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Few achievements ignite an Ashes series quite like a rapid century.
Across more than 140 years of Anglo-Australian rivalry, only a handful of batters have reached three figures at breakneck speed, transforming matches with a burst of audacity and timing.
From Joe Darling at the end of the nineteenth century to Travis Head’s modern-day pyrotechnics, these innings have defined momentum swings, electrified crowds and etched themselves into cricketing folklore.
Here are the five fastest Ashes Test cricket centuries of all time.
1. Adam Gilchrist: 57 balls
- Perth, 2006
The fastest century in Ashes history still belongs to Adam Gilchrist, who tore into England at the WACA in 2006 with a display that pushed the boundaries of Test batting.
Arriving with Australia already in control, after Matthew Hayden’s 92 and Michael Hussey’s 103, Gilchrist unleashed a furious counterattack framed by clean hitting down the ground and brutal cuts and pulls.
His fifty came in just 40 balls and he accelerated further thereafter, bringing up his century from 57 deliveries with a towering blow over midwicket. England had no answer as the left-hander’s onslaught shifted the match from dominance to obliteration.
The innings epitomised his role in reshaping the tempo of Test cricket and remains a high-water mark of explosive batting.
Also read: England Ashes power ranking sees Pope and Brook plummet after the Gabba
2. Travis Head: 69 balls
- Perth, 2025
Travis Head has made a habit of bending Ashes contests to his will, and his 69-ball hundred in Perth in the opening Test of the 2025 series was another blistering example of his ability to seize a moment.
Scheduled to bat down the order at five in a low scoring game, Australia made the inspired move to send Head in as a fourth innings opener.
It was a gamble that paid off handsomely as Head, with the mandate to hit Australia out of trouble, blasted his way to a 69-ball ton as he showed fierce intent through the off-side and a willingness to take on the short ball.
His tempo never dipped, and England’s bowlers struggled to pin him down as he surged to three figures. The innings was a statement of how modern batters, armed with confidence from white-ball cricket, can dictate the rhythm of a Test.
3. Gilbert Jessop: 76 balls
- London, 1902
Batting at number seven, Gilbert Jessop’s legendary 76-ball century at The Oval in 1902 remains one of the most celebrated Ashes knocks.
Facing a formidable Australian attack on a wearing pitch, Jessop strode out with England in deep trouble at 48 for five chasing 263.
What followed was a whirlwind of late-cutting, forcing drives and audacious hooks as the crowd erupted at every boundary. His hundred turned the Test on its head and laid the foundation for one of England’s greatest comeback victories.
More than a century later, Jessop’s feat endures not only for its speed but for the boldness and nerve that defined it in an era long before modern bats were engineered for power.
Although Jessop fell before England claimed the win, they hung in to win by a single wicket.
4. Joe Darling: 85 balls
- Sydney, 1898
Long before the Ashes became a global sporting spectacle, Joe Darling delivered one of its earliest pieces of rapid-fire brilliance. His 85-ball century in Sydney in 1898 showcased a left-hander ahead of his time, willing to drive on the up and punish anything loose.
Darling’s innings stood out in an era of slow scoring and attritional cricket, marking him as a batter with rare aggression and timing.
The knock helped Australia take command of the match and highlighted the value of tempo in Test batting long before the concept of strike-rate was commonplace. It remains one of the defining performances of nineteenth-century Ashes cricket.
5. Travis Head: 85 balls
- Brisbane, 2021
Head’s first Ashes century, an 85-ball burst at the Gabba in 2021, foreshadowed what would follow in later series.
Coming in under pressure with Australia not yet in full control, he counterattacked with crisp strokes square of the wicket and decisive footwork against both pace and spin.
His acceleration after reaching fifty dismantled England’s plans, and by the time he reached his century he had altered the momentum of the entire series.
It announced his arrival as a middle-order force capable of changing matches in a session and signalled the evolution of Australia’s Test batting identity in the early 2020s.
Read next: Was that the greatest spell of bowling in the Ashes ever from Mitchell Starc?
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