Flashback: The batsman with the most centuries in first-class cricket

Every cricket fan certainly knows that it is Sachin Tendulkar who holds the record for most centuries in international cricket. He scored 100 tons in his career and is also the leading run-scorer across all formats. But do you know, who has scored the most hundreds in first-class cricket ever? The answer is Jack Hobbs, who smashed 199 centuries in his first-class career.

The former English cricketer played in 834 matches and scored 61760 runs at an average of 50.70. His career span was from 1905 to 1934 during which he played for a total of three teams. Apart from 199 centuries, he also hit 273 fifties in his career. His highest score in the Tests was during his triple century in which he scored 316 runs.

? 61,760 runs, including 199 centuries – more than any other batsman in first-class cricket
? 5410 Test runs, including 15 centuries#OnThisDay in 1882, cricket’s most prolific red-ball batsman Sir Jack Hobbs was born ? pic.twitter.com/1TeqTfnLTP

— ICC (@ICC) December 16, 2020

Hobbs made his Test debut for England in 1908 against Australia in the Melbourne Test. In the very first innings of his Test debut, Hobbs played a brilliant knock of 83 runs with the help of 8 fours to power the team total to 382 in response to Australia’s score of 266. England won this game eventually by 1 wicket with Hobbs scoring 28 runs while chasing 282 runs in the fourth innings.

Jack Hobbs played most of his first-class matches for the county team, Surrey. He also represented Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram’s XI in his career. For England, he played a total of 61 Test matches, in which he scored 5410 runs at an average of 56.94. Hobbs smashed 15 hundreds and 28 half-centuries in his Test career with a high score of 211.

In terms of most centuries in first-class cricket, Hobbs was very much ahead of the other players in the record tally. After him, Patsy Hendren stands at the second spot with 170 tons in 833 matches. He scored 57611 runs in his career at an average of 50.80. In terms of most runs in the first-class career, he is at the third spot after Jack Hobbs and Frank Woolley.