Stats: Lowest all out total in ODIs to include a century - Sean Williams' 102 in Zimbabwe's 172

Sean Williams in action for Zimbabwe

In the fifth ODI between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at the Queen Sports Club in Bulawayo on October 24, 2015, Afghanistan had set a target of 246 after being asked to bat first by the hosts. But the Zimbabwean batsmen didn’t reply strongly. They lost their five wickets for just 51 runs in the 15th over and the target of 246 started looking unreachable for them.

Sean Williams, who came in at No.4, was holding one end while watching wickets falling at the other end. He completed his half-century in the 24th over in 61 deliveries. It was his 24th half-century, he hadn’t scored any century in his ODI career. But he continued the charge himself thre on and brought up his maiden ODI century in the 43rd over in 120 balls. He scored runs at a uniform pace and with a good strike rate but the others failed.

No batsman scored even 20 runs. In fact, apart from Sean Williams, none others from the top six could even reach double figures. Williams was the last man out in the 45th over with just 172 runs on board for Zimbabwe. He scored 59.30% of his team’s runs.

Though his team lost the match badly, Sean Williams’ maiden ODI century after 23 half-centuries has entered the record books. Zimbabwe’s total of 172 runs is the lowest all-out total to contain a century in it. The previous lowest such total was South Africa’s 180 against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2014 when Hashim Amla scored 101 runs, chasing a target of 268.

Lowest all out totals in ODIs to include a century

Total	Centurion	Inns	Team	Opposition	Venue	Date
172	Sean Williams (102)	2	Zimbabwe	Afghanistan	Bulawayo	24-Oct-15
180	Hashim Amla (101)	2	South Africa	Sri Lanka	Pallekele	09-Jul-14
191	Damien Martyn (116)	1	Australia	New Zealand	Auckland	03-Mar-00
192	Alec Stewart (100*)	2	England	West Indies	Nottingham	20-Jul-00
193	Kumar Sangakkara (101)	2	Sri Lanka	Australia	Colombo (RPS)	27-Feb-04
194	Greg Chappell (108)	2	Australia	New Zealand	Auckland	13-Feb-82
199	Brendan Taylor (106)	1	Zimbabwe	Bangladesh	Bulawayo	19-Aug-11
200	Graeme Wood (104)	1	Australia	West Indies	Adelaide	27-Jan-85
202	John Davison (111)	1	Canada	West Indies	Centurion	23-Feb-03
205	Ajay Jadeja (100*)	2	India	Australia	The Oval	04-Jun-99

• As expected, all the above 10 instances resulted in a loss for the teams.
• The lowest all out total that contained a century and the team went onto win is from Sri Lanka’s 213 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 1999 – where Russel Arnold scored 103 in the first innings.

However, there have been eight ODI totals less than Zimbabwe’s 172 that contained a century. But they were not all out innings and mostly came in successful run-chases of smaller targets where one of the batsmen scored a century. In that case, the lowest total that had a centurion is 159 for three, for England against New Zealand at Swansea in 1973, where Dennis Amiss scored 100 while chasing a target of 159.

Lowest totals in ODIs to include a century (all type of innings)

Total	Centurion	Team	Opposition	Venue	Date
159/3	Dennis Amiss (100)	England	New Zealand	Swansea	18-Jul-73
164/2	Dean Jones (102*)	Australia	New Zealand	Auckland	11-Mar-90
164/0	Chris Gayle (104*)	West Indies	Bangladesh	Jaipur	11-Oct-06
166/0	Romesh Kaluwitharana (102*)	Sri Lanka	England	Colombo	27-Mar-01
167/3	Rameez Raza (119*)	Pakistan	New Zealand	Christchurch	18-Mar-92
167/1	Michael Clarke (103*)	Australia	Pakistan	Sydney	23-Jan-05
171/1	Navjot Sidhu (104*)	India	Bangladesh	Chandigarh	25-Dec-90
172/2	Lahiru Thirimanne (102*)	Sri Lanka	Australia	Adelaide	13-Jan-13
172	Sean Williams (102)	Zimbabwe	Afghanistan	Bulawayo	24-Oct-15
176/2	David Boon (102*)	Australia	India	Hobart	10-Dec-91

• All the innings were while chasing, and all except Sean Williams’ resulted in wins.

Related trivia

# Lowest total to include a 50+ score in ODIs is West Indies’ 127 against England at Kingstown on February 4, 1981 where Everton Mattis scored 62.

# Highest total not to include century in ODIs is South Africa’s 392/6 against Pakistan at Centurion on February 4, 2007 where Jacques Kallis top scored with 88*.

# Highest total not to include a 50+ score in ODIs is England’s 285 against Sri Lanka at Manchester on June 28, 2006 where Andrew Strauss top scored with 45.