After smashing the fastest T20I century by an Australian, Tim David admitted that he never thought he would get the opportunity to reach the three-digit mark, given his position in the lineup.
“I don’t play for records, but certainly I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity to score a hundred,” Tim David said after taking Australia to a six-wicket win against West Indies in the third T20I on Saturday.
“It is your childhood dream to score a hundred for Australia, so that was definitely in the back of my mind. The position I’ve been playing, I’ve played a lot of T20 matches now and obviously I’ve never scored 100, so it was a little bit of foreign territory for me for a little bit. I’m just really thankful I had Mitch Owen out there, who’s scored a couple recently. My younger teammate, but certainly his experience helped me through,” he added.
David came out to bat with Australia at 61 for three in 5.5 overs and struck an unbeaten 128-run patnership with Mitchell Owen for the fifth wicket. The 29-year-old, who has batted at No. 6 for the large part of his T20I career, was slotted at No. 5 only for the sixth time in 56 matches. His unbeaten 37-ball 102 included six fours and 11 sixes.
David, who went past Josh Inglis’ record for the fastest T20I century by an Australian, attributed his blistering knock to preparation.
“I practice it [hitting] a lot and to be honest, a lot of the practice I’ve been doing recently over the past six months has helped a lot. It’s about shot selection and not actually trying to hit it too hard. It felt tonight like I wasn’t trying to hit it too hard and it probably ended up with a good percentage of being able to hit the ball over the ropes,” he said.