Flashback: The fastest Test double century?

In 2002, Nathan Astle took the cricket fans by surprise with one of the most entertaining innings in Tests and he went on to break a bunch of records in the process. In the first Test at Christchurch, Astle struck the fastest Test double century in the history of the game in the fourth innings but ended up on the losing side despite that.

New Zealand opted to bowl first after winning the toss and Nasser Hussain’s century took England to 228 in the first innings. In reply, New Zealand tumbled for just 147 with Daniel Vettori top-scoring for with a 42-run knock as Matthew Hoggard ran through the Kiwi’s batting line-up with a seven-wicket haul.

In the third innings, England got to a massive 468/6 in their innings and declared after Graham Thorpe reached a fantastic unbeaten 200 while Andrew Flintoff scored 137. In the final innings, a target of 550 was set to win the game for the hosts, and it looked like a huge task on hands for New Zealand to save the Test from there on.

However, Mark Richardson scored a 76 at the top of the order and he provided good support to Nathan Astle who started to put on a show with the bat. The right-hander reached his century in no time and smashed the bowlers to different parts of the ground. He scored the bulk of the runs while the other batters looked to provide support, and reached his double century in just 153 balls, which still remains the fastest in terms of balls.

Astle finished with 222 and set up a 118-run partnership for the tenth wicket with Chris Cairns. He hit 28 fours and 11 sixes at the end of the knock and had a stunning strike rate of 132 after facing 168 deliveries. It was an innings that would happen once in a blue moon and the fans thoroughly enjoyed the knock from the all-rounder.