On this day in 2004 – Dwayne Smith smashes the fastest Test debut century

Imagine a 20-year old boy on debut smashing an attacking hundred that too against a formidable bowling line-up containing the likes of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel on a Day-5 pitch. It might sound a hyperbole but this was exactly the debutant Dwayne Smith triumphed on this day back in 2004.

Not only was it the fastest Test century on debut but was also a match-saving innings which helped West Indies to escape a third consecutive loss of the series. The match was played at The Newlands, Cape Town where the hosts elected to bat first and posted a gigantic first innings total of 532. In response, West Indies had their skipper Brian Lara and opening batsman Chris Gayle scoring tons (115 & 116) which aided them to a total of 427.

With a lead of little over 100, South Africa amassed a second innings score of 353-3 d which included an imposing third-wicket partnership of 251 between Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis. By entering the last day with a daunting total of 441 to chase, West Indies barely looked settled for a draw.

The blazing century

By the time Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan both departed West Indies were 224-4 and that’s when the debutant came out to bat for his second innings. Being a batsman who is very much ironclad when it comes to scoring runs on the on-side, Dwayne Smith straight away gave his response when he was tested by Makhaya Ntini’s bouncer.

On this day in 2004, Dwayne Smith scored a century on his Test Debut in 93 balls which was then the fastest test 100 on debut.

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) January 6, 2014

Soon came Smith’s profusion towards the leg side and the mid-wicket area, when he amassed boundaries against the bowling of Paul Adams. His 52-ball fifty was well fetched when he came down the wicket to hit a six. The counter-attack became more effective when the trio of South African pacers who tried to get a nick were all driven by Dwayne Smith in the air and down the ground.

Later on, Smith’s counter-attack(106*) turned out to be an integral save as it helped West Indies from a clean sweep when they lost the fourth Test match.

Although Dwayne Smith did have a dazzling start to his Test career, he later on only played nine more Test matches. Apart from this match-saving hundred, his next best score came out as 42 against Bangladesh in 2004.