When Gustav McKeon took a single off medium-pacer Ashwin Vinod to get to a 58-ball century in Vantaa, Finland on Monday, he entered the record books as the youngest man to score a T20I century. McKeon, France's teenage opener, got to the milestone in a 2024 T20 World Cup Europe Sub-Regional Qualifier Group B match against Switzerland.
At 18 years and 280 days, McKeon is more than two years younger than the previous record-holder, Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai, was when he achieved the feat at 20 years and 337 days back in 2019, in a match against Ireland in Dehradun. Zazai had scored an incredible 162 not out on that occasion, off just 62 balls.
France, who had opted to bat first, finished on 157 for 5 courtesy McKeon's 61-ball 109, which included five fours and nine sixes. Unfortunately for McKeon and France, Switzerland chased down the target off the last ball of the game for a one-wicket win. Despite the defeat, France are in second place, behind Norway, on the Group 2 table, with Switzerland a spot below, though France have played one game more at this stage.
For McKeon, it was the perfect follow-up to the 54-ball 76 he had scored in the previous match of the competition, against Czech Republic in Kerava, in what was his T20I debut. He now has 185 runs in the competition, at a strike rate of 161 and an average of 92.5.
France's next match is against Norway, in Kerava on Wednesday, while Switzerland will next face Estonia, also in Kerava on Wednesday.
From the year 2005 until 2018, only matches played between Full Member countries and some Associate nations were considered as T20 internationals. However, since January 1, 2019, all T20 matches played between any of the ICC's 104 member countries have been granted T20 international status.