Ireland's Simi Singh | Cricket Ireland / Twitter
Ireland's Simi Singh | Cricket Ireland / Twitter

Simi Singh, an Irish cricketer who was born in Punjab in India, has gone on to create a new world record. He has become the first cricketer to score a hundred at the No. eight position in ODI cricket history.

The ODI series between Ireland and South Africa have seen a lot of excitement. After the first match of the series was washed out, Ireland stunned the Proteas in the second match by winning their first-ever ODI battle against them. In the third ODI of the series, No. 8 batsman Simi Singh went on to create a world record but in a lost cause.

Simi Singh creates world record for Ireland
Simi Singh creates world record for Ireland | Photo Credit: AP

Simi Singh Smashes Century Coming On To Bat When Ireland Was Reeling At 92/6

The Punjab-born Simi Singh smashed a stunning century against South Africa as he came in to bat after Lorcan Tucker was dismissed by Andile Phehlukwayo for just one run. Ireland was reeling at 92 for 6 in the 19th over when Simi Singh came on to bat in the mammoth chase of 347 runs.

The spin-bowling allrounder looked unfazed facing a highly proficient and experienced bowling attack consisting of Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi.  He shared a 104 run partnership with Curtis Campher but ran out of partners.

Cricket Ireland
Cricket Ireland

Simi Singh did his best in taking Ireland closer to the difficult target but he had little to no help from the other end. Other than Curtis Campher (54 of 54), no batsman even managed to touch the 30-run mark in the chase. Simi Singh remained unbeaten on 100 off 91 balls, scoring 14 boundaries in the process, as Ireland was bundled out for 276/10.

Earlier, Kenya’s Thomas Odoyo held the record of scoring the most amount of runs at the No. 8 position in a single ODI inning. Thomas Odoyo had registered 84 runs in a match against Bangladesh in 2006. While a century has been scored at the No. 7 position, no player at No. 8 or below had scored an ODI ton in history before.

Janneman Malan Scores 177 Off 169 Balls And Wins Both MOM And MOS

South Africa’s Janneman Malan seems destined to join the bandwagon of superstars of South Africa. The opening batsman smashed a breathtaking knock of 177 runs from 169 balls with the help of 16 four and 6 sixes.

Janneman Malan, playing his 7th ODI has now aggregated a whopping 483 runs averaging a staggering 120.75. The 177 against Ireland was Janneman Malan’s second ODI century after an unbeaten 129 against Australia in his 2nd ODI. He has also maintained a healthy strike rate in his career so far, scoring runs at 94.34.

Janneman Malan
Janneman Malan. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Janneman Malan deservingly was named the player of the match and series and if it wasn’t for him, Simi Singh’s century might not have gone in vain. The 3-match series now concludes with both Ireland and South Africa winning one game apiece.

South Africa overpowered Ireland by 70 runs in the third one-day international at Malahide on Friday to end the series all level at 1-1. Ireland was eyeing their first ODI campaign success against a top-eight nation after a 43-run win in the 2nd ODI put them 1-0 up following a washed-out opener. But Janneman Malan’s career-best 177 not out was the centrepiece of the Proteas’ imposing 346-4 on Friday.

Together with Quinton de Kock, who made 120, Janneman Malan shared a first-wicket partnership of 225.

SA vs IRE scores:
South Africa 346-4, 50 overs (J Malan 177 no, Q de Kock 120), Ireland 276, 47.1 overs (Simi Singh 100 no, C Campher 54; T Shamsi 3-46, A Phehlukwayo 3-56)