Remembering 40 years of ODI cricket - Part Two

The positions of Sachin Tendulkar and Muttiah Muralidaran as the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in One Day International cricket are unlikely to be threatened in the near future, and their performances have been well-documented over the past twenty years.

However, this form of the game is able to throw up some quirky performances and records which often evade the traditional cricket websites.

Zimbabwe fielded eight sides in 2004 with an average age of less than 21. The United States of America side which faced Australia at Southampton in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy had an average age of 35 - the oldest ever.

In early 2007, Australia managed to pass 300 in six consecutive ODI matches. Sri Lanka had managed that feat in five successive matches the previous year, but no other side has ever managed it in more than three in a row.

There have never been three individual centuries in the same ODI innings; however three Australians passed 90 against South Africa at St Kitts in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. Uniquely five Pakistanis managed to pass fifty in their match against Zimbabwe at Karachi in January 2008.

The ICC Cricket World Cup final in 1979 between England and the West Indies set a record which still stands to this day. Despite Viv Richards' unbeaten 138 and Collis King's 86 in support, eight batsmen in the match were dismissed without scoring, a record for all ODI cricket.

Only three batsmen have ever scored centuries in ODI cricket on their birthdays. First was Vinod Kambli with 100* against England at Jaipur in 1993. Next to achieve the feat was Sachin Tendulkar with 134 against Australia at Sharjah in 1998. Sanath Jayasuriya was the last - with 130 against Bangladesh at Karachi on his 39th birthday in 2008.

Conversely, no bowler has ever taken a five-wicket haul in an ODI on their birthday. The closest have been Vernon Philander or South Africa and Stuart Broad of England, both of whom managed to take four wickets.

And finally, with this year's India v New Zealand match which was played on 10 August, we have now seen One Day International cricket played on all 366 possible dates in the calendar.