Amelia Kerr put up perhaps the greatest all-round performance in the history of ODI cricket, first slamming a world-record 232* and then returning 5-17 as New Zealand swept Ireland 3-0 in their three-match series.

Opening the innings, Kerr had left her career-best ODI score of 81 earlier in the series well behind when she scored the second double-century ever in women’s ODIs and then got past Belinda Clark’s 229*, the best in the format since 1997.

“No, I had no idea. I thought I heard them say stuff on the speaker but I didn’t hear them because everyone was clapping. I had no idea,” said 17-year-old Kerr afterwards.

And no, she had no idea who Clark was either. “I hadn’t heard of her (Clark), but I’ve heard now from the girls … women,” she admitted candidly.

Kerr hit 31 fours and two sixes in her 145-ball innings, and added 295 with Leigh Kasperek (113) for the second wicket.

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“It’s pretty surreal. It was just nice to get the opportunity to open and get some time out in the middle,” said Kerr. “I had to work hard at the start but once I got through (that period) then I got going and then had that good partnership with Leigh, which allowed me to play the way I wanted to play and hit boundaries, because we weren’t losing wickets.”

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Kerr scored her century in 77 balls, and then got the rest of her runs in just 68 balls.

“I didn’t change much. I just wanted to keep batting, put the bad balls away. I was scoring off most balls then. I knew the Powerplay was coming, so I thought once we get to the Powerplay I’ll try and go hard then,” she said.

After the marathon knock, where she carried her bat, Kerr was on the massage table in the dressing room trying to catch a bit of shut-eye. Bowling leg-spin wasn’t on the agenda at all.

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“That’s hard. After my innings, I had a little nap. And went out to field. A bit sore, but it was a good day, so just embraced it and it was good to be out there with the team,” she said.

“I didn’t think I was actually going to bowl today, they would just let me have a rest in the field, standing at slip all day. But I got to have a bowl, which was nice. The pitch was turning, which usually helps me.”

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