The achievement of hitting ODI cricket’s first double ton belongs to Australian women’s team cricketer Belinda Clark. Clark scaled this cricketing Everest exactly 20 years ago on this date in 1997. Aussies had begun their tournament with comfortable wins over South Africa and Pakistan and captain Belinda Clark was desperate to get some time in the middle ahead of the matches against stronger opposition like England, India and New Zealand.
At the toss, the coin fell in Clark’s favour and she had no hesitation in choosing to bat first. Clark cruised past her century and was determined to keep going. While Lisa Keightley (60) and Karen Rolton (64) both fell shortly after passing their half-century,.
Although not a lot of boundaries were being hit,
the runs were flowing for the Australians as the Indian sun began to bake the uniquely-shaped Bandra Cricket Club oval and those unlucky enough to be in the middle. Clark withstood the oppressive heat and battled on without error to face the first and the final balls of the innings. She finished on 229 not out from 155 balls, with a staggering 141 runs coming in non-boundaries. Australia scored more than 400 on the board and bowled out Denmark cheaply.
Clark held the record for the highest individual score in limited-overs internationals for nearly 17 years before Indian batsman Rohit Sharma eclipsed it by smashing a record 264 against Sri Lanka in a home ODI in 2014. Belinda Clark is also the only Australian to score a double century in ODI both men and women included.
Her contribution to Australian cricket has been immortalized through the Belinda Clark Medal – which is awarded annually to the most outstanding Australian female cricketer of the season. She was awarded the Wisden’s Australian Cricketer of the Year in 1998 – the first-ever recipient of the award
