South African Marco Marais blasts fastest triple hundred, breaks 96-year record

A South African batsman has shattered a record which stood for 96 years. Marco Marais has blasted the fastest triple century in first-class cricket and called it "unreal".

The 24-year-old Marais blazed his way to an unbeaten 300 off 191 balls, bettering the mark by 30 balls. He scored the record-breaking runs for Border against Eastern Province in a three-day South African provincial tournament.

Cricket South Africa's (CSA) website reported that Marais achieved this incredible feat last weekend. It went on to add that the previous record, in terms of balls faced, off 221 deliveries, was set in 1921 by an Australian, against Nottinghamshire.

"Denis Compton made 300 for MCC against North-Eastern Transvaal in 181 minutes in 1948/49 but the number of balls faced was not recorded. The England batsman went in at 61 for two and the total innings lasted for 71 eight-ball overs," news agency "AFP" said.

"The right-hander clubbed 35 fours and 13 sixes along the way, with his century coming off only 68 balls and his double in a South African first-class record of 139 balls.

"Worcester-born Marais, a former pupil of the Hangklip High School in Queenstown, batted for just 60 overs after coming in to bat with his side in a fair bit of trouble on 84/4 on day one of the drawn three-day Sunfoil 3-Day Cup game at Buffalo Park in East London that ran from November 23-25.

"As for the record, it took 96 years for someone to breach the previous mark established by (Charles) Macartney, who played 35 Tests for Australia, and was playing for his country against Nottinghamshire in 1921," the report said.

Marais was thrilled that his record was being talked all over the world and he wants it to say for "a very long time".

"For me personally I just thought, 'Sjoe! I scored 300 today' but I didn't think about what will happen the next day. It was all over the media, all over the world, so it's been unbelievable.

"It's just unreal, I mean who would have ever thought that it's going to happen to me, a guy that went to Hoerskool Hangklip, a school with probably 300 kids in there and just look where we are today," Marais, who is a big fan of Jacques Kallis, said.

The fastest triple hundred in Test cricket was scored by India's Virender Sehwag. He took 278 balls to reach the mark, against South Africa in Chennai in March 2008. He struck 319.

Last month, another South African batsman made his way into the record books by smashing an unbelievable 490 in one-day match.