the fastest Century in T20 - Richard Levi

At Hamilton, history of sorts was created by this youngster who took the Cricketing World by storm -  it was  Richard Levi, playing only his second international match, all the way, hitting  the most sixes in a Twenty20 innings(13) on his way to the fastest hundred off 45 balls, and made New Zealand's good total of 173 pale in comparison.  In the process he broke Chris Gayle’s record.

Now much will be spoken and written about the bloomer IPL Managers did when this lad with a base price of $50,000  was ignored during the auctions held in Bangalore, on February 4, 2012.  Frankly, the Teams had not done much of home work – else this Cape Cobra Opener at his price should have been a gift – now perhaps Pune Warriors who were not part of the earlier auction could still eye for him.  Now it is written that his reputation has been awesome and his  strike rate is all over 150. 

The different sized arenas are being spoken much now and this one at Seddon Park, Hamilton, New Zealand is stated to be having small boundaries ! – Richard Levi was playing only his second international match and he hit 13 sixes on his way to the fastest hundred off 45 balls -  Actually you have to read this as the fastest in this format – read the later part for the actual statistics.   Richard Levi joins Chris Gayle, Brendon Mccullum, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Suresh Raina and Mahela Jayawardene – in the list of Century makers in T20s.

file photo courtesy : www.cricinfo.com

Be it anywhere  – a century in T20 is considered great and a target of 175 is good enough to defend !Levi  reportedly had a lucky reprieve in the  first over,  top edging a sweep.  Levi’s  50 came off 25 balls with  a solitary single on the off side.    His next fifty runs came even quicker - off 20 deliveries - and Levi broke Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum's 50-ball record for the fastest T20 century.  NZ had 9 sixers and 15 boundaries whilst South Africa on Levi rampage had 10 boundaries and 13 sixes all by Levi.  So a new Champion gets added to that list of awesome hitters !

The fastest 100 in Test Cricket stands in the name of Isaav Vivian Alexander Richards – a century off 56 balls made at St Johns Antigua against England in 1985-86; followed by Adam Gilchrist (57 balls)’ JM Gregory (67 in 1921-22); Shivnaraine Chanderpaul (yes) (69); David Warner (69) against India at Perth recently.  For India, it that of Kapil Dev (74) against Sri Lanka at Kanpur in 1986-87 and Azharuddin (74) at Calcutta against South Africa.

But the fastest Century in Cricket is the record that stands in One dayers !!

At Singapore way back on 2^nd April 1996, Sanath Jayasuriya created history by hitting a century in Singer Cup against Pakistan in 48 balls – which was returned back in Oct 1996 by Shahid Afridi at Nairobi slicing 11 balls off that effort – hitting a century off 37 balls.  Thus the fastest century in International Cricket is a century off 37 balls (Shahid Afridi).  The toppers in ODI format are Afridi (37); Boucher (44); Lara (45); Afridi again (45); Jayasuriya (48), Kevin O Brien (of Ireland against England in WC off 50 balls); AB De Villiers (58); Virender Sehwag (60)…………

With regards – S. Sampathkumar