List of batsmen who have scored 100 centuries in first-class cricket
Encyclopedia
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, a batsman is said to have scored a century
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
when they score 100 or more runs
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
without being dismissed. In first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
, the highest form of the game below international level
International Cricket
International Cricket is a cricket video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was only released in Australia in 1992. Developed by Melbourne-based Beam Software, it was the only cricket game released for the NES. There were no attempts to release a cricket video game to the North...
, a total of 25 players have achieved the feat on a hundred or more occasions.
The first cricketer to achieve the feat was W. G. Grace
W. G. Grace
William Gilbert Grace, MRCS, LRCP was an English amateur cricketer who is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest players of all time, having a special significance in terms of his importance to the development of the sport...
, who completed his hundredth century in 1895. Grace remains the only batsman to have achieved the feat and finish with a batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
below 40.
The English County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
has historically always been the first-class competition in which the most matches are played per season, hence the most conducive competition to prolific runscoring. Of the 25 men to have scored 100 first-class centuries, all have been either natively English or English-qualified except:
- Donald BradmanDonald BradmanSir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...
(Australia) - Zaheer AbbasZaheer AbbasSyed Zaheer Abbas Kirmani , popularly known as Zaheer Abbas, is a former Pakistani cricketer, regarded as one of the finest batsman produced by that country. He is widely known as the "Asian Bradman", a reference to former Australian great Sir Donald Bradman...
(Pakistan) - Glenn TurnerGlenn TurnerGlenn Maitland Turner played cricket for New Zealand and was one of the country's best and most prolific batsmen. He is the current head of the New Zealand Cricket selection panel....
(New Zealand) - Viv RichardsViv RichardsSir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, KNH, OBE is a former West Indian cricketer. Better known by his second name, Vivian or, more popularly, simply as Viv or King Viv Richards was voted one of the five Cricketers of the Century in 2000, by a 100-member panel of experts, along with Sir Donald...
(West Indies)
Zaheer Abbas (Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
), Turner (Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
) and Richards (Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
) all had substantial county careers as overseas players; Bradman, the first non-English batsman to achieve the feat, therefore remains the only batsman to have done so despite never having played for an English county side.
Of those on the list, only Mark Ramprakash of Surrey is still playing first class cricket. As he has finished the 2010 season as county cricket's leading run-getter and with another 5 centuries it is highly conceivable that he might increase his tally.
Modern greats Sachin Tendulkar (99 international hundreds) and Ricky Ponting (73) are the only men still playing who have a realistic chance of getting 100 hundreds. However, they are 38yrs and 36yrs old respectively, and as these days they play mostly Test cricket it is most unlikely that they will be able to make the magical mark. Interestingly, neither have made a test hundred at Lords.
Batsmen with a century of centuries
- Note: this list uses the figures accepted by the Wisden Cricketers' AlmanackWisden Cricketers' AlmanackWisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
. For details on the difference between these figures and those used by other sources, see Variations in first-class cricket statisticsVariations in first-class cricket statisticsVariations in first-class cricket statistics have come about because there is no official view of the status of cricket matches played before 1947. As a result, historians and statisticians have compiled differing lists of matches that they recognise as first-class. The problem is significant where...
.
Key
- 100's denotes how many centuriesCentury (cricket)In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
the batsman scored in first-class cricket. - Nation denotes the side for which the batsman played Test cricket; the number following indicates the number of centuries scored in Test cricket (in bold) plus the number of other first-class centuries scored for the national side.
- 100th denotes the season in which the batsman scored his one-hundredth century in first-class cricket.
- ItH denotes how many innings it took the batsman to reach his hundredth century in first-class cricket.
- Inns denotes how many innings the batsman played.
- Runs denotes the number of runs scored by the batsman in his first-class career.
- Ave denotes the batsman's career batting averageBatting averageBatting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
. - ♠ denotes the batsman scored their hundredth century in a Test matchTest cricketTest cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
. - † denotes the batsman is still playing first-class cricket, and hence their career figures are likely to change.
| Rank | 100's | Player | Nation (100's) | County (100's) | 100th | ItH | Career | Inns | Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement... | Ave Batting average Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :... | Surrey Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions... 1923 |
821 |
1905–1934 |
1,315 |
61,237 |
50.65 |
| |
170 |
|
(+1) |
Middlesex |
Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the... 1928–29 |
740 |
1907–1938 |
1,300 |
57,611 |
50.80 |
| |
167 |
|
(22+4) |
Gloucestershire |
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators.... (113) 1935 |
680 |
1923–1950 |
1,005 |
50,551 |
56.10 |
| |
153 |
|
|
Hampshire |
Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it... (138) 1927 |
892 |
1905–1936 |
1,340 |
55,061 |
47.67 |
| |
151 |
♠ |
(22+3) |
Yorkshire |
Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure.... 1977 |
645 |
1962–1986 |
1,014 |
48,426 |
56.83 |
| |
149 |
|
(16+2) |
Yorkshire |
Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure.... 1932 |
700 |
1919–1945 |
1,088 |
50,138 |
51.95 |
| |
145 |
|
(+3) |
Kent |
Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent... 1929 |
1,031 |
1906–1938 |
1,532 |
58,969 |
40.75 |
| |
136 |
|
|
Worcestershire |
Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire... (106) 1998 |
574 |
1985–2008 |
871 |
41,112 |
52.23 |
| |
129 |
|
(19+1) |
Yorkshire |
Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure.... 1951 |
619 |
1934–1960 |
814 |
40,140 |
55.51 |
| 10 |
128 |
|
(20) |
Essex |
Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games... (94) 1992–93 |
820 |
1973–2000 |
990 |
44,846 |
49.01 |
| 11 |
126 |
|
(+2) |
Gloucestershire |
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators.... (49) 1895 |
1,113 |
1865–1908 |
1,493 |
54,896 |
39.55 |
| 12 |
123 |
|
(17) |
Middlesex |
Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the... 1952 |
552 |
1936–1964 |
839 |
38,942 |
51.85 |
| 13 |
122 |
|
(11) |
Gloucestershire |
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators.... (50) Worcestershire Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire... (27) 1964 |
940 |
1948–1972 |
1,223 |
47,793 |
44.91 |
| 14 |
117 |
|
(29+36) |
— |
1947–48 |
295 |
1927–1949 |
338 |
28,067 |
95.14 |
| 15 |
114 |
|
(24+23) |
Somerset |
Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset... (47) Glamorgan Glamorgan County Cricket Club Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County... (10) 1988–89 |
658 |
1971–1993 |
796 |
36,212 |
49.40 |
| 16 |
113 |
† |
(+3) |
Middlesex |
Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the... Surrey Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions... (60) 2008 |
676 |
1987–2010 |
701 |
33,244 |
54.32 |
| 17 |
108 |
Zaheer Abbas |
Zaheer Abbas Syed Zaheer Abbas Kirmani , popularly known as Zaheer Abbas, is a former Pakistani cricketer, regarded as one of the finest batsman produced by that country. He is widely known as the "Asian Bradman", a reference to former Australian great Sir Donald Bradman... ♠ (12+17) |
Gloucestershire |
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators.... (49) 1982–83 |
658 |
1965–1987 |
768 |
34,843 |
51.54 |
| 18= |
107 |
|
|
Surrey |
Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions... 1935 |
871 |
1911–1938 |
1,000 |
41,284 |
44.82 |
| 18= |
107 |
|
(22+1) |
Kent |
Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent... 1973 |
1,035 |
1950–1976 |
1,130 |
42,719 |
42.89 |
| 20 |
104 |
|
|
Surrey |
Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions... 1913 |
1,076 |
1893–1914 |
1,138 |
43,551 |
41.79 |
| 21= |
103 |
|
(+9) |
Worcestershire |
Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire... (72) 1982 |
779 |
1964–1983 |
792 |
34,346 |
49.70 |
| 21= |
103 |
|
(12) |
Surrey |
Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions... 1977 |
945 |
1956–1978 |
979 |
39,790 |
45.47 |
| 23= |
102 |
|
(+4) |
Kent |
Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent... 1950 |
916 |
1926–1951 |
951 |
37,248 |
43.51 |
| 23= |
102 |
|
(+1) |
Lancashire |
Lancashire County Cricket Club Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then... (90) 1934 |
919 |
1909–1936 |
961 |
38,874 |
45.46 |
| 23= |
102 |
|
(11+1) |
Warwickshire |
Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor... (78) 1986 |
1,081 |
1960–1987 |
1,139 |
43,423 |
42.86 |
| |
|---|