South Australia batter Jake Fraser-McGurk achieved a historic feat by surpassing the record for the fastest century in List-A cricket, previously held by South African cricket legend AB de Villiers.
Jake made this record in his side's Marsh One Day Cup match against Tasmania, smashing a 29-ball hundred to overtake De Villiers' 31-ball century against West Indies in 2015. It's worth noting that List-A cricket encompasses both domestic and international matches with a format ranging from forty to sixty overs. De Villiers still holds the record for fastest century in a one-day international match, but in the 30-50 over white-ball cricket, which consists of both international and domestic level games, Jake now holds the record. After Tasmania smashed 435/9 in their 50 overs with skipper Jordan Silk (116 in 85 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes), Caleb Jewell (90 in 52 balls, with 14 fours and two sixes) and Macalister Wright (51 in 31 balls, with eight fours and a six) delivering notable contributions, Jake opened up the innings for his side. Jake went berserk from the first ball itself, powering his side to the 50-run mark in 3.2 overs and the 100-run mark in just seven overs. The batter reached his fifty in just 18 balls, with five fours and five sixes, the fastest by an Australian batter in any 50-over cricket. Jake reached his century in just 29 balls, with six fours and 12 sixes. Jake was dismissed for 125 in just 38 balls, with 10 fours and 13 sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 328.94. When he was dismissed, South Australia was 172/1 in just 11.4 overs. Half-centuries did come from Nathan McSweeney (62 in 63 balls with two fours and two sixes), Daniel Drew (52 in 51 balls, with three fours and a six) and Henry Hunt (51 in 47 balls with eight fours), but South Australia was bundled out for 398 runs in 46.4 overs and lost by 37 runs. In fact, the fastest T20I century is by Kushal Malla of Nepal, in 34 balls against Mongolia in the recently-concluded Asian Games, which is slower than that of Jake. So due to that, Jake also holds the record for fastest century in all of white-ball cricket, be it 30-50 over matches or T20 cricket. (ANI)
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