Internet Desk: Brendon McCullum created history at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch against Australia hitting a century off 54 balls, the fastest by any Test batsman breaking the previous records of Sir Viv Richards and Misbah-ul-haq , both of them scored in 56 balls. Brendon came to the crease when New Zealand were in a little difficult position losing 3 quick wickets for just 32 runs. McCullum launched an immediate counterattack in the lead-up to lunch. On resumption he stepped things up further in the company of a similarly fearless Corey Anderson, who supported him well with 72 runs and spanked Josh Hazlewood over wide mid-off to reach his century.
“The record is something you’re immensely proud of but of course you don’t set out to achieve it,” McCullum said. “I managed to ride my luck all the way through and we’re in a pretty strong position at the end of day one.”
The century partnership for the fifth wicket between McCullum and Anderson, from 57 balls, was the fastest in test history, beating the stand for the 10th wicket between New Zealand’s Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns against England in 2002. The McCullum-Anderson partnership of 179 came at the staggering rate of 9.76 runs per over.
Most of Test cricket’s fastest hundreds have been compiled in circumstances that heavily favoured batsman, whether it be the pitch or the match scenario. Not so this time, as McCullum and Anderson overcame the obstacles of a lively pitch, a dominant Australian attack and a day one scenario that would traditionally have called for dogged defence. Vitally, an outstanding catch by Mitchell Marsh when McCullum had made 39 was meaningless when the replay showed it as a no-ball from Pattinson as he had overstepped. From there on, he went to score 145 runs from 79 balls thrashing 21 fours and 6 sixes before getting caught to Lyon off Pattinson. McCullum also created a record of hitting most number sixes (106) in test cricket history. McCullum has still has one more innings to go in this match. Let’s see what more sparkles are waiting for all cricket fans in the 2nd innings of the Test match.
Courtesy: PTI