Cricket: One-dayer offers Black Caps chance of 100 strike rate

Eleven ODI centuries have been scored this year already, including the highest, Martin Guptill's 237 not out against the West Indies in the World Cup quarter-final. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Further pioneering territory awaits New Zealand if they were able to score 30 runs more than balls faced in this morning's fourth one-day international against England.

The figure would take New Zealand's batting strike rate to 100 since January 1. That extraordinary mark has never been sustained across a calendar year and, if it is, would be further testament to the current side's attacking ethos.

New Zealand have hit 99.42 runs per 100 balls this year to follow 93.71 last year; no other year has surpassed 85.

The incumbents have also obliterated the annual ODI record for centuries. Eleven have been scored already, including the highest, Martin Guptill's 237 not out against the West Indies in the World Cup quarter-final. New Zealand's previous best was seven, racked up in 2014, 2011 and 2007.

Further ODIs in the latter half of the year - three against Zimbabwe, five against South Africa and possibly a couple against Sri Lanka - should elicit more.

Once a limited-overs century evoked celebration at its rarity.

However, with six ODI double hundreds and centuries commonplace in the T20 format, their impact in 50-over cricket is diluted.

It is important to draw a correlation between centuries and strike rates. Centuries scored at a relatively low tempo, say 75 or less, can be detrimental because they can be less valuable to innings momentum than a half-century scored at a cadence of 150.

This has been New Zealand's preferred methodology. Centuries do not maketh the innings but, at the right strike rate, they help.

The "nervous nineties" have morphed into the "narcissistic nineties" if players sacrifice deliveries rather than their wicket, particularly in the latter stages, with batsmen to come.

Statistics must be directed towards the benefit of a result rather than individual careers. Only one of New Zealand's 11 centuries - Brendon McCullum's 117 off 99 balls against Sri Lanka in January - came in a losing cause. None were scored at a strike rate of less than 89.

That's why traditional statistics such as averages hold less relevance compared with a situational batting analysis in limited-overs formats.

Further evidence of New Zealand's ODI resurgence is also on the horizon.

They have completed 20 matches this year and won 16 for an 80 per cent winning record.

The team's unassailable best was 1976 when they won three out of three against India and Pakistan. In 2004 they won 19 out of 23 (83 per cent) and in 1989 four out of five (80 per cent).

Maintaining their current form for the remainder of the year could threaten those marks.