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Follow UsRoughly a year ago in Antigua against England, Sherfane Rutherford began his ODI career in the most Rutherford fashion imaginable, hammering Gus Atkinson over long-off for a six on the very first ball he faced.
Slotted in at No.6 that day, the left-hander got dismissed for six, adding no more runs to his tally, and that particular innings looked like it could be a trailer of what was to come from Rutherford in ODIs: brute power, big sixes and explosive cameos but with the added risk of volatility.
But a year on, Rutherford’s ODI career has taken a trajectory that absolutely no one saw coming.
Eight innings into his ODI career, the 26-year-old averages an astonishing 73.83 with the bat.
He brought up his maiden ODI ton in the first ODI against Bangladesh in St Kitts on December 8 (Sunday), and, en route to that century, he set a multitude of records.
Rutherford now has 443 runs from his first eight ODI innings - no West Indian batter has scored more after eight hits; not Sir Viv Richards, not Brian Lara.
He has six fifty-plus scores in his first eight innings. Only one other batter in the format’s history has posted as many in their first eight hits, and that’s Jonathan Trott.
It’s a start that’s quite literally come from nowhere, considering Rutherford had all of five fifty-plus scores in 31 List A games before making his ODI debut, with his average reading an ordinary 32.69. He had, in fact, averaged more than 35 in a calendar year in List A cricket only once - in 2023, where he amassed 278 runs @ 46.33 for Guyana, batting predominantly at No.7.
What further adds to this extraordinary start that’s come out of nowhere is this brilliance being exclusively limited to ODIs. Rutherford is a semi-veteran in T20s, having played over 150 games, yet he’s had a torrid time in the shortest format in 2024, averaging 20.1 from 39 innings - his second-lowest in any calendar year and his lowest in four years.
Yet he’s been absolutely tearing it at the ODI level across conditions, opponents and situations, with his last five scores reading 113 off 80 (vs Bangladesh), 54 off 36 (vs England), 50* off 26, 80 off 82 and 74* off 82 (all away in Sri Lanka). He is only the fourth West Indian to hit five consecutive ODI fifties and the first individual to do so batting in the middle-order (at No.4 and No.5).
Most consecutive fifties for West Indies in ODIs
6 - Gordon Greenidge (Dec 1979 - May 1980)
6 - Chris Gayle (Jul 2018 - May 2019)
6 - Shai Hope (Feb 2020 - Mar 2021)
5 - Sherfane Rutherford (Oct 2024 - Present)
What makes Rutherford’s feat arguably the most impressive one in the list is the situations he’s had to tackle. If you’re an opener, you start every innings at 0/0, but that’s never the case when you bat in the middle order. And Rutherford was subject to every kind of situation across these five fifty-plus scores he hit.
In the first ODI against Sri Lanka, the left-hander walked in as early as 13th over, with the score reading 53/4. West Indies’ innings got curtailed to just 38 overs due to rain but the southpaw batted through it, stitching an unbeaten 85-run stand with Roston Chase to take the side to 185/4, with his own score reading 74* off 82 balls.
Chaos unfolded in the second game, where Rutherford was in as early as the sixth over and the Windies were reduced to 58/8 after 15.2 overs, with Sri Lanka’s spinners running riot. But with all hope nearly lost, Rutherford launched a one-man battle and fought fire to fire. He posted 80 off 82 balls as the visitors finished on a respectable 189 all-out.
In the third ODI of the series, once again a rain-curtailed encounter, the left-hander blasted an unbeaten 26-ball 50, with the tourists requiring 195 in 23 overs. As it turned out, West Indies ended up getting over the line.
Rutherford played a similar cameo in Antigua against England, except West Indies were setting a target on this occasion. The hosts were 155/3 in the 31st over when the left-hander walked in; they raced to 234/4 by the 40th over when he got out, with Rutherford hammering 54 off 36 balls.
In the last of the five fifties, meanwhile, against Bangladesh, he went through the gears expertly. After starting off scoring just 19 off his first 29 balls, stabilising the chase with Shai Hope, he hammered 91 off the last 51 balls to romp the Windies home with more than two overs to spare.
Here’s what’s fascinating: it’s not like Rutherford has changed his approach in any way to make his ODI batting tick. His strength is still his strength.
This year, the 26-year-old has hit a whopping 21 sixes in just five ODI innings. Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz is the only batter to have hit more (22) and he’s batted six more times than Rutherford.
And Rutherford has not been sparing anyone, averaging over 60 against every bowler type while striking at over 94 against everyone. He’s hit 13 sixes against spin as compared to eight against pace in 2024, yet he’s striking at 147 against the quicks as opposed to 109 against the tweakers.
Put simply, he’s been unstoppable and has had an answer to everything.
Only time will tell how long this purple patch will go on. For all we know, the ‘fifty’ streak could come to an end in the second ODI against Bangladesh, and Rutherford might slowly start reverting to the mean.
But that will still take nothing away from the fact that the left-hander has produced one of the most underrated runs in modern ODI history.
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