23 ODI 100s of AB de Villiers: All innings with a strike rate of over 100

AB de Villiers scored three centuries in the five-match ODI series against India

There have been many destructing, attacking and aggressive cricketers in the past and present. But having the same approach in every long innings is something only AB de Villiers has mastered.

When speaking of aggressive ODI batsmen, one would mention players like Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, etc. They all have scored many centuries at a quicker rate but NOT all their centuries innings had a strike rate of over 100.

AB de Villiers scored three centuries in the five-match ODI series against India to take the count of his ODI centuries to 23. With every century, he is making his sequence of having 100+ strike rate in all those innings longer. Only four batsmen have scored more ODI centuries than AB de Villiers’ 23. But he has something special in his centuries.

Let’s have a list of those 23 ODI centuries and his strike rate in those.

List of 23 ODI centuries of AB de Villiers

Runs	Balls	Fours	Sixes	S/R	Opposition	Ground	Date
146	130	12	5	112.30	West Indies	St George's	10-Apr-07
107	89	8	6	120.22	Zimbabwe	Harare	26-Aug-07
103*	95	9	3	108.42	Pakistan	Lahore	18-Oct-07
121	85	14	0	142.35	England	Cape Town	27-Nov-09
114*	101	13	2	112.87	India	Gwalior	24-Feb-10
102*	59	11	3	172.88	India	Motera	27-Feb-10
102	101	5	2	100.99	West Indies	North Sound	22-May-10
101*	72	5	5	140.27	Zimbabwe	Potchefstroom	17-Oct-10
109	99	5	5	110.10	Zimbabwe	Benoni	22-Oct-10
107*	105	8	2	101.90	West Indies	Kotla	24-Feb-11
134	98	13	4	136.73	Netherlands	Mohali	03-Mar-11
125*	98	10	4	127.55	Sri Lanka	New Wanderers	22-Jan-12
106*	106	3	4	100.00	New Zealand	Wellington	25-Feb-12
128	108	12	3	118.51	Pakistan	New Wanderers	17-Mar-13
115*	102	10	3	112.74	Pakistan	Sharjah	11-Nov-13
109	101	6	5	107.92	India	Centurion	11-Dec-13
108	71	11	4	152.11	Sri Lanka	Hambantota	12-Jul-14
136*	106	11	2	128.30	Australia	Harare	27-Aug-14
149	44	9	16	338.63	West Indies	New Wanderers	18-Jan-15
162*	66	17	8	245.45	West Indies	SCG	27-Feb-15
104*	73	5	6	142.46	India	Kanpur	11-Oct-15
112	107	10	2	104.67	India	Chepauk	22-Oct-15
119	61	3	11	195.08	India	Wankhede	25-Oct-15

• AB de Villiers’ combined strike rate in all his ODI centuries is 130.90 which is highest for any batsman with 10 or more ODI centuries.

It is not that AB de Villiers scored every century with 100 balls or so, but at the end of the innings he had a strike rate of more than 100. Let’s see how many balls he took to score each of his 23 ODI centuries.

Number of balls to score each ODI century

Runs	Balls to century
146 (130)	114
107 (89)	84
103* (95)	93
121 (85)	75
114* (101)	85
102* (59)	58
102 (101)	99
101* (72)	72
109 (99)	91
107* (105)	97
134 (98)	88
125* (98)	88
106* (106)	101
128 (108)	87
115* (102)	99
109 (101)	96
108 (71)	66
136* (106)	82
149 (44)	31
162* (66)	52
104* (73)	73
112 (107)	98
119 (61)	57

• Out of 23 ODI centuries, only two centuries were completed taking more than 100 balls by AB de Villiers. However, he managed to increase his strike rate to at least 100 at the end of the inning.

We have mentioned that even some of the most aggressive batsmen couldn’t have a strike rate of 100 or more in all their century innings. Then, after AB de Villiers, who comes next?

It is a surprising name – he is not from this present generation of cricket. He didn’t have the benefit of powerplays and other batsmen friendly rules. He did not play ODIs in this century even!

He is Ijaz Ahmed from Pakistan who scored 10 centuries in his ODI career all with a strike rate of over 100 in all those innings. Next is Shahid Afridi with six centuries.

Most ODI centuries in career with all at a strike rate of more than 100

100s	Batsman
23	AB de Villiers
10	Ijaz Ahmed
6	Shahid Afridi
4	JP Duminy
3	Jesse Ryder
3	Mike Hussey
3	Mushfiqr Rahim
3	Sikandad Raza

Even players of this generation like Brendon McCullum, MS Dhoni, Shane Watson, etc. who scored most of their centuries with a higher strike rate but not all those innings had a strike rate of over 100.

Let’s see, for the top century-makers in ODIs, how many innings had a strike rate of over 100 and how many not.

Players with 15 or more ODI centuries

Player	100	100+ S/R century innings	% of century innings at 100+ S/R
AB de Villiers	23	23	100.00
Adam Gilchrist	16	13	81.25
Virender Sehwag	15	12	80.00
Virat Kohli	23	16	69.57
Brian Lara	19	13	68.42
Sanath Jayasuriya	28	18	64.29
Kumar Sangakkara	25	13	52.00
Tillakaratne Dilshan	22	11	50.00
Sachin Tendulkar	49	24	48.98
Mahela Jayawardene	19	9	47.37
Hashim Amla	21	9	42.86
Chris Gayle	22	9	40.91
Herschelle Gibbs	21	8	38.10
Ricky Ponting	30	11	36.67
Desmond Haynes	17	6	35.29
Ross Taylor	15	4	26.67
Mohammad Yousuf	15	4	26.67
Saeed Anwar	20	5	25.00
Jacques Kallis	17	4	23.53
Sourav Ganguly	22	5	22.73
Mark Waugh	18	3	16.67
Nathan Astle	16	1	6.25

• Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag missed having 100+ strike rate in three century innings each.
• Nathan Astle, one of the finest ODI players from New Zealand, managed to have a 100+ strike rate in only one of his 16 ODI century innings.
• Nathan Astle, Mark Waugh, Sourav Ganguly and Jacques Kallis had less than 25% of their century innings with a strike rate of over 100 in ODIs.
• Surprising that Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara have a higher percentage of century innings with 100+ strike rate than Chris Gayle.

Yes, AB de Villiers is really special. Let’s hope his streak continues and all his further century innings also have this strike rate.