‘Felt embarrassed while breaking Viv’s record’

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christchurch — Having set the record for the fastest century in Test cricket at the Hagley Oval on Saturday, veteran New Zealand star Brendon McCullum said he almost felt “embarrassed” while going past the previous milestone set by his idol Viv Richards.

Walking in when New Zealand were in trouble at 32/3 on the opening day of the second Test against Australia, McCullum smashed 100 runs off 54 deliveries to pull the hosts out of trouble. McCullum, who completed his century with a boundary, scored 145 off 79 balls before Nathan Lyon pulled off a superb catch off James Pattinson’s bowling to send him back to the pavilion.

McCullum thus went past the previous mark set by West Indies legend Viv Richards, who had taken 56 balls to reach triple figures against England at St John’s, Antigua, in the 1985-86 season. It is a fitting swansong for the 34-yearold Kiwi, who has announced that he will retire after this Test.

“I was trying to hit every ball for four or six. I wasn’t aware of the record but very respectful of all those who’ve held it before. It’d be nice to win the Test match, that’d be the most important thing,” McCullum told the media after the end of the day’s play.

“Viv Richards was my idol growing up. It’s nice to be able to go past him but jeez, he was a cracking player, an incredible cricketer. I’m almost a bit embarrassed to go past him, to be honest. Hopefully he enjoyed a bit of the ‘stroke-making’, we’ll call it,” he added.

Balls Richards had taken to reach triple figures

against England

When asked when he felt that it could be his day the Kiwi captain said, “Probably second ball when I had an almighty, filthy slog and it went over the slips cordon for four. When you’re confronted with wickets like that you know you’re going to have to be pretty aggressive and need some luck, and we got quite a bit of luck. That partnership between Corey [Anderson] and I was great fun but also instrumental for us to hopefully set the Test match up.”

“I’ve been on the other side many times and you walk off and think ‘jeez if I’d reined it in a little bit who knows what would have happened’. On that wicket the feedback from the boys was that at any stage the ball could have your name on it. I tried to be as positive as I possibly could and hoped things would roll our way.”

“When Corey came out he played aggressively and we started to get some momentum. We were able to knock them off that difficult length at the top of off stump. If you’re just trying to hang in there on that wicket, around the top of off stump, you’re in big trouble. It’s nice when things come off,” he added. —