Flashback: The batter who scored the 100th century in Test cricket
Test cricket has come a long way and it still remains the ultimate format of the game. The first-ever Test was played between Australia and England in Melbourne way back in the year 1877. Scoring a century in this particular format is always a dream for any batter and one such player registered a special feat by smashing the 100th century in Tests.
Former England cricketer late Jack Sharp achieved a special milestone of scoring the hundredth century in the history of Tests. Sharp got to this feat against arch-rivals Australia at The Oval in the fifth and the final match of the 1909 Ashes series. Visitors Aussies batted first and posted 325 in 89.3 overs in the first innings.
England, in their reply, got bundled out for 352 in 106.4 overs courtesy of a century from Sharp and half-centuries from three other players namely Wilfred Rhodes, C.B. Fry, and Kenneth Hutchings. Jack, batting at no. five scored, 105 in 170 minutes with the help of 11 fours.
The match got drawn with Australia winning the series by a margin of 1-2. By smashing a century, right-handed batter Sharp scripted the century of the century in the oldest format of the game. He appeared in just three Test matches for England and scored 188 runs at an average of 47.00 with one ton and one half-century.
All of his three matches came against the Aussies in the same 1909 series. If Australia’s Charles Bannerman was the first-ever player to hit a century in this format, Jack turned out to be the hundredth centurion. He also played 534 FC matches, scoring 22715 runs with 38 tons and 117 fifties. Born on February 15, 1878, in Hereford, Sharp took his last breath in Liverpool, the United Kingdom on January 28, 1938, as he passed away aged 59y 347d.
