In the Plunket Shield on Tuesday (December 10), a New Zealand international fell just short of the world record for the slowest first-class century ever.

In the Plunket Shield on Tuesday (December 10), a New Zealand international fell just short of the world record for the slowest first-class century ever.

In the fourth round of fixtures of the 2024-25 Plunket Shield, Northern Districts took on Central Districts at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui from December 7.

Central Districts elected to bowl first, and bowled Northern Districts out for 204 on day one, thanks to a five-wicket haul from William Clark (5-62). They began batting, and reached 96-1 by the end of the day.

On day two, CD made their way to 343-4 as Clark followed up his five-wicket haul with a century (109), and Brad Schmulian scored 108. But the pair fell within 10 runs of each other, and they lost their last six wickets for just 48 runs to be bowled out for 391. ND openers Jeet Raval, capped 24 times by New Zealand, and Henry Cooper saw off the rest of the day, ending at 23-0 in 15 overs.

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On day three (December 9), there were three separate rain delays, totalling nearly two hours in duration. The sides managed to fit in 80 overs of play though, and some stubborn defending from Northern Districts saw them bat the whole day, crawling along at a snail's pace to reach 190-4 in 95 overs.

Raval, who had opened the previous evening, was unbeaten on 64 off 276 balls.

The opener continued his watchful knock on day four, batting the entire first session to go into lunch on 99 not out from 365 deliveries. On the first ball of the second session, he brought up his century with a tight single to mid-on. He was dismissed soon after for 107, but Kristian Clarke (25*) and Neil Wagner (59*) took the side to 362-7 in 173 overs, securing a draw.

Raval's knock totalled 589 minutes in all, and his century took 551 minutes to complete – making it the third-slowest in the history of the game, the slowest on New Zealand soil and the slowest by a player from New Zealand.

Slowest first-class hundreds: Jeet Raval falls six minutes short of world record

The record for the slowest first-class century remains with Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar, who took 557 minutes to reach the mark during his knock of 114 against England in 1977. Former India international Sadagoppan Ramesh fell one minute short of that mark 24 years later, during his 126 for Tamil Nadu against Kerala in the Ranji Trophy.

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Raval has broken the record for the slowest century by a player from New Zealand, which belonged to Jeff Crowe who took 516 minutes to score a century against Sri Lanka in 1987.

The previous slowest century on New Zealand soil was Clive Radley's 158 for New Zealand against England in 1978, a knock which saw him take 487 minutes to reach three figures.

Raval has also broken the Plunket Shield record for the slowest century by nearly an hour and a half, which had stood with Michael Austen – who took 464 minutes to score a century for Otago against Canterbury in 1997.

Name Minutes Team Opposition Venue Year
Mudassar Nazar 557 Pakistan England Lahore 1977
Sadagoppan Ramesh 556 Tamil Nadu Kerala Chennai 2001
Jeet Raval 551 Northern Districts Central Districts Mount Maunganui 2024
Prasanta Mohapatra 550 Orissa Bengal Baripada 1995
Jackie McGlew 545 South Africa Australia Durban 1958
Asanka Gurusinha 535 Sri Lanka Zimbabwe Harare 1994
Sandeep Sharma 530 Himachal Pradesh Railways Dharamsala 2007
Hanif Mohammad 525 Pakistan Marylebone Cricket Club Lahore 1956
Jeff Crowe 516 New Zealand Sri Lanka Colombo 1987
Dheeraj Jadhav 514 Assam Maharashtra Guwahati 2011

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