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South Africa's Richard Levi hits the ball to the boundary in front of the New Zealand keeper Brendon McCullum. AP
PROTEAS opener Richard Levi has smashed the world's fastest ton, reaching the mark in just 45 balls against New Zealand last night
Levi, in his third game for the Proteas, took advantage of short boundaries to smash 117 not out off 51 balls as his side reached the 174 target in 16 overs.
He hit 13 sixes to break West Indian Chris Gayle's record of 10 sixes in a Twenty20 international and he equalled Gayle's mark for highest score.
"Every shot I played seem to come off," Levi said. "It was one of those nights where everything came into my place, every shot I played came off."
His skipper, AB de Villiers called it "an amazing innings by a man for the future".
McCullum, the New Zealand captain, praised Levi's innings but added "we want to make sure we don't over-analyse this one".
Levi was particularly brutal on opener Doug Bracewell, clubbing 37 runs off his two overs, including five sixes.
Below is Levi's ball-by-ball figures to reach 100:1 0 6 0 0 6 0 6 4 0 1 0 1 4 0 0 1 6 6 0 1 6 0 1 1 6 0 1 1 1 6 4 1 0 1 0 6 6 6 1 6 1 2 1
Proteas opener Richard Levi scores record century in just 45 balls | Herald Sun