Jackie McGlew (batting in picture) amassed 2,440 runs in 34 Tests at an average of 42.06

ackie McGlew, born March 11, 1929, was a dour, adhesive opening batsman who formed a pillar of the strong South African side of the 1950s and led the country in 14 Tests. Arunabha Sengupta looks back at the life and career of the man who has the dubious record of the second slowest century ever scored in Test cricket.

Three ducks and a ton

Jackie McGlew wanted to score a run. That was all that he wanted. Just one run.

It had been a distant dream for the 21-year-old to play for South Africa. It had turned tangible when he had amassed 138 for Eric Rowan’s XI against Dudley Nourse’s XI at Kingsmead that February —  by all intents and purposes the trial match for the forthcoming tour of England. The dream had been confirmed as real when he had been picked for Nourse’s team to England — later called ‘The Noursemen’.