Adam Gilchrist Photo © CricInfo

On February 23, during the 1st Test match (no. 1590) between Australia and South Africa at Johannesburg, Australian wicketkeeper/batsman Adam Gilchrist smashed a stunning unconquered 204* to help lift his team to a gigantic total of 652 for 7, shattering all sorts of records in the process.

Gilchrist's double-ton was the fifth by any wicketkeeper in Test cricket. Imtiaz Ahmed, Taslim Arif, Brendon Kuruppu and Andy Flower complete the famous five. However, the best still remains, the unbeaten 232 by Zimbabwe's Andy Flower.

Playing his 29th Test, it was Gilchrist's fifth hundred and he also bettered his personal best of 152 - made against England at Edgbaston in 2001. He also improved the highest score by an Australian wicketkeeper - registered by Ian Healy (161 not out against West Indies at Brisbane in 1996-97).

Gilchrist's double-hundred came off just 212 deliveries, and is the fastest-known in terms of balls faced in the history of Test cricket. The previous-quickest was Ian Botham's against India at The Oval in 1982, which came off 220 balls. Interestingly, Don Bradman reached 200 in 214 minutes at Headingley in 1930, but the number of balls he faced was not recorded.

Gilchrist, in the mean time, along with Damien Martyn added 317 for the sixth-wicket - second highest stand for the sixth wicket in Test history, behind Jack Fingleton and Don Bradman's 346 against England at the MCG in 1936-37, and the fourth-highest against South Africa for any wicket.

It will be interesting to have a look at the list of all the 110 centuries scored by wicketkeepers so far in Test cricket. On rechecking my database I found that there have also been some instances when a player acting as an emergency wicketkeeper scored a century in a Test match, so I have updated this article accordingly.

All hundreds by wicketkeeper's in Test cricket (110)

Wicketkeeper	Score	Vs	Test	Venue	Year
A Flower (Zim)	232*	Ind	2nd	Nagpur	2000
Taslim Arif (Pak)	210*	Aus	2nd	Faisalabad	1980
Imtiaz Ahmed (Pak)	209	NZ	2nd	Lahore	1955
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	204*	SA	1st	Johannesburg	2002
DSBP Kuruppu (SL)	201*	NZ	1st	Colombo (CCC)	1987
A Flower (Zim)	199*	SA	1st	Harare	2001
BK Kunderan (Ind)	192	Eng	1st	Chennai	1964
A Flower (Zim)	183*	Ind	1st	Delhi	2000
DT Lindsay (SA)	182	Aus	1st	Johannesburg	1966
IDS Smith (NZ)	173	Ind	3rd	Auckland	1990
AJ Stewart (Eng)	173	NZ	1st	Auckland	1997
CL Walcott (WI)	168*	Eng	2nd	Lord's	1950
AJ Stewart (Eng)	164	SA	3rd	Old Trafford	1998
IA Healy (Aus)	161*	WI	1st	Brisbane	1996
A Flower (Zim)	156	Pak	1st	Harare	1995
CL Walcott (WI)	152	Ind	1st	Delhi	1948
WK Lees (NZ)	152	Pak	3rd	Karachi	1976
NR Mongia (Ind)	152	Aus	1st	Delhi	1996
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	152	Eng	1st	Edgbaston	2001
Rashid Latif (Pak)	150	WI	1st	Sharjah	2002
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	149*	Pak	2nd	Hobart	1999
LEG Ames (Eng)	149	WI	4th	Kingston	1930
LEG Ames (Eng)	148*	SA	5th	The Oval	1935
A Flower (Zim)	142	SA	1st	Harare	2001
K Sangakkara (SL)	140	WI	1st	Galle	2001
PJL Dujon (WI)	139	Aus	1st	Perth	1984
LEG Ames (Eng)	137	NZ	1st	Lord's	1931
DT Lindsay (SA)	137	Aus	3rd	Durban	1967
Imtiaz Ahmed (Pak)	135	Ind	4th	Chennai	1961
APE Knott (Eng)	135	Aus	3rd	Trent Bridge	1977
H Wood (Eng)	134*	SA	1st	Cape Town	1892
JHB Waite (SA)	134	Aus	3rd	Durban	1958
IA Healy (Aus)	134	Eng	1st	Brisbane	1998
CJ Richards (Eng)	133	Aus	2nd	Perth	1986
RS Kaluwitharana (SL)	132*	Aus	1st	Colombo (SSC)	1992
RW Marsh (Aus)	132	NZ	3rd	Adelaide	1974
DT Lindsay (SA)	131	Aus	4th	Johannesburg	1967
PJL Dujon (WI)	130	Aus	2nd	Port-of-Spain	1984
A Flower (Zim)	129	SL	2nd	Harare	1999
RC Russell (Eng)	128*	Aus	4th	Old Trafford	1989
K Sangakkara (SL)	128	Zim	1st	Colombo (SSC)	2001
LEG Ames (Eng)	126	WI	4th	Kingston	1935
WW Wade (SA)	125	Eng	5th	Port Elizabeth	1949
MV Boucher (SA)	125	Zim	1st	Harare	1999
AJ Stewart (Eng)	124*	Zim	1st	Lord's	2000
RC Russell (Eng)	124	Ind	2nd	Lord's	1996
CC Depeiza (WI)	122	Aus	4th	Bridgetown	1955
Imtiaz Ahmed (Pak)	122	WI	3rd	Kingston	1958
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	122	Ind	1st	Mumbai	2001
FM Engineer (Ind)	121	Eng	5th	Mumbai	1973
LEG Ames (Eng)	120	Aus	2nd	Lord's	1934
WB Phillips (Aus)	120	WI	3rd	Bridgetown	1984
VL Manjrekar (Ind)	118	WI	5th	Kingston	1953
RW Marsh (Aus)	118	Pak	1st	Adelaide	1972
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	118	NZ	1st	Brisbane	2001
Moin Khan (Pak)	117*	SL	3rd	Sialkot	1995
APE Knott (Eng)	116	Pak	1st	Edgbaston	1971
APE Knott (Eng)	116	WI	4th	Headingley	1976
HP Tillakaratne (SL)	116	Zim	3rd	Harare	1994
Moin Khan (Pak)	115*	Aus	3rd	Lahore	1994
PW Sherwell (SA)	115	Eng	1st	Lord's	1907
LEG Ames (Eng)	115	SA	2nd	Cape Town	1938
JHB Waite (SA)	115	Aus	1st	Johannesburg	1957
A Flower (Zim)	115	Ind	1st	Delhi	1993
A Flower (Zim)	114*	BD	2nd	Chittagong	2001
IDS Smith (NZ)	113*	Eng	3rd	Auckland	1984
IA Healy (Aus)	113*	NZ	1st	Perth	1993
A Flower (Zim)	113*	WI	1st	Port-of-Spain	2000
RD Jacobs (WI)	113*	SA	3rd	Bridgetown	2001
JHB Waite (SA)	113	Eng	3rd	Old Trafford	1955
JT Murray (Eng)	112	WI	5th	The Oval	1966
A Flower (Zim)	112	Eng	1st	Bulawayo	1996
SAR Silva (SL)	111	Ind	2nd	Colombo (RPS)	1985
RW Marsh (Aus)	110*	Eng	1st	Melbourne	1977
PJL Dujon (WI)	110	Ind	5th	St. John's	1983
AC Parore (NZ)	110	Aus	3rd	Perth	2001
FM Engineer (Ind)	109	WI	3rd	Chennai	1967
DJ Richardson (SA)	109	NZ	3rd	Cape Town	1995
JM Parks (Eng)	108*	SA	1st	Durban	1964
CL Walcott (WI)	108	Ind	3rd	Calcutta	1948
FCM Alexander (WI)	108	Aus	3rd	Sydney	1961
MV Boucher (SA)	108	Eng	3rd	Durban	1999
APE Knott (Eng)	106*	Aus	5th	Adelaide	1975
PJL Dujon (WI)	106*	Pak	2nd	Port-of-Spain	1988
A Flower (Zim)	105*	SL	2nd	Colombo (SSC)	1998
K Sangakkara (SL)	105*	Ind	1st	Galle	2001
LEG Ames (Eng)	105	WI	2nd	Port-of-Spain	1930
I Barrow (WI)	105	Eng	2nd	Old Trafford	1933
Moin Khan (Pak)	105	Eng	2nd	Headingley	1996
AJ Stewart (Eng)	105	WI	3rd	Old Trafford	2000
TG Evans (Eng)	104	WI	1st	Old Trafford	1950
TG Evans (Eng)	104	Ind	2nd	Lord's	1952
LEG Ames (Eng)	103	NZ	1st	Christchurch	1933
RS Kaluwitharana (SL)	103	NZ	1st	Dunedin	1997
SAR Silva (SL)	102*	Eng	1st	Lord's	1984
IA Healy (Aus)	102*	Eng	1st	Old Trafford	1993
SMH Kirmani (Ind)	102	Eng	1st	Mumbai	1984
JM Parks (Eng)	101*	WI	5th	Port-of-Spain	1960
SMH Kirmani (Ind)	101*	Aus	6th	Mumbai	1979
JR Murray (WI)	101*	NZ	2nd	Wellington	1995
AJ Stewart (Eng)	101*	Zim	2nd	Harare	1996
JHB Waite (SA)	101	NZ	2nd	Johannesburg	1961
APE Knott (Eng)	101	NZ	2nd	Auckland	1971
PJL Dujon (WI)	101	Eng	4th	Old Trafford	1984
AC Parore (NZ)	100*	WI	1st	Christchurch	1995
A Flower (Zim)	100*	Pak	1st	Bulawayo	1998
BK Kunderan (Ind)	100	Eng	4th	Delhi	1964
MV Boucher (SA)	100	WI	5th	Centurian	1999
RS Kaluwitharana (SL)	100	Pak	3rd	Lahore	1999
D Dasgupta (Ind)	100	Eng	1st	Mohali	2001

- All data updated to 27.02.2002

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