Richard Levi slams fastest T20 century

Opening batsman Richard Levi smashed fastest international T20 century century off 45 balls as South Africa beat New Zealand by eight wickets to level their Twenty20 series in Hamilton on Sunday.

Cricket Live scorecard

Levi blasted a world record 13 sixes as he scored 117 not out to help South Africa chase down New Zealand’s 173 for four with four overs to spare.

West Indies opener Chris Gayle had held the previous record for sixes in a Twenty20 international with 10, while Gayle and Brendon McCullum had shared the record for fastest century, both scored century from 50 balls.

“It was good fun. Every shot I played seemed to come off,” Levi said.

“The leg-side boundary on (one) side of the wicket is fairly short so I was trying to target it.”

New Zealand captain McCullum said, “We thought we had a chance.

“We would have liked up around that 190-200 target but when someone comes and plays an innings like that there’s not much you can do, so hats off to him.

“We weren’t allowed to bowl well. I thought Richard played an unbelievable innings.

“It didn’t matter what our bowlers did they couldn’t pull it back. They tried but some days you’re beaten to the punch and that was the case today.”

The final match of the Twenty20 series is on Wednesday at Eden Park in Auckland.

Catch all the live cricket scores at cricandcric.com

---