Sean Williams hit 174 off 101 balls as Zimbabwe crushed the United States by 304 runs on Monday at the Cricket World Cup qualifiers, the second biggest winning margin in terms of runs in ODI history.
Hosts Zimbabwe made their highest one-day total with a mammoth 408-6 off 50 overs and then bowled out the USA for just 104 to seal a fourth straight win in Group A.
They narrowly missed breaking the record for the biggest margin of victory in a one-day international, set at the start of the year when India thrashed Sri Lanka by 317 runs in Thiruvananthapuram.
Wicketkeeper Joylord Gumbie struck a steady 78 at the top of the order but Williams played the starring role as Zimbabwe stepped on the accelerator once the stand-in captain arrived at the crease.
Williams hit 21 fours and five sixes before he was caught in the deep in the penultimate over, with Sikandar Raza scoring 48 off 27 balls and Ryan Burl hammering 47 off just 16 deliveries.
Only three USA batters reached double figures as Richard Ngarava and Raza both took two wickets while three run outs compounded a dismal performance from the Americans.
Van Beek smashes record for biggest Super Over score to seal famous win
Prior to Monday 26 June, the biggest Super Over score in the history of cricket had jointly been held by West Indies Men and West Indies Women, at 25 runs apiece.
But this time it was the West Indies who were on the receiving end of a thunderous six-ball effort, as they were beaten in the Super Over by Netherlands in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.
Logan van Beek was the man to do all of the damage, hitting every single ball of the Super Over to the boundary, with three fours and three sixes setting a new all-time record of 30 runs.
It was an extraordinary effort and helped the Netherlands to a famous win over West Indies, coming after the Dutch side had produced a phenomenal run chase of 374/9 to finish the regulation overs with a tie.
That score was comfortably the highest ever scored by the Netherlands in their ODI history, but they needed another record to complete the famous win.
Jason Holder was the unfortunate bowler on the receiving end of Van Beek’s fireworks.
Holder had been the pick of the West Indies bowlers earlier in the match, going for just 59 runs from his ten overs, with comfortably the best economy rate across the team.
And the match had only been tied thanks to Holder’s excellent catch off the very last ball of the Netherlands innings, with the scores already tied.
But he didn’t hit his yorkers in the Super Over, offering up two full tosses in the first two deliveries. And a confident Van Beek went 4, 6, 4, 6, 6, 4 to make history in Harare.
Riding that wave of adrenaline, it was Van Beek who took the ball for Netherlands in the Super Over too.
And although his first delivery disappeared for a maximum, two singles were followed by two wickets as he completed an exceptional individual effort on a famous day for his team.
Ariana Television Network will broadcast the matches daily live on TV and Website.
Pre-match shows will start at 11am (Kabul time), while the day’s match will start at 11.30am (Kabul time).
Matches are streamed live on Ariana Television websites simultaneously:
www.arianatelevision.com/live and www.arianatelevision.com/icc-live
CLICK HERE for the broadcast schedule on Ariana Television
