Finn Allen Destroys Records with 34-Ball Century in MLC 2025 Opener
Finn Allen hits 34-ball century, scores 151 with 19 sixes in record-breaking MLC innings for San Francisco Unicorns
The opening night of Major League Cricket 2025 in the USA was nothing short of a spectacle, thanks to a jaw-dropping innings from New Zealand’s Finn Allen. Playing for the San Francisco Unicorns, Allen smashed his way into the record books with a 34-ball century that stunned everyone watching. By the time he walked off, he had scored 151 runs in just 57 balls and the cricketing world was left talking about it.
Allen’s innings was not just fast, it was ferocious. He hit 19 sixes, which is now the most ever hit in a T20 innings. He broke the joint record of 18 sixes held by Chris Gayle and Sahil Chauhan. Gayle had achieved that during his 175-run storm in IPL 2013, a knock that many thought would never be matched. But Allen came very close and in fewer deliveries.
The Unicorns opener took only 49 balls to get to 150 runs, which is now the fastest 150 in T20 cricket. This broke the previous record held by South African batter Dewald Brevis, who took 52 balls for his 150 back in 2022. Allen’s strike rate stayed well over 250 throughout the innings, and bowlers from Washington Freedom had no answers.
Allen’s total of 134 runs in boundaries, 114 of them from sixes alone places him among the best ever in this format. Only three players have scored more runs in a T20 innings purely through boundaries. The clean hitting and brute power Allen showed would have made even the biggest hitters in the game stand and applaud.
The team performance around him wasn’t bad either. San Francisco Unicorns ended with a massive 269 for 5 the highest total in Major League Cricket’s short history. This also became the first-ever 250-plus total in a T20 match on American soil, breaking the previous best of 245 for 6 by West Indies against India in 2016 at Lauderhill.
As a team, the Unicorns smashed 28 sixes in the innings, which is the second-most sixes ever hit by a team in a T20 match. The record is still held by Baroda, who hit 37 sixes against Sikkim in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match in 2023. But considering the level of the tournament and the attack Allen was facing, the Unicorns’ effort is likely to be remembered for a long time.
Allen’s 151 is now the highest individual score in MLC, overtaking Nicholas Pooran’s unbeaten 137 in the final of the 2023 season. Pooran’s knock had come under pressure in a title clash, but Allen’s effort on the opening day of this season has given the league a blockbuster start and set the tone for what might be a high-scoring season.
His hundred off 34 balls is the second-fastest in T20 franchise league history. Only Chris Gayle has a faster one a 30-ball hundred for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL back in 2013.
