The 35-year-old Irish cricketer Kevin O’Brien created history last Monday (7th October) as he became the first Irish batsman to hit a T20I century.
It was the match between Ireland and Hong Kong in the Oman Pentangular T20I Series at Al Amerat. After Ireland decided to bat first, they scored 208/5 (20 overs) – their third-highest T20I total.
Paul Stirling and Ireland’s most experienced T20I cricketer Kevin O’Brien started their innings and provided the strong 80 runs partnership for the first wicket.
Read More: South Africa Coach Enoch Nkwe Says Pep Guardiola’s Passion For The Game Resonate With Him
While Stirling scored 36 runs – the second-highest knock in that innings, Kevin continued his brilliant batting performance. The right-handed batsman completed his half-century in 29 balls.
Kevin O’Brien completed T20I century in 53 balls
Kevin continued his dominant batting performance and reached the three-figure mark in 53 balls. Before that century, the previous best T20I knock by an Ireland batsman was 91 runs by Paul Stirling against Afghanistan at Dehradun on 23rd February 2019.
Former cricketer Jeremy Bray was the first Irish cricketer to hit a century in international cricket history. He was Ireland’s first batsman to hit an ODI century and that happened in 2007. In the last year, when Ireland were playing their first-ever Test match (against Pakistan), Kevin O’Brien became the first Ireland batsman to hit a Test century.
Now once again Kevin O’Brien has put his name in the history book. This time he became the first batsman from Ireland to hit a T20I century.
Read More: Virat Kohli’s Coach Rajkumar Sharma On Rohit Sharma: The Team Has Found Another Virender Sehwag
First batsmen from Ireland to hit the century in each international format
| Format | Player | Runs scored | Opposition | Venue | Date |
| ODI | Jeremy Bray | 116 | Scotland | Nairobi (Gym) | 30th January 2007 |
| Test | Kevin O’Brien | 118 | Pakistan | Dublin | 14th May 2018 |
| T20I | Kevin O’Brien | 124 | Hong Kong | Al Amerat | 7th October 2019 |
Before losing his wicket in the 20th over, Kevin scored 124 runs off 62 balls (12 fours and 7 sixes).
In reply, Hong Kong managed to score 142/9 (20 overs). Ireland won this match by 66 runs.