The slowest Hundreds in test cricket history

The slowest Hundreds in test cricket history

There is a great hype for the fastest hundreds in cricket. Players hitting some of the fastest centuries get immensely huge respect from the fans in no time. And if that fastest ton comes up in a test match inning, the praise gets even flashier.  Test cricket is usually meant to be a slow and steady format of game.  Batsmen consuming a lot of deliveries to get adjusted to the pitch conditions and then carry out a solid start of their inning. It’s been said that slow and steady wins the race. Looking at some of the slowest hundreds in test match history it appears that some batsmen took the phrase to their heart. Though winning is not a guarantee in all cases, these however managed to score the slowest hundreds in test history.

Slowest hundreds in test matches history might seem an unasked for feat but believe me this is not the case always. Often these turtle-paced innings serve a side not some of the fastest ton could have done. At times there are needed some players who could pass the time by just strolling the ball without getting dismissed. In test cricket especially where matches conclude basing on the time period, slowest innings come very handy. And in the process if a batsman can get up to his hundred what could be better than that. The slowest hundreds scorers are not a curse but often the saviors in test matches.

While the fastest test century is a much celebrated phenomenon slowest test tons are certainly less regarded. In fact the fastest test century got highlighted many folds after an unexpected personal achieved the feat a few years back. It was Pakistan test skipper Misbah Ul Haq who broke the world record of fastest test century. Later on the former New Zealand hard hitter Brendon McCullum took the feat with him in his last test match. The point is that unlike fastest test hundreds nobody wants to talk about the slowest ones. Even though they possess great importance at times.

The former Pakistani batsman Mudassar Nazar holds the record of test century with most minutes spent on the crease. While the number of deliveries played by him are not in the record, he spent 557 minutes to get his hundred against England in 1977. The slowest hundreds in test cricket history (by minutes) are as follows.

The slowest Hundreds in test cricket history

Minutes	Batsman	Match	Location	Year
557	Mudassar Nazar	Pakistan v England	Lahore	1977-78
545	DJ McGlew	South Africa v Australia	Durban	1957-58
535	AP Gurusinha	Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe	Harare	1994-95
516	JJ Crowe	New Zealand v Sri Lanka	Colombo (CCC)	1986-87
500	SV Manjrekar	India v Zimbabwe	Harare	1992-93
488	PE Richardson	England v South Africa	Johannesburg	1956-57