The Cricket World Cup is the biggest and most prestigious tournament in the sport, and a century at this stage is always a special moment for any batter. Once in an ODI World Cup, batters had to grind for a century. However, in the last three World Cups, the trend of grinding and waiting has changed, and now we see batsmen scoring centuries at incredible speeds.
Over the years, there have been a number of batsmen who have scored centuries at breakneck pace in the World Cup. However, in recent years, the record for the fastest century has been broken on several occasions. In the 2023 World Cup, Glenn Maxwell took less than two weeks to break the fastest century record set by Aiden Markram.
In this article, we will take a look at the five fastest centuries in Cricket World Cup history. We will also discuss the batsmen who scored these centuries, the conditions in which they were scored, and the impact they had on the matches.
1. Glenn Maxwell (Australia) – 40 balls vs. Netherlands, 2023
2. Aiden Markram (South Africa) – 49 balls vs. Sri Lanka, 2023
3. Kevin O’Brien (Ireland) – 50 balls vs. England, 2011
4. Glenn Maxwell (Australia) – 51 balls vs. Sri Lanka, 2015
5. AB de Villiers (South Africa) – 52 balls vs. West Indies, 2015
The sky is the limit when Glenn Maxwell is in the mood, and he was definitely in such a kind of mood against the Netherlands at Delhi during the Cricket World Cup in 2023. The 35-year-old Australian all-rounder brought his century in just 40 deliveries, and some of the shots he played were truly outrageous. He completed his half-century in 27 balls, then took only 13 more balls to reach the record-breaking milestone of the fastest century in a World Cup match.
Class and power-hitting perfectly describe the batting style of Aiden Markram. In South Africa’s first World Cup match against Sri Lanka, Markram was in a destructive mood as he notched a 49-ball century, which was the fastest in a World Cup match until two weeks later when Maxwell eclipsed it by a fair margin of 9 balls. Markram played classy shots in the first half of his innings and completed his half-century in 34 balls with 8 fours. Then he went on to hit 6 more fours and 3 sixes in the next 16 balls he faced.
Ireland were underdogs in the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and they surprised everyone with a memorable win over their arch-rivals England. In that match, while chasing 328, Kevin O’Brien scored a 50-ball century. Ireland was in deep trouble when O’Brien came to bat, but he didn’t take much time and scored his half-century in 30 balls, then took only 20 more balls to create history for Irish cricket.
Once again, the name of Glenn Maxwell comes up, who scored a blistering century against Sri Lanka in the 2015 Cricket World Cup. It was already Australia’s day, and Maxwell added the finishing touch he is known for. He completed his half-century in 26 balls, then equally in 25 balls, brought the next 50 runs. It was an exciting innings from the “Big Show” because in the previous match, he was dismissed for 88 runs in 37 balls.
A list of record-breaking batting innings would be incomplete without the name of AB de Villiers. He played a memorable innings against West Indies at the Cricket World Cup in 2015. His 66-ball 166 was an absolute mayhem against the struggling West Indies team. De Villiers brought his half-century in 30 balls, then changed gears and scored the next 50 runs in just 22 balls. His onslaught lasted for a longer period as he smashed 8 sixes and 17 fours in that innings.
