New Zealand batter Jeet Raval scored his 22nd First Class hundred in 551 balls on Tuesday in the Plunket Shield. (X)
Despite occupying the crease for more than nine hours with his stoic knock, out-of-favour New Zealand batter Jeet Raval missed out on the world record for the slowest First-Class hundred, by seven minutes.
Batting in New Zealand’s Plunket Shield against Central Stags, the Northern Districts opener’s stoicism helped his side to a draw after conceding a 187-run first-innings lead. After falling for only two in the first essay, the left-handed Raval returned to lay out a marathon knock to salvage a draw.
Raval began his innings on Day 2 of the contest on Sunday, entering stumps for four off 45 deliveries and only reached his hundred on Tuesday afternoon at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Raval (107 off 396)was present for 589 of the total 707 minutes his team spent at the crease before finishing on 362/7 in the second innings in 173 overs on Day 4.
Focus and patience! Jeet Raval’s 22nd first-class century came from 396 balls in 9 hours and 49 minutes! Full scorecard + more highlights | https://t.co/2IFjPSmv89📲 #PlunketShield #CricketNation pic.twitter.com/jHEguiy4IP
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) December 10, 2024
The 36-year-old Raval brought up his half-century in 215 deliveries before doubling up to hundred a ball after Lunch on Day 4, reaching triple-figures off his 551st minute at the crease in 366 deliveries. The painstaking knock still missed the mark for the most enduring knock in the record books by only seven minutes, with Pakistan batter Mudassar Nazar’s 557-minute Test hundred against England in 1977 still atop the charts for the slowest First-Class hundred. At the domestic FC level, only former India batter Sadagoppan Ramesh’s 556-minute hundred for Tamil Nadu in 2001 was slower than Raval.
Raval played 24 tests between 2016-2020, scoring over 1000 runs with a hundred. His latest ton was the 22nd of his First-Class career which projects over 9700 runs.
Slowest first-class centuries:
557 minutes – Mudassar Nazar (Pakistan v England), 1977
556 minutes – Sadagoppan Ramesh (Tamil Nadu v Kerala), 2001
551 minutes – Jeet Raval (Northern Districts v Central Districts), 2024
550 minutes – Prasanta Mohapatra (Orissa v Bengal), 1995
