What do Phillip Hughes and Kapil Dev have in common?

A few seconds after Phillip Hughes reached his maiden century by thumping Paul Harris for two sixes, Mark Nicholas asked, "I wonder how many people have reached their maiden centuries with a six? I mean, I imagine the Kapil Devs and the Ian Bothams got to 100s with sixes after scoring their first centuries, but really, how many reached their maiden tons with a six?".

Well, you just named one, Mark. Kapil Dev reached his maiden century (going from 98 to 104), at the Ferozeshah Kotla, against Alvin Kallicharran's West Indians, on 27th January 1979 with a flicked six off Norbert Phillip - it soared over deep-backward square-leg . Kapil would have reached his 100 on January 26th (Republic Day), but in those days, test matches had rest days.

All said and done, I'd have to say Hughes' romp in that over against Harris was way more dramatic. Kapil was not playing in his second test match; he was flogging a tired, dispirited West Indian attack on the third day of the fifth test of a six-test series; and more to the point, Hughes went from 89 to 105 in the same over, on the first day of a test.