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There is more than one way to play Test cricket.
Batters can approach it cautiously and protective of their wickets, or they could throw caution to the wind and launch an all-out assault.
Below, we look at the batters who did the latter and reached 100 runs at a brisk pace.
1. Brendon McCullum
- New Zealand
- 54 balls
Let’s be clear, 32/3 is early for a number five batter to walk in. The ball will still be shiny and swinging around. Often, number fives adopt the Chanderpaul approach: dig in and try to bat time.
That’s not what McCullum did against Australia in Christchurch in February 2016.
He dotted on the first ball he faced, just to get a feeling of the ball and the surface, and then drilled a four on the second.
That was the beginning of a wild ride. McCullum launched three sixes and smashed six fours to reach 50 in 34 balls. He needed another 20 balls to reach his century.
2. Viv Richards
- West Indies
- 56 balls
When David Gower sat before the press after England had sunk to a 240-run loss to the West Indies in April 1986, he uttered 10 words: “The ship has sunk and is lying 20 fathoms deep.”
Part of the season for that was because of a torpedo named Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards.
Richards walked out to bat 28 minutes before tea. He faced 11 deliveries and scored 28 runs from them: two sixes, a four, ran a three, added a couple of twos, and nudged the ball for five singles.
Those initial 11 deliveries determined how the great West Indian batter was going to approach the innings.
After tea, Richards escalated matters as he raced to a 35-ball half-century. According to John Embury, one of the bowlers decimated by Richards in April 1986, the West Indies’ star found a new gear after passing the 50-run mark.
He speared a six into a rum bottle in the stands and launched one ball into a nearby prison. Apparently, it’s the same prison where Malcolm Richards, Viv Richards’ father, once worked.
Richards did not face a single dot ball in his stay at the crease.
3. Misbah-ul-Haq
- Pakistan
- 56 balls
One of the drink carriers whispered to Misbah when he was on 80 off 45 balls that the fastest hundred had been scored in 56 deliveries.
A message like that can have one of three effects: send the batter into a panic so much that they deviate from their normal approach, get them overexcited over the prospect of being a record-holder, or what Misbah did. He continued as if he hadn’t heard it.
The result was that he matched Richards’ record. He sent five sixes over the ropes and thrashed 11 fours on his way to an unbeaten 101. It was his second 101 in the match.
4. Adam Gilchrist
- Australia
- 57 balls
Adam Gilchrist and Monty Panesar had a one-on-one battle going while Australia and England were battling for the Ashes urn in 2006.
In the first innings, Gilchrist walked out to bat during a Panesar over, faced three deliveries, and was out on the fourth for a four-ball duck. As fate would have it, Panesar was bowling when he walked out to bat in the second innings.
Gilchrist wielded his bat like a sword as he flayed the spinner left, right, and centre.
He creamed three sixes and four fours on his way to 40 runs from the 17 balls against Panesar. Andrew Flintoff, the England captain for that series, saved Panesar from further mauling when he yanked him out of the bowling attack after a 24-run over at Gilchrist’s hands.
5. Jack Gregory
- Australia
- 67 balls
Gregory had a productive year in 1921. The Australian featured in 15 innings against England at home, then toured England, before closing the year with a series in South Africa.
He scored 665 runs at an average of 51.2. Gregory’s highest score came against South Africa in Johannesburg.
Gregory, who batted in every position from one to nine in the 34 innings he batted for Australia, walked out to bat at number four and launched a blitz.
He raced to a 67-ball century during his brilliant 209-run third-wicket partnership with Herbie Collins. While his 119 was his only century for Australia, it wasn’t his best. Taylor was dropped three times on his way to the milestone.
His 67-ball 100 was a record that stood for 65 years.
6. Shivnarine Chanderpaul
- West Indies
- 69 balls
In 2003, Australia and West Indies came into the Test series on the back of three months of ODIs. So, maybe that was the reason why Chanderpaul broke character in the first Test.
The middle order batter, dispensed of his grinding approach to red-ball cricket and transformed into prime Chris Gayle as he scythed Australia’s bowling attack.
He swung at everything as he raced to a 69-ball century. His swashbuckling approach saved an injured Ridley Jacobs from having to run numerous singles on one leg. The pair added 131 runs for the sixth wicket.
7. David Warner
- Australia
- 69 balls
One of the most destructive Indian batters, Virender Sehwag, must have seen a shades of himself in David Warner. So, in 2009, he sat the then-young Australia star down for a serious chat.
He told Warner that he would make an outstanding Test batter. Warner didn’t believe it at first, but Sehwag pressed on.
Three years later, Sehwag watched from up-close as Warner tore apart India’s bowling attack on his way to a 69-ball Test century. Warner clubbed 13 fours and three towering sixes, including one over long-on to bring up his century.
The left-hander did all this in a single session. He walked out to bat after tea and was unbeaten, with a century, at stumps.
Fastest Test centuries – top 7 summary list
1. Brendon McCullum: 54 balls
2. Viv Richards: 56 balls
3. Misbah-ul-Haq: 56 balls
4. Adam Gilchrist: 57 balls
5. Jack Gregory: 67 balls
6. Shivnarine Chanderpaul: 69 balls
7. David Warner: 69 balls
Read next: Did Chris Gayle get named in this West Indies’ best Test XI of the past 40 years?
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