Brendon McCullum belted the fastest century the world has seen on Saturday as he thrashed the Australian bowling in a landmark innings to celebrate his final Test match.
At the end of his explosive 145 run innings, the popular New Zealand captain felt a mixture of pride in what he had achieved and embarrassment at breaking a record set by his childhood hero Viv Richards.
With a stream of sixes and fours, McCullum brought up his 100 in just 54 deliveries, two fewer than the previous record of 56 achieved by West Indies’ great Richards 30 years ago and Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq in 2014.With New Zealand fighting to save the series after losing the first Test, McCullum’s aggression had set his side up for a first innings 370 and Australia were 57-1 at the end of the first day.
The 34-year-old, who retires from international cricket at the end of this Test, said that when he went to the middle on a seaming wicket, and with New Zealand in trouble at 32-3, he felt attack would be the best form of defence.
“I had no idea about that record,” McCullum told a news conference after scoring 145 in New Zealand’s 370 all out after they had been reduced to 32 for three in the 20th over on a lively pitch. “I was trying to hit every ball for four or six. “He was my idol growing up. I’m almost embarrassed to go past him to be honest but hopefully he enjoyed a little bit of the stroke making.” There were 21 fours and four sixes in McCullum’s innings with the first six setting a new world record for total Test sixes, overtaking Australian Adam Gilchrist, who hit 100.
