Slowest Centuries in Test Cricket
Cricket world is always been known for some magnificent performances by the players and some amazing records they have achieved in the same process. Still, there have been times when the same players get to achieve some records which they really want to forget for the rest of their playing careers. One of the same records is the slowest century in test cricket which none of the players would ever like to break in the near future.
Although test cricket is more about patience, skills, and temperament, you can’t really expect a player to play a T20 kind of innings in the longer version of the cricket. Moreover, it only matters until it laid a big impact on the overall outcome of a given match. Well, that may be a big point of argument and without getting into it further, let us present you a list of 5 slowest centuries in Test history by balls.
Slowest Centuries in Test Cricket Inning-wise
1. Mudassar Nazar (Pakistan)
Number of balls faced for a century: 419
It was during the first match of the series in 1977 between Pakistan and England when England won the toss and elected to bowl on a tricky wicket of Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium. Pakistan went into trouble when they lost few quick wickets and the scorecard showed only 49 runs. It was then when Mudassar Nazar held on to a crucial partnership along with Haroon Rasheed and they both played a crucial role in taking their team’s score above 400.
Still one of the biggest highlights of the match was the century made by Nazar which he achieved in 419 balls and that is still the slowest century in terms of balls by any of the players in the Test match cricket. Although it was the need of the hour for Nazar to hold on for some good time with Rasheed in order to take his team away from trouble, he still took too much time in doing that. This was the reason this match ended in a draw as even after bowling out the English team for 288 runs, Pakistan didn’t have enough time left to make them come to bat again and try winning the match in the process.
Similar Stories
2. Sanjay Manjrekar (India)
Number of balls faced for a century: 397
This was India’s only test match on the Zimbabwe tour that they played in the year 1992 and after getting to bat first, Zimbabwe put on a mammoth total on the board, thanks to the Brilliant century by Dave Houghton in the process. Coming into bat, the Indian team lost some early wickets, and one time they lost 5 wickets for just 101 runs. Batting at Number 3, Sanjay Manjrekar brought them out of the danger zone with his crucial 104 runs where he put on some crucial partnerships with Kapil Dev and Kiran more at the bottom.
Still, this innings made him stood on the second spot of the slowest century’s scored in the history of test cricket. Manjrekar scored his century in 397 balls and we believe that his innings were quite justified against the conditions and situation that he played in. Eventually, the match ended in a draw and Manjrekar drew a lot of criticism for the innings played by him against a low tier team like Zimbabwe. Moreover, the Indian team found it really hard to perform with names like Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, and others in the list.
3. Clive Radley (England)
Number of balls faced for a century: 396
England was touring New Zealand in the year 1978 and this was the 3rd test of the series where the visitors decided to bowl first after winning the toss and despite some challenging knocks by GP Howarth and G Edwards, New Zealand was bundled out for a score of 315 runs at their own backyard. Coming on to bat, England did have a good start with the half-century by Geoffrey Boycott but the real show began after him and the other opener Randall got out to Collinge and Hadlee respectively.
Clive Radley, who came into bat at number 3 and played a sublime knock of 158 runs to take his team to a decent score of 429 runs in the process. Still, he took 396 balls for the same and that was something which puts him into the third spot of the slowest test centuries by balls in test cricket.
4. Jimmy Adams (West Indies)
Number of balls faced for a century: 365
Jimmy Adams has been one of the most renowned names in the West Indian cricket for a good number of years. Moreover, he has been roped into the team after the Golden era of Marshall and Ambrose. That was the time when the West Indian cricket was really struggling and the team was losing to even some of the minnows in the world of cricket.
Jimmy Adams has been appointed as the captain for the west indies team within the start of the 200 seasons and under his captaincy, he did take the team to some good success in the next few matches. This was the same time when he makes them win consecutive series victory over Zimbabwe and Pakistan and during one of the test matches against Zimbabwe, he scored a century in 365 balls. Still, this didn’t cost them much as the West Indies team crushed Zimbabwe by a big margin in the same match and won the series alongside.
Similar Stories
5. Thilan Samaraweera (Sri Lanka)
Number of balls faced for a century: 345
It was the England tour of Srilanka in the year 2003-04 which saw both the teams fighting for the supremacy in the test cricket and Srilanka, just like always, had an upper hand with their spin masters Muralitharan, Herath and Samarveera upfront. Srilanka eventually won the match quite easily but this match would also be remembered for the slow century scored by Samaraweera in the process.
Samaraweera scored his century in 345 balls which made him sit at the 5th spot in our list for the slowest centuries by balls in Test cricket till now.
