Scotland’s opening batsman George Munsey created history by scoring the highest individual runs in a single ODI match by an associate cricket player. Playing against the Netherlands in the ICC CWC League 2, Munsey smashed 191 runs off 150 balls. His innings included 14 fours and 11 sixes, making it a spectacular display of power hitting. Munsey fell just 9 runs short of becoming the first associate cricketer to score a double century in ODI cricket, getting bowled by fast bowler Vivian Kingma. Despite his outstanding performance, Scotland lost the match by 4 wickets.
Before Munsey’s remarkable innings, the highest ODI score by an associate cricketer was 177 runs by Ireland’s Paul Stirling against Canada in 2010. However, Ireland received Test status in 2017 and is no longer classified as an associate nation. Other notable high scores from associate players include Scotland’s Calum MacLeod, who scored 175 runs against Canada in 2014, and USA’s Jaskaran Malhotra, who made 173 runs against Papua New Guinea in 2021.
Despite Munsey’s heroics, Scotland could not chase down the massive target of 370 runs set by the Netherlands. The Dutch team reached their target in 49.2 overs for the loss of 6 wickets. Max O’Dowd was the star for the Netherlands, playing an unbeaten innings of 158 runs off 130 balls, hitting 13 fours and 4 sixes to guide his team to victory.
In the history of ODI cricket, there have been only 12 double centuries scored, all by players from Test nations. India’s Rohit Sharma holds the record for the highest individual ODI score of 264 runs against Sri Lanka in 2014. Rohit also scored two other double centuries: 209 against Australia in 2013 and 208 against Sri Lanka in 2017.
Besides Rohit Sharma, other players who have scored double centuries in ODIs include Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar from India; Fakhar Zaman from Pakistan; Pathum Nissanka from Sri Lanka; Glenn Maxwell from Australia; and Martin Guptill from New Zealand.
