Since the International Cricket Council (ICC) 2015 World Cup (WC) in Australia and New Zealand, the brand of One-Day International (ODI) cricket has changed greatly: teams have been chasing down 300 and 400 totals.
In the last WC, there were three scores of 400-plus; since then there have been five instances where teams have surpassed 400 runs in ODI cricket (excluding warm-ups).
World number one Virat Kohli has scored the most runs since the 2015 World Cup and world number two Rohit Sharma has three double centuries
With Team England setting the trend, being involved in four of those matches, they are the team most confident of reaching 500 runs in ODI cricket. In 2015, a new-era England scored 408-9 against New Zealand at Birmingham. England’s first opponents of the WC, South Africa have also scored 400-plus post the 2015 WC, in a match against India at Mumbai.
The pitches in England have proven a batsman’s paradise especially in white-ball cricket. Since the 2015 WC, 400-plus totals have been scored three times in England, one time in India and on one occasion in the Caribbean.
With the WC staged in England, the batsmen will be looking to take full opportunity of scoring heavy runs. When speaking of batsmen, the first name that comes to mind these days is Virat Kohli, the world number one ranked batsman in ODI and Test cricket.
The modern giant, King Kohli, has 41 ODI centuries and since the 2015 WC, he has been the highest run-getter with 4306 runs at an average of 78.29. His overall record is above all, with an average just below 60 and 10,843 career runs, including 49 centuries in his 227 appearances for India.
The world number two, Rohit Sharma, the only man to score three double centuries in the ODI game is among the many batsmen looking to score big in batting-friendly conditions. Sharma has been the second leading run-scorer since the 2015 WC with 3790 runs at an average of 61.12.
The ever-consistent Joe Root has also been having a fruitful run since the 2015 WC. He has scored the third highest number of runs since that period – 3498 at an average of 58.30. England’s Captain, Eoin Morgan, who is set to make his 200th ODI appearance, completes the top four since the 2015 WC, with 2039 runs at an average of 46.75.
The likes of Steven Smith, David Warner and Aaron Finch are also capable of taking their teams to huge totals. All of the teams in the WC are capable of achieving that 500-run mark with much fire-power; West Indies are the perfect example given a good day they can demolish any bowling attack in the world.
The most recent example came when they played New Zealand in their warm-up match and scored 421 against a bowling line-up that includes the world number two bowler, Trent Boult. With explosive batsmen in the team such as Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis and Andre Russell, the Windies are equally confident as England to reach the 500-run mark in ODIs.
In the 2015 WC, two double centuries were scored; Gayle and Martin Guptill were the batsmen. The latter, Guptill, was also the leading run-scorer in the last WC and shared the same dose against the West Indies in the WC match played at Wellington, New Zealand. The WC will be an exciting event and even double hundreds by batsmen will be on the cards – only eight of them have been scored in the history of the game.
The most recent came from Pakistan WC opener Fakhar Zaman, who smashed 210 in July 2018 against Zimbabwe. Additionally, most teams have realised that 300-350 are par totals and the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup will certainly see batsmen reach greater heights.
