Christian blasts record county T20 century

Australian allrounder Dan Christian has blasted the second-fastest century in the history of England's domestic Twenty20 competition, in a knock one teammate rated the best he’d ever seen in the format.

Despite missing almost the entire first half of Nottinghamshire's innings, Christian made up for lost time by belting his second T20 century off just 37 balls to fire the visitors to a 58-run win over Northamptonshire on Friday.

The 35-year-old fell narrowly short of a relatively long-standing English domestic record set by another Australian allrounder, Andrew Symonds, who struck a 34-ball hundred for Kent in 2004.

Image Id: 35E7DA64E7A544A3AAEB129146244FEF Image Caption: Christian took just 37 balls to bring up triple figures // Getty

Christian’s ton was the equal-seventh fastest century in T20 history and the highest ever score by a Nottinghamshire player in the format.

In an outrageous display of power hitting, the right-hander smashed nine sixes and seven fours after arriving at the crease with the Outlaws at 4-81 in the 10th over.

The No.6 crashed three consecutive sixes off spinner Graeme White before taking paceman Nathan Buck's final over for 27.

He finished unbeaten on 113 from just 40 balls to help the Outlaws to a healthy 6-219, with Northamptonshire managing only 161 in reply with Ben Duckett doing best with a 45-ball 88.

Notts quick Luke Fletcher labelled Christian's innings "the best T20 knock I've ever seen" while other teammates were similarly impressed.

"Try and keep that run rate up, that's all I was really thinking,” Christian told Nottinghamshire's website.

"I was lucky enough to get a few out of the middle early and just kept going with it.

"It's always nice to get the personal accolades. I've been feeling like I've been hitting the ball really well … it was nice to get the rewards today in a win."

Christian led the Australian men's Aboriginal side on their commemorative tour of England last month and has stayed on in the United Kingdom to captain Nottinghamshire's T20 side, having led them to last year's title.

He played the most recent of his 35 international limited-overs caps in October in Australia's T20 series in India, but was recently overlooked for a state contract by Victoria for the coming summer.

The Bushrangers have however indicated the door isn't shut on his career with the side.

"I was a bit disappointed but I understand how it is. I'm 35 years old now, I'm no spring chicken," Christian told cricket.com.au recently of his Victoria omission.

"If the opportunity arises, I'll still be available for the Bushrangers for sure. We'll just wait and see how the season pans out. Hopefully I can score some runs in club cricket, take a few wickets and we'll see what happens.

"It's no secret that the Bushrangers list, there's a lot more younger guys on it than there was last year. 

"That's exciting for Victoria as well to have some young guys coming through. Hopefully they can knock the door down and make that (JLT Sheffield) Shield team, and help get that Shield back again and win a few more."

Christian is set to arrive back in Melbourne mid-September and intends to play Premier Cricket with club side Monash Tigers, while he will turn out for the Melbourne Renegades in the KFC Big Bash having recently crossed from the Hobart Hurricanes.

FASTEST T20 CENTURIES

Chris Gayle, 30 balls - Royal Challengers Bangalore v Pune Warriors, 2013

Rishabh Pant, 32 balls - Delhi v Himachal Pradesh, 2018

Andrew Symonds, 34 balls - Kent v Middlesex, 2004

Louis van der Westhuizen - 35 balls - Namibia v Kenya, 2011

DA Miller, 35 balls - South Africa v Bangladesh, 2017

Rohit Sharma, 35 balls - India v Sri Lanka, 2017

Yusuf Pathan, 37 balls - Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians, 2010

Scott Styris, 37 balls - Sussex v Gloucestershire, 2012

Dan Christian, 37 balls - Nottinghamshire v Northamptonshire, 2018