June 19, 2002 – The biggest One-Day knock of the all time

Scoring rates in the One-Day cricket gradually raised at the start of the 21st century with the teams going past 250 more than often and a 300+ total once in a while. England’s Domestic One-Day tournament “Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy” in 2002 was a stage for big totals that involved as many as 60 teams. The tournament was played in the knockout format that included 18 county sides joined by minor-counties, County Cricket Board team and national teams from Denmark, Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands.

June 19, 2002 – Surrey v Glamorgan at The Oval:

Surrey and Glamorgan faced each other in the 4th round game of the tournament having defeated Scotland and Lincolnshire respectively in the 3rd round. After electing to bat first the hosts Surrey survived an early scare of losing their experienced opener, Alistair Brown. The former England International player was dropped in slips at the start of his innings. He bagged a golden duck in the first game and was also ignored ahead of the NatWest ODI Tri-Series at home that included India and Sri Lanka.

The 32-year-old made the most of his opportunity with his stroke-play as the hosts raced towards a big total. Brown got the luxury of clearing short boundary on the square of the wicket which was only 60 meters.Being an experienced campaigner, he brought up his century in just 80 balls 10 fours and four sixes. His opening partner Ian Ward scored his then highest OD score of 97 off 95 balls with 8 fours and four sixes. The pair added 286 for the opening wicket before Glamorgan skipper Robert Croft cleaned up Ward.

Brown became dangerous after his century as he raced towards a record-breaking inning. He smashed ten fours and six sixes in the next 54 deliveries to bring up his 2nd double century in the List A format. Brown scored 203 off 119 balls in the 40-over AXA Life League match in 1997 against Hampshire. The Englishman hit 12 boundaries in 24 balls after raising his double ton to record the highest individual score in List A cricket breaking the then record held by Graeme Pollock with his 222.

Brown scored 268 off just 160 balls before getting his off-stump cleaned up in the final over of the innings bowled by Michael Kasprowicz. The Australian pacer was the only one in the whole game to concede less than seven runs an over as he conceded only 53 runs in the 10 overs he bowled. Surrey finished with a whopping 438/5 in the 50 overs which were the then record in List A format. Interestingly, England made 268 and more only twice in their last 20 ODI matches prior to Brown’s master-class.

Strong reply from Glamorgan:

With the game being a knockout encounter, the Glamorgan side played their hearts out to chase down the mountain. Skipper Croft opened the innings with Ian Thomas and made the scoreboard running. The pair added 113 in around 11 overs with Thomas scoring only 23 off 19 in that stand. Croft kept finding the boundary as he brought up his hundred in just 56 balls and got out to his opposition number Adam Hollioake. Croft scored 119 in just 69 balls with 18 fours and three sixes.

David Hemp carried on from where his skipper left with a brilliant century. The Bermudian struck an 85-ball century but was dismissed soon after his milestone for an 88-ball 102 that included ten fours and three sixes. Despite Glamorgan kept losing wickets, they stayed in the hunt thanks to Stuart Thomas’ efforts as they 19 needed from the final over bowled by Hollioake. Thomas cleared the fence on the 3rd ball and a wide that followed brought down the equation to 11 from three balls. However, Thomas took a leg-bye on the 4th delivery exposing No.11 Dean Cosker who got out on the very first ball he faced.

Surrey eventually made it to the quarter-finals having won the game by nine runs as Glamorgan finished on 429 only. Both the totals in this game were the top two team totals in List A format till South Africa and Australia faced in the famous Johannesburg ODI in 2006. The Surrey-Glamorgan game was the first in List A cricket to aggregate 800+ runs and the 857 runs being the 3rd highest in a List A game as on date. However, Brown’s 268 is yet to be broken as the closest anyone came was Rohit Sharma with his 264 in an ODI in 2014. The Indian batsman was dismissed on the final ball of the innings trying to clear the fence and break the record.

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