George Munsey's record-breaking century is the winner of the ESPNcricinfo award for Associate batting performance of the year. More on the awards here
George Munsey
127 not out v Netherlands, Dublin
Over the previous two years, Scotland had asserted their penchant for making waves in ODIs, recording a series of famous wins over Test nations Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and England. Those victories were propelled by centuries from Kyle Coetzer in the first instance and Calum MacLeod in the latter two.
But it had been more than seven years since a Scotland batsman had produced a century in T20I cricket - Richie Berrington's 100 in a win over Bangladesh at the Hague. Munsey rectified that with a stunning display, producing a individual record score while also helping to set a record Scotland team total in an emphatic win over Netherlands.
Key moment
Munsey started slow, managing just four runs off eight balls in comparison to Coetzer, who had raced to 32 off 16 in that time. Though Munsey drew level after ten overs, he was on 58 off 31 balls and Coetzer on 87 off 42 after the 12th. In the following over, Munsey turned on his rocket boosters.
A slog sweep over square leg went for six against Max O'Dowd's part-time spin. A flat-bat thump back over the bowler's head and a full toss dragged over square leg produced consecutive fours. Another slog sweep sailed over cow corner on the fourth ball of the over before a half-tracker was yanked over the rope at long-on. Going around the stumps for the final ball, O'Dowd tried to bowl wide outside off but Munsey showed he was capable of clearing the ropes on the off side too, cracking it high over extra cover for another six. Two more sixes off his next four balls took him to three figures.
The numbers
14 Number of sixes in Munsey's innings. Only Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai has more in a T20I innings. Munsey eclipsed the record for most sixes by an Associate player in an innings, which had been jointly held by three players who struck ten apiece, all in matches played earlier in the summer of 2019.
122 The previous best score by an Associate player in T20Is - made by Babar Hayat of Hong Kong against Oman in the 2016 Asia Cup T20 Qualifier in Bangladesh.
What they said
"This man is a world star and he's just waiting to shine on the global stage […] If he can produce striking like this, who is to say we won't see him on the biggest stages of them all."
- TV match commentator Andrew Leonard after Munsey brought up his century with his 12th six
The closest contenders
JP Kotze, 148 v Hong Kong, WCL Division Two, Windhoek
The burly left-hander's tournament scores read 19, 0, 6 and 10 heading into the final day of round-robin play, with Namibia needing a win to guarantee ODI status. Kotze more than quadrupled his previous output in group play with a stunning demolition that included 15 fours and nine sixes.
Norman Vanua, 54 v Kenya, T20 World Cup Qualifier, Dubai
There may be plenty of other individual scores bigger in Papua New Guinea's T20I history, but few hold such significance. At 19 for 6 after four overs, the island nation appeared on the verge of once again choking away a chance at a maiden T20 World Cup berth before Vanua's innings from No. 8 led a fightback that ensured they secured their ticket to Australia.