Zimbabwe's middle-order batter Ryan Burl missed golden chance of equalling former South Africa skipper AB De Villiers' record for fastest ODI half-century by a whisker. Burl was going all guns blazing in the slog overs as Zimbabwe registered their first 400-plus score in ODI cricket. He was batting on 47 off 15 balls and needed a boundary to share the top spot on the record books with De Villiers. The left-handed batter went for the big shot but got caught in the deep.
Earlier, Burl walked in to bat in the 43rd over when Sikandar Raza got out for a 27-ball 48. Burl cleared the boundaries two times in the 45th over of the innings as he took on USA's Abhishek Paradkar. In the next over he hit Jessy Singh for a six, followed by two consecutive fours. In the 48th over, he hit a four and a six but got caught by Nisarg Patel in the deep. His 16-ball 47 was laced with three fours and four sixes.
Burl's quickfire 16-ball 47 followed by Tadiwanashe Marumani's unbeaten 6-ball 18 cameo helped Zimbabwe post a mammoth total of 408/6. Overall, this is the 19th on the list of highest innings total in ODI history.
Williams’ big knock
Skipper Sean Williams led from the front after USA skipper Monank Patel won the toss and opted to field first. Wiliams scored the second-fastest ODI century for Zimbabwe from 65 balls. It is to be noted that before World Cup 2023 Qualifiers, the fastest ODI century record for Zimbabwe belonged to Regis Chakabva from 73 balls against Bangladesh last year. In the ongoing tournament, Williams scored century from just 70 balls against Nepal which was broken by Raza with a 54-ball century against Netherlands.
He went on to score 174 runs from 101 deliveries. His knock was studded with 21 fours and five sixes. He had a chance to become Zimbabwe's first double centurion in ODIs but got out in the penultimate over. This is the third-highest individual score by a Zimbabwe batter in ODIs.
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