Irish cricketer O'Brien is a firestarter

Know of a better way of announcing yourself on the world stage? In a World Cup full of big stars, it was Kevin O’Brien, a 26-year-old Irishman with pink and blond hair, who stole all the headlines.

Faced with the impossible task of overhauling England’s mammoth total of 327 in a group clash and with his side tottering at 111-5, the beefy Irishman played the innings of his life in front of a raucous crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on March 2.

A 100 runs off 50 balls in any form of the game is a huge achievement. To do so against the Ashes-winning England, who had just days before stunned favourites India, made O’Brien’s knock extra special.

Those who witnessed it claim it to be one of the greatest ever knocks in a World Cup, right alongside Kapil Dev’s 175 against Zimbabwe in 1983.

The all-rounder, who hammered six sixes and 13 fours on his way to 113, was understandably shocked with the brutality that he meted out to England’s bowlers. But he did try to make light of it at a post-match conference. “It’s a pretty small ground with a quick outfield so if you pierced the ball through the infield it was either two or four. It helped that I was hitting the ball pretty cleanly as well,” he was quoted as saying.

“I just went out to try and be positive. I’ve just backed my own ability to go out there and just hit it as hard as I can.”

O’Brien has a degree in marketing and plies his trade for the Railway Union Club in Dublin. The nearest he’s ever got to top-flight cricket outside Ireland is a short stint with English county side Nottinghamshire in 2009.

He comes from a family of cricketers – his father Brendan was a first-class cricketer and his older brother Niall keeps wickets for Ireland now.

Ireland’s unlikely victory over England earned O’Brien comparisons with Ray Houghton, the Irish midfielder who scored famously against the English at the European Championship in 1988.

His captain William Porterfield, speaking at the post-match briefing, had no hesitation in calling it the best in World Cup history. “It is the fastest in World Cup cricket, so that says everything. To come in at 111 for five with just 25 overs left and needing 329 to knock them off with balls to spare was superb.”

The fact that the innings was played out in India, home of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), bodes well for O’Brien. On pitches that favour attacking batsmen and with crowds that get right behind heavy-hitters, O’Brien could be an ideal fit. The Mumbai Indians know this better than anyone else – Kieron Pollard was a huge crowd-puller for them last year.

Fastest hundreds in ODIs

Shahid Afridi: in 37 balls against Sri Lanka, 1996
Mark Boucher: in 44 against Zimbabwe, 2006
Brian Lara: in 45 against Bangladesh, 1999
Shahid Afridi: in 45 against India, 2005
Sanath Jayasuriya: in 48 against Pakistan, 1996
Kevin O’ Brien: in 50 against England, 2011