CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum set a new record for the fastest test century after lunch on the first day of the second test against Australia on Saturday when he clouted exactly 100 runs in 54 balls.

McCullum, who hit 16 fours and four sixes to notch his 12th test century, needed two fewer balls than the 56 that West Indies' Viv Richards needed against England in Antigua in 1986 and Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq took against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014.

The 34-year-old was actually dismissed on 39 when Mitchell Marsh produced a superb diving catch in the gully but was reprieved when television replays showed James Pattinson had bowled a no ball.

Playing his 101st and final test, McCullum counter-attacked before lunch after Australia had reduced his side to 32 for three.

He took 21 runs off Marsh's first over and went to the break on 37, before he used his second life to attack Australia's bowlers, dispatching them to all parts of Hagley Oval.

He was scoring so quickly, the milestone only flashed up on the big screen when he was on 96, bringing the crowd to their feet and he promptly hit the next delivery to long-off for his 16th boundary.

McCullum had earlier surpassed the record for most test sixes when he hit his 101st before lunch.

McCullum moved to 11 with the shot over the long on boundary from the bowling of Marsh.

He had equalled former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist on 100 sixes in the second innings of the first test against Sri Lanka in Dunedin in December.