A century in any form of cricket is a big achievement for a batsman. It takes a lot of hard work for a batter to reach the triple-digit mark. Every format comes with a different set of challenges. Test cricket needs the patience and dedication of a batter to score runs. And a test century is always a big landmark for any cricketer.
Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for most test centuries in his career. He scored a total of 51 hundreds. But do you know who holds the record for most test centuries in a year? It is not Sachin Tendulkar. In this article, we will discuss the players with the most test centuries in a year.
Most Centuries in Test in a Calendar Year
| Batter | Year | Mts | 100 | Runs | HS | 50 |
| Mohammad Yousuf (PAK) | 2006 | 11 | 9 | 1788 | 202 | 3 |
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 2006 | 10 | 7 | 1333 | 192 | 4 |
| Viv Richards (WI) | 1976 | 11 | 7 | 1710 | 291 | 5 |
| Aravinda de Silva (SL) | 1997 | 11 | 7 | 1220 | 168 | 2 |
| Sachin Tendulkar (IND) | 2010 | 14 | 7 | 1562 | 214 | 5` |
| Denis Compton (ENG) | 1947 | 9 | 6 | 1159 | 208 | 3 |
| Matthew Hayden (AUS) | 2002 | 11 | 6 | 1160 | 197 | 3 |
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 2003 | 11 | 6 | 1503 | 257 | 4 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) | 2009 | 11 | 6 | 1097 | 162 | 1 |
| David Warner (AUS) | 2014 | 9 | 6 | 1136 | 145 | 3 |
5. Sachin Tendulkar – 7 centuries in 2010
The man with the most test centuries, Sachin Tendulkar, holds the record for the joint-second most test centuries in a year. He played 200 tests, which is the most by anyone, and scored 15921 runs in 51 tests. In 2010, he went on to score seven centuries in 14 tests, with 1562 runs at 78.10 and a best of 214. Apart from seven centuries, he also scored five half-centuries.
4. Aravinda de Silva – 7 centuries in 1997
Former Sri Lankan captain and legend Aravinda de Silva is the only player from his country to feature in the top five. He is also one of those players with seven test centuries in a calendar year. De Silva scored 20 test hundreds in his 18-year-long career, and seven of those came in 1997. In 11 tests, he scored 1220 runs at an average of 76.25 with seven hundreds and two half-centuries.
3. Viv Richards – 7 centuries in 1976
Viv Richards is probably the biggest name that the West Indies produced before 2000. He was a superstar all-rounder that won countless matches for the West Indies across formats. Richards made 24 test centuries with 8,540 runs in 121 matches in his career. He was the first player to score seven test centuries in a year, which he did in 1976. Richards played 11 tests and scored 1710 runs (second most in a year) with 11 centuries and five fifties.
2 .Ricky Ponting – 7 centuries in 2006
Ricky Ponting is the only captain to lead a team to two ODI World Cups (2003 and 2007). Apart from that, he had some remarkable records across formats, which makes him the best captain ever. But apart from his captaincy, he was also among the best batters of his era. Ponting has also hit seven test centuries in a year, which came in 2006. He played 10 games and scored 1333 runs with seven centuries and four half-centuries.
1. Mohammad Yousuf – 9 centuries in 2006
2006 was a record-breaking year, and it saw the record of Viv Richards get broken by Pakistan legend Mohammad Yousuf. He scored the second-most test centuries for Pakistan (24) in the longest format. Yousuf scored 7530 runs in 90 games. But nine of his 24 centuries came in 2006, when he also broke Richard’s record for most test runs (1710) in a year. Yousuf has scored 1788 runs in 11 games at an average of 99.33 with nine centuries and three half-centuries.