Australian bowler Sean Abbott has been left astonished by his personal record-breaking exploits after equalling the fastest-ever hundred hit in English T20 cricket.
Key factors:
- Abbott matched the English T20 report set by Andrew Symonds 19 years in the past
- His century got here from simply 34 balls, together with a 30-run over off Kane Richardson
- Abbott’s highest knock in 76 earlier T20 innings had been simply 41
The Surrey participant destroyed Kent’s bowling on the Oval within the T20 Blast competitors, reaching three figures in simply 34 balls on Friday evening to match the competitors report set by his late, nice compatriot Andrew Symonds for Kent in opposition to Middlesex 19 years in the past.
But the modest Abbott, who’s shortly change into a preferred determine with the county champions, paid tribute to one in all Australian cricket’s previous heroes afterwards.
“I do not suppose individuals must be speaking about me and ‘Roy’ in the identical breath,” he stated.
“However that was a whole lot of enjoyable.”
It was an astounding knock which featured 11 sixes and 7 fours, together with 30 coming within the seventeenth over — 6-4-6-4-4-6 — off his luckless Australia tempo colleague Kane Richardson.
Much more remarkably, the 31-year-old Abbott, who rescued a troublesome scenario for Surrey after coming in at 4-64, had beforehand by no means scored a 50 — his finest had been 41 — in 76 T20 innings.
As a substitute, his 110 not out off 41 balls fully remodeled the match, taking Surrey to 5-223 earlier than they went on to restrict Kent to 7-182 and seal a 41-run victory.
“Must have a chat with Moises Henriques (his captain on the Sydney Sixers) again house — possibly I am batting too low,” Abbott stated when requested on Sky TV concerning the transformation from a person who had solely made 51 runs in seven innings in the whole 2022-23 BBL.
“No, we have got a category facet again house on the Sixers, so I can not ask to bat an excessive amount of greater. Simply grateful for this chance.
“This is not going to sink in for some time. First (Blast) sport on the Oval in entrance of a house crowd (of 17,000), I have never batted that properly for some time, good to go on the market and benefit from it. I had somewhat little bit of luck — however, boy, that was a whole lot of enjoyable.”
The luck got here when, after being shunted up the order to quantity six and racing to his half-century off 23 balls, together with three sixes bludgeoned over long-on off George Linde, he obtained dropped by the identical participant off Joey Evison when he had powered on to 87.
However Abbott could not be stopped and reached the landmark with two extra back-to-back sixes off one other Australian, Kent’s 41-year-old veteran Michael Hogan.
Quickest T20 centuries in historical past
Chris Gayle — 30 balls (Royal Challengers Bangalore v Pune Warriors in Bangalore) 2013
Rishabh Pant — 32 balls (Delhi v Himachal Pradesh in Delhi) 2018
Wihan Lubbe — 33 balls (North West v Limpopo in Paarl) 2018
Andrew Symonds — 34 balls (Kent v Middlesex in Maidstone) 2004
Sean Abbott — 34 balls (Surrey v Kent at The Oval) 2023
AAP
Loading
