QUEENSTOWN - New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson cracked the fastest century in one-day international cricket history on Wednesday as New Zealand thrashed the West Indies by 159 runs in a rain-shortened third ODI. His whirlwind performance in partnership with Jesse Ryder, who smacked the sixth fastest century of all time in that form of the game, took New Zealand to 283-4 in a match reduced to 21 overs each side.
The West Indies then wilted when faced with a daunting run rate of nearly 13.5 an over and could only manage 124-5 in reply. The series is now all square at 1-1 with two matches to play. Anderson -- who finished not out 131 -- took a mere 36 deliveries to reach his century, beating the previous record set by Shahid Afridi, who needed 37 balls to reach three figures playing for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in 1996. Ryder faced 46 deliveries to reach his ton.
The burly Anderson hit 14 sixes, the third highest in an ODI innings behind Rohit Sharma (16) for India against Australia two months ago and Australia's Shane Watson (15) against Bangladesh in 2011. "Some of the batting we saw was once in a lifetime stuff and it was great to watch," New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum while West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo said he was powerless to rein in the batsmen. "It was a fantastic innings both by Anderson and Ryder. There's nothing you can do as a captain and bowler when those bats hit the ball so clean and everything goes their way."
Anderson and Ryder put on 191 for the fourth wicket as they hammered the West Indies attack. After the start of the game was delayed five hours because of the weather, Ryder set the tone for the New Zealand innings when he cracked a boundary from the first ball he faced. The demise of fellow opener Martin Guptill (one) was only a matter of time. He was all at sea against the bounce generated by Jason Holder and after surviving two caught behind appeals there was no mistake with the third.
Brendon McCullum belted 33 off 11 deliveries as New Zealand raced past 50 in just 26 balls and Ross Taylor came and went quickly for nine. That brought Anderson to the wicket to join Ryder in a rollicking partnership for which the West Indies had no answer. Anderson took 20 deliveries to reach his 50, passing the milestone in an over in which he hit four sixes in a merciless attack on the usually tight bowling of spinner Sunil Narine.
In a near chanceless innings he only faced 47 balls for his 131, while Ryder faced 51 balls for his 104 which included five sixes. After New Zealand's outstanding innings, McCullum said he made sure his bowlers raced through their 21 overs to complete the game before the rain returned. "It would have been an injustice to the innings that we saw if we hadn't got a game in the end. So it was straight out get through the overs no matter what we had to resort to."
The West Indies reply was quickly in trouble when Johnson Charles was removed without scoring by the third ball. Llendl Simmons (13) and Kieran Powell (one) fell cheaply to reduce the West Indies to 19-3 in the fourth over. Captain Dwayne Bravo crafted a well-compiled 56 not out and Narsingh Deonarine added 29 as the West Indies abandoned any thought of a run chase and were reconciled to batting out time.

Fastest ODI HUndreds

Batsman    Balls    4s    6s    fixture
C Anderson    36    6    14,    NZ vs WI
S Afridi    37    6    11    Pak v SL
M Boucher    44    8    10    SA v Zim
B. Lara    45    18    4    WI v Ban
S Afridi    45    10    9    Pak v Ind
J Ryder    46    12    5    NZ v WI
S Jayasuriya    48    11    11    SL v Pak
K O'Brien    50    13    6    Ire v Eng
V Kohli    52    8    7    Ind v Aus
S Afridi    53    17    4    Pak v Ban

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:
M Guptill c Ramdin b Holder    1
J Ryder c Miller by Holder    104
B McCullum c Simmons b Narine    33
R Taylor c Powell b Miller    9
C Anderson not out    131
L Ronchi not out    3
EXTRAS: (w2)    2
TOTAL: (4 wkts; 21 overs)    283
FOW: 1-5, 2-56, 3-84, 4-275
BOWLING: Narine 4-0-50-1, Holder 4-0-48-2, Rampaul 3-0-64-0, Miller 4-0-44-1, Bravo 4-0-48-0, Simmons 2-0-29-0
WEST INDIES:
J Charles c Neesham b Mills    0
L Simmons c Milne b McClenaghan    13
C Walton c Milne b Ryder    17
K Powell c Neesham b McClenaghan    1
D Bravo not out    56
N Deonarine c Milne b Neesham    29
D Ramdin not out    1
EXTRAS: (lb5, w2)    7
TOTAL: (5 wkts, 21 overs)    124
FOW: 1-0, 2-17, 3-19, 4-56, 5-112
BOWLING: Mills 2-0-11-1, McClenaghan 2-0-7-2, N. McCullum 5-0-27-0, Ryder 4-0-13-1, Neesham 4-0-21-1, Guptill 2-0-13-0, Milne 2-0-27-0
TOSS: West Indies
UMPIRES: Chris Gaffaney (NZL) Ranmore Martinesz (SRI)
TV UMPIRE: Ian Gould (ENG)
MATCH REFEREE: Chris Broad (ENG)