Chad Bowes (Source – BlackCaps)
New Zealand’s Chad Bowes wrote history today, hitting the fastest men’s List A double-century for Canterbury against Otago in the Ford Trophy. He achieved the feat in just 103 deliveries and was dismissed on a score of 205 off 110 deliveries.
It is worth noting that the record for the fastest list double century was previously held by Travis Head and N Jagadeesan, as both players took 114 deliveries to achieve the feat. Head hit the double ton for South Australia against Queensland in the 2021-22 Marsh Cup.
On the other hand, Jagadeesan scored 277 runs in 141 deliveries against Arunachal Pradesh in the 2022 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Interestingly, the clash against Otago was Bowes’ 100th List A match. In the clash, he hit 27 fours and seven sixes, helping his side post a total of 343 runs in the first innings.
Bowes’ knock of 205 runs was his career best in List A cricket; his high score before the double ton was 126 runs. As for the game, after posting 343 runs in the first innings, Canterbury bundled out Otago for 103 to register a 240-run win.
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It might sink in over the next day or two: Bowes
Furthermore, after the game, the 32-year-old was asked about his thought process after the double ton. Bowes revealed that it had not sunk in yet what he had achieved and that it could take a few days for him to register it.
“It might sink in over the next day or two, but obviously a great day here at Hagley and a good occasion to do something special. These things happen naturally, and organically. You don’t plan for it or try to do it, so I’m glad it was my day. Probably not [hit he ball] consistently that well, so it was nice to get most of them out of the middle and hit it around the park,” Bowes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“It started off really nicely so I just kept going and it was working so I didn’t try to rein it in too much and just kept the foot on the gas,” he added.