BASSETERRE, St Kitts – Not even a slow start and being struck twice on the helmet could deny Sherfane Rutherford his maiden One Day International century on Sunday.
The 26-year-old left-hander continued his sizzling start to his ODI career by blasting a match-winning 113 from just 80 balls with eight sixes and seven fours, to help guide the West Indies to a convincing five-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the opening ODI at Warner Park.
Rutherford added 99 runs with captain Shai Hope, who made 86, for the fourth wicket to help propel West Indies to 295 for five in pursuit of Bangladesh’s 294 for six.
It was his fifth consecutive score of over 50 in ODIs, becoming the fourth West Indian after Gordon Greenidge, Chris Gayle and Shai Hope to achieve the feat.
In 10 ODIs, Rutherford has scored 443 runs and averages an impressive 73.83.
However, he had to overcome a nervous start and some hostile bowling from fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who twice struck him with short-pitched deliveries, on his way to reaching three figures.
In an interview following his Player-of-the-Match performance, Rutherford said the early challenges he faced helped him to stay focused during his innings.
“It’s always a good feeling scoring your first century. It’s what we all play cricket for and I’m happy I did it for my team today.
“I just took my eyes off the ball and I got hit, but it’s a part of the game. I think it gave me a bit of a boost and helped me to focus more, so at the end of the day I’m willing to take a hit for my team and once I score runs I’m happy,” Rutherford said.
“It was a bit of a tough to start for me as well, but it was a good wicket, so I planned to give myself some time and I knew that once I gave myself some time I could always make up in the end and the conversation with the skipper was to take it deep and he reminded me that I could make it up in the back end.”
Rutherford said while Bangladesh did well to get up to their eventual total, he credited the West Indies’ bowlers for helping to restrict them at the death on a very good batting track.
“I think we bowled well, they batted well as well, but I think we pulled them back at the back end.
“At the end of the day it was our plan to try and restrict them to the lowest total as possible, so it was good for the bowlers and good for us,” Rutherford said.
CMC
