Record-breaking Australian batsman Shane Watson said he was just trying to get the best out of himself, rather than chase milestones, as he tore Bangladesh apart in the second one-dayer in Dhaka.
The opener hammered a world-record 15 sixes in his unbeaten 185 off 96 balls as Australia crushed Bangladesh by nine wickets to gain an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
West Indies' Xavier Marshall was the previous record-holder with 12 sixes against Canada in 2008.
"In the end, I'm not comparing myself to anyone. It doesn't worry me if there's someone better than me or ranked higher than me," said man-of-the-match Watson.
"I'm just trying to get the best out of myself I possibly can."
Watson's knock was also the highest by an Australian in one-day internationals, surpassing Matthew Hayden's 181 not out against New Zealand in Hamilton four years ago.
The 29-year-old also had a chance of breaking Hayden's record 66-ball century, the fastest by an Australian in one-dayers.
"I don't know exactly how many balls Hayden faced," said Watson, who took 69 balls to complete his hundred.
"I'm not playing to break records or anything like that. I'm just trying to back myself and if it comes off like it did today then it's brilliant.
"But I'm not going out with any thought of breaking records.
"As I walked off I thought I was close to Matt Hayden. I actually played in the game and got 60 in the game Matt Hayden got 181. It's nice everything came off for me today."
Watson said he tried to go for big shots as he was feeling tired in hot and humid conditions.
"The reason I kept going after reaching 100 is because I was tired and didn't really want to run too much. I was either going to try to hit as many sixes as I could or get out, that was as simple as it was," Watson said.
"It's just one of those days when everything you try comes out of the middle of the bat. A mis-hit goes into the gap or you get dropped. I got to a point where I got pretty tired. It was hot and humid out there."
Watson also scored the most runs (150) in boundaries in a one-day innings, breaking South African Herschelle Gibbs's record of 126.
Former captain Ricky Ponting, who watched from the other end during an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 170, praised his partner.
Ponting was unbeaten on 37 as Australia reached its victory target from only 26 overs.
"(He) made my job easy," Ponting said.
"I just had to get a single to give him the strike. No one expected it to get over that fast.
"I have been lucky to play with some great players, Watto has played some great innings... this was an amazing innings.
"Some of those sixes would have cleared any boundary in the world. It probably won't sink into us for a while how good that was."
-AFP/Reuters
First posted April 12, 2011 06:30:00
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