Last checked: 3 November 2026.
AB de Villiers holds the record for the fastest century in men’s One Day International cricket, reaching 100 from 31 balls against West Indies in Johannesburg on 18 January 2015. Corey Anderson’s 36-ball hundred and Shahid Afridi’s 37-ball century follow in the leading group. The measurement is balls needed to reach a hundred, rather than the total deliveries faced during the completed innings.
A fast century can change a match before the fielding captain has time to reorganise. Yet record lists can be confusing: some mix ODIs with domestic one-day matches, while others show only one innings per player. This guide keeps those distinctions clear and explains what the numbers actually tell you.
Fastest centuries in ODI cricket: the leading record list
The table covers the ten quickest men’s ODI hundreds in the ACS record table checked for this article. Repeat appearances are allowed because this is an innings list, not a ranking of ten different batters. Equal ball counts receive equal ranks. It is a leading-record list, not a catalogue of every ODI century ever scored.
| Rank | Batter | Balls to 100 | Opponent | Season/year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AB de Villiers | 31 | West Indies | 2014–15 |
| 2 | Corey Anderson | 36 | West Indies | 2013–14 |
| 3 | Shahid Afridi | 37 | Sri Lanka | 1996–97 |
| 4 | Glenn Maxwell | 40 | Netherlands | 2023–24 |
| 5 | Asif Khan | 41 | Nepal | 2022–23 |
| 6 | Mark Boucher | 44 | Zimbabwe | 2006–07 |
| 7= | Brian Lara | 45 | Bangladesh | 1999–2000 |
| 7= | Shahid Afridi | 45 | India | 2004–05 |
| 9= | Jesse Ryder | 46 | West Indies | 2013–14 |
| 9= | Jos Buttler | 46 | Pakistan | 2015–16 |
Source: Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians: ODI fastest hundreds. The source includes further entries beyond the ten shown here.
AB de Villiers: the 31-ball benchmark
De Villiers turned a late-innings opportunity into a remarkable display of shot selection. His hundred arrived in 31 balls, but his innings continued to 149 from 44 deliveries. That distinction matters: describing it as a 44-ball century would confuse the final scorecard with the point at which he reached three figures.
His ability to score around the ground made conventional defensive fields difficult to use. A bowler could not simply protect one boundary and expect the scoring to stop. The innings remains a useful illustration of how range, timing and placement can be as important as brute force. Guinness World Records documents the 31-ball milestone.
Corey Anderson and Shahid Afridi: earlier milestones
Anderson’s 36-ball century against West Indies moved the record forward before de Villiers lowered it again. Afridi’s 37-ball hundred against Sri Lanka had already shown that an ODI century did not need a long settling-in period. Read together, these milestones show a progression in what attacking batters could achieve, rather than a reason to dismiss earlier generations.
Comparisons across eras still need care. Pitch conditions, field restrictions, bat design, boundary dimensions and the stage of the innings all influence scoring opportunities. Balls faced is an objective ranking measure, but it is not a complete description of how difficult an innings was. A record table provides the starting point; the match circumstances provide the explanation.
Maxwell and Asif Khan: different stages, similar impact
Maxwell’s 40-ball century against Netherlands places a World Cup performance among the quickest hundreds in the format. Tournament pressure gives that innings a different setting from an ordinary bilateral match, although both count equally in the ODI record category. A century remains eligible because of the match’s recognised status, not the size of its television audience.
Asif Khan’s 41-ball hundred for the UAE also demonstrates why a complete view of ODI cricket must include teams outside the most frequently televised contests. Associate cricket can produce performances that belong near the top of global records. The ICC’s report on Asif’s innings provides contemporary context; its ranking reflects the date it was written, before later entries changed the order.
Why one batter can appear more than once
Afridi appears twice in the table because two separate innings qualify. Removing his second entry would turn the list into a different exercise: identifying the fastest hundred by each player. Neither method is inherently wrong, but the title and table must say which method is being used. The same principle applies to high scores, wicket hauls and partnership records.
Ties also deserve clear handling. A 45-ball hundred does not become faster than another 45-ball hundred merely because one happened earlier. The shared ranking preserves the measurement. Further comparisons can examine final score, strike rate or match situation, but those should be additional columns rather than an unexplained change to the order.
ODI centuries versus List A and T20 records
An ODI is an international match granted that status. List A cricket is a broader classification that includes qualifying domestic one-day competitions as well as ODIs. Therefore, the fastest List A century and the fastest ODI century can belong to different players. A domestic achievement should not be relabelled as an international record simply because both matches use a white ball.
T20 cricket is a separate format again. A 20-over hundred can be extraordinarily quick without entering an ODI table. Before comparing two records, check the format, whether the match had recognised status, and whether the reported number refers to the century milestone or the entire innings. These simple checks prevent many misleading comparisons.
How to read a fast-century scorecard
Start with the final runs and balls, then find the recorded balls-to-hundred figure. Count neither wides nor no-ball extras as deliveries faced by the batter unless the scoring laws require the particular ball to be recorded that way. For a published record, use a recognised statistics source rather than attempting to reconstruct a milestone from an incomplete highlight clip.
Next, look at the innings phase and team situation. A batter arriving with wickets in hand can take risks differently from someone rebuilding after early dismissals. Boundaries explain part of the scoring, while singles and twos show how well the batter kept the innings moving between big shots. A century’s speed and its match value are related, but they are not identical.
Frequently asked questions
Who scored the fastest ODI century? AB de Villiers, who reached 100 from 31 balls against West Indies in 2015, leads the men’s ODI list checked here.
Is the final innings ball count the century ball count? No. A batter can reach 100 and continue batting. Use the milestone figure when comparing fastest hundreds.
Are women’s records included? No. This article explicitly covers men’s ODIs. Women’s ODI records should be researched and presented as their own clearly labelled list.
Why are some older articles ranked differently? A later innings may have entered the list, or the writer may have used a different scope. Check the source date and inclusion rules.
Keep exploring cricket records
For the bowling side of international cricket, read Jasprit Bumrah’s career statistics. To understand the different priorities of long-format cricket, see the World Test Championship points-table guide. A clear record is useful; knowing how it was measured makes it much more meaningful.