Century in a session in Test Cricket: Century before lunch on Day 1 Test full list

England opening batter Zac Crawley has missed out becoming the seventh batter to score a century in the first session of a Test match. Had Crawley scored nine more runs in the morning session of the ongoing first Test match against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, he would’ve become the first English batter to achieve the milestone.

Crawley, who brought up his second Test half-century in his fifth match in Asia, was fluent as ever appearing to continue from where he had left off the last time he faced Pakistan in this format.

Taking strike against Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah, Crawley left the first ball outside the off-stump only to get off the mark with a boundary on the following delivery. Although Crawley’s first four of the match was a streaky one down to the third-man region, the right-handed batter followed it with two crispy cover drives in the same over to put on display attacking intentions.

Crawley, 24, didn’t care to look back since then finding eye-catching boundaries frequently. As a result, it was only a matter of time before Crawley registered a 38-ball half-century.

Crawley, who didn’t aim at slowing down, was quite right in his approach to play at a consistent pace because of the conditions on offer. With the surface at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium being downright flat, English openers made optimum use of the conditions to put together a an unbeaten 174-run partnership before lunch.

Playing a Test match after a six-year gap, Ben Duckett justified the team management’s decision to promote him as an opener by scoring a second Test half-century in the first session. Crawley, meanwhile, completed a third Test century off 86 balls (joint fourth fastest among English batters) right after the lunch break.

Century before lunch on Day 1

Score	Batter	Team	Opposition	Ground	Year
103*	Victor Trumper	Australia	England	Manchester	1902
112*	Charles Macartney	Australia	England	Leeds	1926
105*	Don Bradman	Australia	England	Leeds	1930
108*	Majid Khan	Pakistan	New Zealand	Karachi	1976
100*	David Warner	Australia	Pakistan	Sydney	2017
104*	Shikhar Dhawan	India	Afghanistan	Bengaluru	2018

As far as scoring a Test century in a session is concerned, dozens of batters have been able to do the same over the years.