New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum broke the world record for the fastest Test century held jointly by his idol Viv Richards yesterday without ever being aware he was about to make cricket history.
McCullum, 34, who is playing his 101st and final Test, struck the ball with brutal brilliance to reach his 12th century from 54 deliveries on the opening day of the second Test against Australia at Hagley Oval.
West Indian Richards set the previous record of 56 balls against England in Antigua in 1986 and the mark was then equalled by Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014.
“I had no idea,” McCullum said after the day’s play. “I was trying to hit every ball for four or six. Viv was my idol growing up so it’s nice to be able to go past him on this occasion. But he was a cracking player, he was an incredible cricketer. I’m almost a little bit of embarrassed to go past him, to be honest.”
McCullum said he knew it was probably going to be his day when he had an “almighty filthy slog” at his second ball which flew over the slips cordon for four. After scoring 39, he then enjoyed a huge slice of luck when he sliced James Pattinson to Mitchell Marsh who took a brilliant, one-handed catch diving to his right in the gully.
Umpire Richard Kettleborough requested a replay which showed Pattinson had bowled a no-ball. “I thought it was four as soon as I hit it,” McCullum said. “They do push the front line a little bit. It was quite a nice reprieve. It probably loosens you up a little bit as well, it just relaxes you a little bit more. You know you’re probably not meant to be out there. You may as well play with a little more freedom.”
McCullum, was greeted by a guard of honour formed by the Australians when he went out to bat with his team already in deep trouble but needing to win to square the two-Test series.
He attacked from the start to reach  82 from 48 balls when Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood came in to bowl.
The first two balls were short, preventing him from scoring. The third was hit over fine-leg for six, the next two went for four and the final delivery was sliced over cover for another boundary to give McCullum the record, which was greeted by a standing ovation from the capacity crowd of 8,000.
“When you are confronted with wickets like that, you know you are going to have to be pretty aggressive,” McCullum concluded. “I think we got quite a bit of luck today.”
When he was joined by the equally belligerent Corey Anderson (72) they put on 179 runs in 110 deliveries. “It was great fun and it was also instrumental in us being able to, hopefully, set the Test match up for us,” McCullum said.
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.
As McCullum pounded the boundaries, the Australian bowlers could only fire the ball down and hope, but when they finally claimed the wicket there was nothing but praise.
Asked what his approach would be in the second innings, which will be his final appearance after 101 Tests, McCullum had just a succinct answer: “Swing hard.”