Faf du Plessis breaks Paul Collingwood record for oldest to score T20 ton with 113 for Texas Super Kings in MLC 2026 opener

Texas Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis scripted history at Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas, on June 18 in the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2026 opener against Seattle Orcas. Du Plessis scored an unbeaten 113 in the successful run chase of 221 against Orcas and became the oldest player to score a T20 century.

Aged 41 years and 340 days, Du Plessis scored his career's ninth T20 century. He had scored two century as a 40-year-old in the previous edition of MLC as well.

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Former England players held the record previously

The previous record was held by former England captain Paul Collingwood. The all-rounder scored an unbeaten 108 for Durham against Worcestershire in T20 Blast 2017. He was adged 41 years and 65 days then. Before him, the record belonged to another England batter, Graeme Hick, who scored 110 against Northamptonshire in 2007 edition of T20 Blast. Hick was 41 years and 37 days of age when he scored his career's last T20 century.

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Faf’s fastest ahead of 42nd birthday

Du Plessis reached his century from 45 balls, his fastest of T20 career. He hit nine fours and seven sixes as Super Kings beat Orcas by seven wickets with 1.3 overs to spare. It was also Du Plessis’ fourth century of his MLC career.

Finn Allen, Nicholas Pooran and Andre Fletcher have scored two centuries each in their MLC careers.

Du Plessis joins Abhishek, Sahibzada

His tally of T20 centuries is now equal to teammate Rilee Rossouw, India's Abhishek Sharma and Pakistan's Sahibzada Farhan. Only former West Indies opener Chris Gayle (22), Pakistan's Babar Azam (13), India's Virat Kohli (10) and Australia's David Warner (10) have more T20 tons (including T20Is, domestic T20s and franchise T20 cricket). Now, he jointly holds the record for most T20 centuries by a South Africa batter.

Faf wins race to 1,000 MLC runs

He also became the first batter to score 1,000 runs in MLC. He beat MI New York captain Pooran who has 928 runs from 28 games. After MLC 2026 opener, Du Plessis has 1,047 runs from 26 innings, averaging 43.62 and striking at 167.25. Apart from four tons, he has six half-centuries as well for Texas Super Kings.