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England opener Dawid Malan continued his incredible run this year, joining the elite company of English stars David Gower and Jonny Bairstow to have the joint-most ODI tons in a calendar year for his country.
Malan accomplished this milestone during his side's ICC Cricket World Cup match against Bangladesh at Dharamshala. In the match, Malan was a mixture of fire and ice. He stayed at the crease for 107 balls, smashing 140 runs punctuated with 16 fours and five sixes. After reaching his ton off 91 balls, Malan pressed on the pedal harder to get the next 40 runs in just 16 balls. Now, Gower (in 1983), Bairstow (in 2018) and Malan this year have four ODI tons, the most in a calendar year by an England batter. Malan smashed his sixth ton in the match, becoming the fastest to reach six ODI hundreds in format's history in just 23 innings. He is above Imam-Ul-Haq of Pakistan, who previously held this record (27 innings for his sixth ODI ton). This year in 11 ODIs, he has scored 745 runs at an average of 74.50 and a strike rate of over 100. He has scored four tons and three fifties, with the best score of 140. England posted a massive 364/9 in 50 overs after being put into bat by Bangladesh. Apart from Malan's masterclass, fifties from Joe Root (82 in 68 balls with eight fours and a six) and Jonny Bairstow (52 in 59 balls with eight fours) helped England reach the Himalayan total. Mehedi Hasan (4/71) and Shoriful Islam (3/75) were the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh. (ANI)
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