Every cricketer dreams of the day they get to score their first international hundred and, for Guyanese left-hander Sherfane Rutherford, that day was Sunday, December 8 during the first of three One-Day Internationals between the West Indies and Bangladesh at Warner Park in St. Kitts.
The 26-year-old made a career-best 113 off just 80 balls to help the hosts chase down 295 in 47.4 overs to go 1-0 up in the series, aiming to win their second consecutive ODI series after defeating England 2-1 in November.
Rutherford entered proceedings at the fall of Keacy Carty’s wicket in the 22nd over with the score at 94-3 and formed a pair of crucial partnerships with captain Shai Hope and then Justin Greaves.
He and Hope put on 99 for the fourth wicket before he added a further 95 for the fifth wicket with Greaves before he eventually fell in the 47th over for his maiden international century.
“It’s always a good feeling scoring your first century,” Rutherford said in a post-match interview.
“It’s what we all play cricket for and I’m happy that I did it for my team today,” added Rutherford who hit seven fours and eight sixes.
On the partnership with Hope, who made an 88-ball 86, Rutherford said the plan was always to bat deep and make it up in the back end of the innings.
“It was a bit tough to start but it was a good wicket. I planned to give myself some time and once I did that, I could always make up in the end. The conversation with the skipper was to just take it deep,” he said.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Rutherford, however, as he was struck twice on the helmet, once by speedster Nahid Rana and once by Taskin Ahmed, the latter of which caused a cut on his chin.
Nevertheless, Rutherford said those didn’t deter him, in fact, they helped him to lock in even more.
“There was no difficulty. I just took my eyes off the ball and got hit but it’s a part of the game,” he said.
“I think it gave me a bit of a boost and helped me to focus more. At the end of the day, I’m willing to take a hit for my team and once I score runs, I’m happy,” he added.
Sunday’s innings continues a brilliant start to his ODI career for Rutherford, who now has 443 runs in eight innings at an average of 73.83.
Rutherford’s 113 was also his fifth consecutive score of at least 50 in ODIs, joining Gordon Greenidge, Chris Gayle and Shai Hope as the only West Indians to ever achieve that feat.
If he extends it to six in Tuesday’s second game, he will become only the 13th man to ever do that in ODIs.