Namibia's Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton slams fastest-ever T20I ton (33 balls)
Namibia batter Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton has slammed the fastest-ever century in T20 Internationals. His 33-ball ton came against Nepal in a 2024 Nepal T20I Tri-Series match in Kirtipur. Notably, Loftie-Eaton broke the record of Nepal's Kushal Malla, who smashed a 34-ball ton last year. The former's brilliant effort guided Namibia to 206/4 (20). They later won by 20 runs. Here are the stats.
Loftie-Eaton goes past Kushal
As mentioned, Loftie-Eaton went past Nepal's Kushal, who raced to a 34-ball century against Mongolia in the Asian Games last year. The Namibia batter took one less ball than Kushal for this record. Among full-member players, India's Rohit Sharma and South Africa's David Miller have the joint-fastest T20I tons (35 balls). Both players attained this feat two months apart.
A 36-ball 101 for Loftie-Eaton
Namibia had a modest start after electing to bat first. While opener Malan Kruger held his end, Namibia were down to 60/2 after 10 overs. Kruger and Loftie-Eaton then joined forces and added over 100 runs. The latter did the bulk of scoring, having smashed 101 off 36 balls (11 fours and 8 sixes). Kruger returned unbeaten (59) as Namibia reached 206/4 (20).
Another feat for Loftie-Eaton
As per cricket statistician Kausthub Gudipati, Loftie-Eaton now has the joint-highest T20 score by a player coming to bat after 10 overs. He shares this record with his his teammate JP Kotze, who smacked an unbeaten 101 against Botswana in 2019 in this regard.
Loftie-Eaton improves his average
According to Kausthub Gudipati, Loftie-Eaton has the lowest T20I average (15.72) among players with a century in the format. Notably, his T20I career average was 10.70 (in 20 innings) before the Nepal encounter.
A look at his career stats
Loftie-Eaton, a left-handed batter, made his T20I debut in 2021 against Uganda in Windhoek. He featured in the Namibia side that entered the 2021 men's ICC T20 World Cup in Oman and the UAE. As of now, Loftie-Eaton has smashed 283 runs from 33 T20Is at a strike rate of 130.41. The one against Nepal was his maiden 50+ score in the format.
