First ever hundred, fifty, and five-wicket haul in T20 cricket

Cricket is a game that has survived, thrived, and lived through the ages. The audience has grown increasingly attached to it with the passage of time and continues to invest emotionally in the nuances of the sport.

One of the main reasons behind the sustained popularity of cricket is its ability to adapt and adjust to the demands of the aficionados. The invention of shorter and newer formats has successfully managed to keep the viewers hitched to the sport.

T20 cricket, which was parturitated in England more than 15 years ago, has revitalized the sport, adding more colourful, dynamic, and pacey dimension to it.

The maiden tournament played in this format was the Twenty20 Cup in county cricket back in 2003. On this day that year, Ian Harvey went on to score the first ever century in the format against Warwickshire in Birmingham.

Let us look at similar records that are held for maiden individual achievements T20 cricket:

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#3 First T20 hundred: Ian Harvey

Harvey was an Australian all-rounder who was one of the most revered performers of the Twenty20 Cup 2003. He was an integral part of the Gloucestershire Gladiators and donned the role of an important top-order as well as a crucial fifth bowler for them through the tournament.

The highlight of his T20 career came in the latter stages of the competition, when Gloucestershire desperately needed a win against Warwickshire to book their place in the semi-final. Having won the toss and choosing to field first, they managed to restrict Warwickshire to a relatively manageable total of 134/7 after 20 overs.

Harvey came in to open the batting and such was the dominance of his willow on the day, that he ended up scoring 100 runs off the 135 required for his team to win the game.

The second-highest individual score in the Gloucestershire batting line-up was just 23. But it did not matter, as one of their marquee players had stepped up for them in the big game, smashing 100 unbeaten runs off just 50 deliveries, scripting history along the way.

#2 First fifty: Jason Gallian

The right-handed batsman hit seven boundaries in his 48-ball knock

The maiden half-century in T20 was scored in the first professional T20 game played in world cricket and incidentally, it was scored by the first batsman to face a delivery in the format.

Jason Gallian, who opened the innings in the opening game of the Twenty20 Cup 2003, ultimately became the maiden half-centurion of the format. He scored 62 unbeaten runs for Nottinghamshire against Durham, using just 48 deliveries for the same.

Gallian's knock helped the Notts reach a respectable total of 157/7 at the end of the first innings. However, Durham managed to reach the target with 6 wickets in hand, courtesy a unified batting effort.

Although his innings could not help Nottinghamshire win the match, Gallian remained the only player to cross the 50-run mark from both the sides, and thus, was adjudged the Man of the Match on the day.

#1 First five-wicket haul: Jimmy Ormond

Jimmy Ormond terrorized the Middlesex batting line-up with his seam and swing

It is believed that cricket, more so the shorter formats of the game, are titled in the favour of the batsmen. It is natural to imagine that if the sport represented a corporate conglomerate, the men wielding the willow would be the managers and those running in with the cork ball would be the workers.

T20 cricket, in particular, is considered to be cruel towards the bowlers. Hence, you could presume that a five-wicket haul in the format would have come a lot later in comparison to the hundreds and fifties.

However, that is not the case. Jimmy Ormond of Surrey scalped a five-wicket haul in the very same tournament and in fact, tracked the milestone ten days before Harvey set the record books ablaze with his three-figure innings.

Surrey, who were eventually crowned as the champions of the cup, took on Middlesex in a South Group game in London. Winning the toss and electing to field first, they restricted Middlesex to a total of 155 in 20 overs, scalping all the ten wickets in the innings.

It was Ormond who stood out in the bowling line-up, finishing with incredible figures of five for 26 in his quota of four overs. He was rightly given the Man of the Match award for his effort on the day.