. Under pressure from India’s massive total, Australia were all out for just 241 runs in their second innings. India then had a target of only 50 runs, which they achieved easily by losing 2 wickets and won the match by 8 wickets.
On 24 February 1996, in a Wills World Cup match played at Jinnah Stadium in Gujranwala, Pakistan registered a very easy and one-sided victory over the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Batting first, the UAE team could manage only 109 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 33 overs. The top scorers for UAE were Saleem Raza with 22 runs off 20 balls and Shaukat Dukanwala with an unbeaten 21 runs. Pakistan’s bowlers delivered a tight performance, with leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed taking 3 wickets for just 16 runs in 7 overs. Captain Wasim Akram and Aaqib Javed also took 2 wickets each, which stopped UAE from posting a big total.
Chasing a small target of 110 runs, Pakistan got off to a fast start. Opener Aamir Sohail was bowled for 5 runs by Johan Samarasekera, but after that, Ijaz Ahmed and Saeed Anwar did not allow UAE to take any more wickets. Ijaz Ahmed scored an unbeaten 50 runs off 57 balls with 4 fours and 1 six, while Saeed Anwar made an unbeaten 40 runs off 50 balls with 4 fours. Thanks to their solid batting, Pakistan reached 112 runs for the loss of just 1 wicket in only 18 overs and won the match comfortably by 9 wickets with 90 balls remaining.
Derek Randall was born on 24 February 1951 in Retford, Nottinghamshire. He is a well-known former England cricketer. Randall was considered one of the finest cover fielders of his time. He was famous around the world for his quick fielding and for running toward the batsmen even before throwing the ball to complete run-outs. His brilliant run-out of Gordon Greenidge of West Indies in the 1979 World Cup final became widely talked about. Known for his eccentric movements at the crease and fearless batting, Randall played 47 Test matches and 49 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for England. For his outstanding performances, he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1980.
The most memorable innings of Randall’s career came in 1977 during the historic Centenary Test against Australia, where he scored a brilliant 174 runs in Melbourne while facing the dangerous fast bowler Dennis Lillee. In the same match, after narrowly escaping a fierce bouncer from Lillee, Randall humorously doffed his cap to him, which became one of the most famous moments in cricket history. Playing for Nottinghamshire at the domestic level, he scored 28,456 runs and made 52 centuries in first-class cricket. After retiring from cricket, he became a successful coach and was the one who recognized the talent of England’s great batsman Alastair Cook at the school level and helped him progress further.
Brian Close was born on 24 February 1931 in Yorkshire. He was one of England’s great all-rounders and is considered one of the bravest players in cricket history. He made his Test debut in 1949 against New Zealand at the age of 18 years and 149 days, and for a long time he remained England’s youngest Test player. Close was famous around the world for his fearlessness. During his time, helmets and body protection were not used, yet he fielded at short leg without fear and took blows on his body while facing dangerous fast bowlers.
Brian Close played 22 Test matches for England and captained the team in 7 matches, out of which they won 6 and 1 match was drawn. In domestic cricket, under his strong captaincy, Yorkshire won the County Championship four times. Later, while captaining Somerset, he played an important role in shaping the careers of great players like Viv Richards and Ian Botham. Apart from cricket, he was also a professional footballer who signed with teams like Leeds United and Arsenal. He passed away on 13 September 2015 at the age of 84 due to cancer.
On 24 February 2003, in a World Cup match played at the Gymkhana Club Ground in Nairobi, Kenya shocked the cricket world by defeating strong Sri Lanka by 53 runs. Batting first, Kenya scored a respectable 210 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 50 overs. Wicketkeeper-batsman Kennedy Otieno was the top scorer for Kenya with 60 runs off 88 balls, including 8 fours and 2 sixes, while Hitesh Modi and Maurice Odumbe scored 26 runs each. For Sri Lanka, legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan bowled brilliantly and took 4 wickets for 28 runs in 10 overs, and fast bowler Chaminda Vaas also claimed 3 wickets.
Chasing a target of 211 runs, the star-studded Sri Lankan team collapsed against Kenya’s excellent bowling and were all out for just 157 runs in 45 overs. Star batsmen Sanath Jayasuriya scored 3 runs, Mahela Jayawardene made 5 runs, and Kumar Sangakkara also scored 5 runs before getting out early. Aravinda de Silva fought hard for 41 runs and Russell Arnold remained unbeaten on 25, but it was not enough for victory. The biggest hero of Kenya’s historic win was leg-spinner Collins Obuya, who took 5 important wickets for just 24 runs in his 10 overs. Captain Steve Tikolo also took 2 wickets for 13 runs and helped Kenya secure one of the most talked-about wins in World Cup history.
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