Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton is a name that is not recognised by cricket fans. But the 22-year-old player from Namibia has created a record that even the top international batters may find almost impossible to break. The Namibian cricketer was born on 15 March 2001 in Namibia’s Windhoek.
On February 8, 2018, he made his debut for Namibia in the 2017–18 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup. He has previously been included in the Namibian Under-19 Cricket World Cup squad.
He was included in Namibia’s squad for the 2018 Africa T20 Cup in August of that year. On September 14, 2018, he made his Twenty20 debut for Namibia at the 2018 Africa T20 Cup.
Ahead of the 2019–20 international season, he was one of the 25 cricket players included in Cricket Namibia’s Elite Men’s Squad in June 2019.
He was one of three rookies to be given a national contract with the Namibian cricket team in December 2019. He was included in Namibia’s ODI team later that month for the 2020 Oman Tri-Nation series.
He was included in Namibia’s Twenty20 International (T20I) team in March 2021 for their Twenty20 series against Uganda. On April 3, 2021, he played his first T20I match for Namibia against Uganda. He was included in Namibia’s squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in September 2021.
He was included in the Namibian One Day International (ODI) team in November 2021 for the 2021 Namibia Tri-Nation Series. On November 27, 2021, he played his first-ever ODI match for Namibia against Oman.
World Record
Nicol Loftie-Eaton wrote his name in the cricket record books when on Wednesday he smashed the fastest T20I century in the first game of the tri-nation series in Nepal.
He beat Nepal’s Kushal Malla’s record by one ball as he reached his century in 33 balls while playing against the home team. Loftie-Eaton scored 101 off 36 balls in total, including eight sixes and eleven fours. In T20Is, he scored the most runs (92 in boundaries) of any batter.
Malla’s achievement occurred in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, when Nepal defeated Mongolia 314 to 3. In the identical encounter, Dipendra Singh Airee achieved the fastest T20I fifty, scoring it in just nine balls.