Former Australian batsman Michael Klinger jumped up to the second spot in the list of most centuries scored in T20 cricket by a batsman. On Thursday, he scored his eighth ton in the ongoing T20 Blast competition, guiding Gloucestershire to a T20 Blast quarter-final berth with a five-run win over Kent.


Klinger scored an unbeaten 102 off just 65 balls which was also his eighth T20 century and he is only behind swashbuckling West Indies opener Chris Gayle who has 21 tons against his name. Aaron Finch, David Warner, Luke Wright and Brendon McCullum have seven, followed by Rohit Sharma who has six.

“I didn't even know I got 100 because the main scoreboard had 91,” Klinger was quoted as saying by ICC. “It probably took a bit of pressure off not even knowing I was close, to be honest.”

Klinger remains the highest run-getter in the Australia Big Bash League. He has scored 1947 runs in 71 matches for Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers, with one century. He has been associated with Gloucestershire for seven years.

Despite a magnificent T20 average of 34.48 and strike-rate of 123.13 in 204 matches, Klinger featured in just three T20Is for Australia. The opener is set to call time on his 21-year career at the end of England's T20 tournament.