Cape Town, Oct 29 (IANS) Australian wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis etched his name into the history books with a second Test century during the third Test match against South Africa at Newlands here on Thursday.
Inglis, who made a return to the Test Playing XI after nearly a year, scored a 132-ball hundred in the first innings to help the Aussies take a lead.
With the knock, Inglis has become the first Australian cricketer to score multiple centuries across the three formats. This was his second Test ton, with his first one coming against Sri Lanka last year in Sri Lanka.
Only three Aussies have hit multiple tons in T20Is. Apart from Inglis, Glenn Maxwell (5) and Aaron Finch (2) have more than one T20I century, but neither of the two have multiple tons in the other formats.
Maxwell also has four ODI centuries but only one Test ton, which came against India in 2017. Finch has 17 ODI centuries too, but he did not score a Test hundred, and this makes Inglis the only Aussie to have more than one hundred in all three formats of the game.
Inglis made a return to the Playing XI for the series-deciding Test, having last played a Test in the 2025 Ashes at home. He was on the mend from a fractured finger he sustained during the preceding ODI series against South Africa.
As the Aussies rang in four changes, Inglis made a return, along with Cameron Green, Nathan Lyon and Cooper Connolly.
The wicketkeeper batter smashed his century during the third day of the contest as he put the visitors in a strong position in reply to South Africa’s first innings score of 329. He came when the Aussies were 184/3 and saw Green getting dismissed by Simon Harmer on 65.
As the Aussies lost two quick wickets on Day 2 to be at 185/4, Inglis partnered with Alex Carey to put the team in a strong position at the end of the second day. He continued strongly on Day 3 as well, smashing a hundred off 132 balls. He got to his hundred off a reverse sweep off Harmer.
Inglis later fell to Harmer for 102 but had struck 11 fours and two sixes as the Aussies took a lead in the first innings.
–IANS
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