Australian veteran posts his seventh T20 century, moving him to equal-second spot on the all-time list
Klinger tops game's elite with century
Australian Michael Klinger has joined some of the modern greats of the game in posting his seventh Twenty20 century overnight.
Playing for English side Gloucestershire, Klinger slammed six sixes in posting an unbeaten 101 from just 58 balls, contributing more than 58 per cent of his side's total of 5-174.
The 37-year-old's seventh T20 ton moves him to equal second on the list of most hundreds in the shortest form of the game, drawing level with Englishman Luke Wright and former Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum.
Image Id: ADB6305449814281AFCCD99B90818413West Indian powerhouse Chris Gayle in a clear leader in this field having notched a staggering 18 three-figure scores in 20-over cricket. David Warner (six) is the only other man to have scored more than four T20 tons.
Klinger's record of seven hundreds in 142 games is far superior to those of Wright, McCullum and Warner; on average, Klinger posts a century every 20.2 innings, a fastest rate than Wright (a century every 38.8 innings), Warner (39.3) and McCullum (40.8). Unsurprisingly, Gayle leads the way in this regard as well having scored a ton every 16.4 innings.
Of all players to have played more than 50 T20 matches, Klinger's career average of 39.47 from 142 games is third only behind Gayle (39.98 from 296 games) and Indian star Virat Kohli (40.59 from 220).
His efforts last night weren't enough, however, as George Bailey's Hampshire side won a rain-reduced match by 24 runs thanks to an unbeaten 45 from South African Rilee Rossouw.
Image Id: 3C6F5D90513A46CABE9B47F7CC348B7DThe only other completed match on a wet night in England was a seven-over-per-side slog fest between Durham and Leicestershire. Despite a 16-ball fifty from Kiwi Luke Ronchi, the equal-12th fastest in history and the third-fastest on English soil, Durham chased down their victory target of 89 from seven overs with seven wickets and one ball to spare.
The other five matches scheduled to be played last night were washed out.
It's been another record-breaking English season from Klinger, who made his domestic debut at the turn of the century.
The right-hander finally achieved his dream of representing Australia when he played in the three-match Twenty20 international series against Sri Lanka in February, but he's never played a one-day international despite holding an incredible domestic record.
And considering he's never donned Australian gold in the 50-over format, Klinger could, statistically at least, lay claim to being Australia's best one-day batsman to never do so.
His century for Gloucestershire against Kent in May, the 16th of his domestic career, saw him equal the record held by South Africans Barry Richards and Ken McEwan for the most List A centuries among batsmen who have never played an ODI.
Both Richards and McEwan were denied the chance to play international cricket (Richards' four Tests against Australia in 1969-70 aside) by the apartheid-era sanctions placed on South Africa.
Only another apartheid-era Proteas star in Graeme Pollock (one-day batting average of 50.06) and India batsman Abhinav Mukund (50.27) hold higher List A batting averages than Klinger's mark of 49.04 among players to never play an ODI.
Klinger also passed the 7,000-run milestone in one-day cricket this season and his current tally is by far the most by an Australian batsmen to never make the leap from domestic to international 50-over cricket.
Former Tasmania opener Jamie Cox (5,716 List A runs) and Chris Rogers (5,346) are other Australians without an ODI cap to score more than 5,000 runs.
But perhaps the most flattering comparison is the one to Michael Bevan. The original 'finisher' is the only Australian with a higher List A batting average (57.86 from 427 matches) than Klinger's (49.04 from 170 matches).
After close to two decades of toil for Victoria, South Australia and now Western Australia, plus five seasons on the county circuit, Klinger finally received a maiden international berth last summer.
While it came with Australia's Test squad away for the Border-Gavaskar Test series in India, Klinger, who struck 143 runs in the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka, admitted his long-awaited call-up was a hugely significant moment for him.
"I held back the tears to be honest until I spoke to (his wife, Cindy)," he said in February.
"JL (coach Justin Langer) gave me a big hug, and it was hard to keep the tears away after I spoke to her and then I called my brother and my dad and my sister.
"It was a moment that I wasn't sure if it was going to come, and that half an hour when I got to speak to my family I will treasure forever.
"I couldn't ask for anything more.
"It's been 15, 16 years of hard work and it's great to get some reward now."
MOST T20 CENTURIES
Chris Gayle
M: 296 | Runs: 10155 | 100s: 18 | 50s: 61 | Ave: 39.98 | SR: 148.74 | HS: 175*
Michael Klinger
M: 142 | Runs: 4579 | 100s: 7 | 50s: 28 | Ave: 39.47 | SR: 128.04 | HS: 126*
Luke Wright
M: 272 | Runs: 6459 | 100s: 7 | 50s: 32 | Ave: 28.57 | SR: 145.17 | HS: 153*
Brendon McCullum
M: 286 | Runs: 7884 | 100s: 7 | 50s: 40 | Ave: 30.91 | SR: 138.63 | HS: 158*
David Warner
M: 236 | Runs: 7562 | 100s: 6 | 50s: 58 | Ave: 36.00 | SR: 143.46 | HS: 135*