5 bowlers at the receiving end of epic batting milestones

Any batsman who boasts of setting a world record on the field always sees it through a bowler. He can only get to the so-called milestone if he was able to conquer the bowler, both technically and intellectually. On many occasions, we see bowlers staying helpless and without motivation when the batsman goes after him so easily.It doesnt matter how good a bowler you are – if the batsman is on song, you cannot really stop him. A classic example of the above statement would be the curious case of one of England’s finest fast bowlers, Stuart Broad. He became the scapegoat of Yuvraj Singh’s fury during the first T20 World Cup in South Africa.In ODIs and Tests, there are many batting milestones that may not be broken anytime soon in the future. Here we take a look at 5 bowlers who were not regular members of the squad or who were not very famous for their bowling prowess but were on the receiving end of some epic milestones in batting, both in the ODI and Test Cricket.

#5 Daan van Bunge

Dan van Bunge made a name for himself, the bad way!

It was in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup that something sensational happened in St. Kitts during the group match between South Africa and Netherlands. Herschelle Gibbs hit six consecutive 6s off Dan Van Bunge. This was the first time in the history of ODIs that someone had achieved this unbelievable feat.

Gibbs doing it in the World Cup makes it all the more special. A young infamous Netherlands bowler, Dan Van Bunge, became famous after he got hit for 36 in one over.

#4 Narsingh Deonarine

One wicket that changed everything

I don’t know how many people around the world would identify Narsingh Deonarine but many Indians remember him as the man that got the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in his 200th test match at Mumbai. Deonarine is a middle order batsman for West Indies and bowls part-time. The West Indian stunned everyone by taking Tendulkar’s wicket.

This was so special because there were many records linked to this wicket. Tendulkar was the only cricketer in the world who played 200 test matches and this was the last time he represented India in any format of the game.

Tendulkar made a solid 74 and Deonarine gave the Indian fans a bitter pill to swallow as all their hopes of seeing Tendulkar score a century were shattered before their eyes.

#3 Shaminda Eranga

Eranga has a history of bad outings against India

Rohit Sharma did something unbelievable in 2014 against Sri Lanka in an ODI match at Bengaluru. He scored a mammoth 264 and broke several world records. Eranga was the man bowling to Rohit at the time he surpassed Sehwag’s record of 219 runs. He hit a 6 off Eranga when he was on 216 and moved to 222 setting a new record on his name.

He later scored 250, once again off Eranga and finally ended at 264 after being caught by Jayawardena off Kulasekara.

This was a phenomenal achievement and I don’t think it’s easy to surpass this record anytime soon. Let us also recollect something here. This was not the first time Eranga had a bad memory playing India. During a tri-series final in West Indies, Eranga bowled the final over and gave away 15 runs to Dhoni, eventually leading to Sri Lanka’s defeat in the match.

#2 Charl Langeveldt

Charl Langeveldt was there when Sachin did the unthinkable

Langeveldt had been a come and go bowler for South Africa. He represented the team in 72 ODIs and picked up 100 wickets at an average of 29. He was a decent bowler but unfortunately, didn’t accrue much fame, thanks to the strong lineage of fast bowlers in South Africa. One match that he would never forget is the ODI match played against India at Gwalior.

In this match, Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 200, the first double century in ODIs and Langeveldt was the bowler who bowled the ball off which Tendulkar took at single and reached the 200 mark. This match is something many Indian cricketing fans would never forget and along with would be this South African.

#1 Gareth Batty

Gareth Batty must be a very tired man

With the advent of T20 Cricket, some of the above-mentioned records from ODIs could have a chance of being rewritten by someone somewhere down the line in the future. There is one record that almost will never be broken in cricket. I know you would have already started guessing.

It was the highest individual score in test matches by Brian Lara. The West Indian played a marathon innings against England and scored an unbeaten 400.

Batty was an England spin bowler who represented the national side in just 7 test matches but he got the chance of witnessing the incredible feat. He was there when Lara broke records, one after the other. Lara scored his second triple century in that match and this was a world record then. A little later, he went on to reach 400 once again and Batty bowled the ball of which Lara took the single to complete 400 runs.

Batty may not have had a great career as a cricketer but he was lucky enough to be a part of such an epic test match and should be thankful to the heavens for bowling to a legend like Lara.