“It was good fun, every shot we seemed to play came off, the time just went unbelievably quickly,” is what Richard Ernst Levi said when he smacked the, then, fastest T20I hundred, against New Zealand. Levi is a South African international cricketer who currently represents Northamptonshire in the UK. 

Born in Johannesburg, in 1988, Levi was selected for South Africa during the U-19 World Cup in 2006, due to his List A performances for Western Province. He earned the reputation of a killer of the cricket ball in South Africa and lived on it. However, the dasher had to go through the grind of domestic cricket, until 2012, when he made his international debut against the Blackcaps. After a power-packed debut series Down Under and looked as a replacement for Graeme Smith. 

But after a string of low scorers, he was dropped from the side and was also overlooked for the 2014 T20 World Cup. In 2012, Mumbai Indians picked for $400,000 to play in the rich-league, Indian Premier League. Later that year, he played t20 for Somerset before establishing a long association with Northants in 2013. He started his journey with the club by smacking 360 runs, including a century and two fifties, to help them clinch the NatWest t20 title. 

From the 2015-16 season, the South African has been a regular for Northamptonshire, across all formats. He scored 63 off 46 balls against Warwickshire in the semifinal, alas being on the losing side in the final. However, Levi and the Northants bettered their performances, in the following, to lift the trophy. 

The hard-hitter Levi has bettered his game, especially enhancing the leg side and playing spinners with some authority. Debuting for the Northants in 2013, the South African, now, has become the backbone of their batting line-up. 

(As of May 2021)