South African opener Ryan Rickelton made history by scoring the first Test century of 2025, reaching the milestone in 135 balls during day one of the second Test against Pakistan. This remarkable achievement came shortly after Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera had claimed his own record by hitting the fastest T20I century against New Zealand, making him the first centurion across all formats in 2025.
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What makes Rickelton’s batting record particularly interesting is his unique ability to convert starts into centuries – he has yet to register a half-century in Test cricket, as every time he’s passed 50 runs, he’s gone on to score a hundred. This was his second Test century, following his maiden hundred against Sri Lanka in December 2024.
The quality of Rickelton’s batting was evident in his remarkably low false shot percentage of just 5.8%. To put this achievement in perspective, among all Test centuries by South African openers since 2007, only Dean Elgar has recorded lower false shot percentages – 3.2% during his 113 at Bloemfontein and 4.8% during his 199 at Potchefstroom against Bangladesh in 2017. This statistic highlights the exceptional technical precision of Rickelton’s innings.
