Harjas Singh, a former Australia Under-19 World Cup winner, played an innings of a lifetime on Saturday, smashing 314 runs off just 141 balls in a Sydney grade cricket match that will live on in memory for years to come.
The 20-year-old left-hander rewrote club history and etched his name into the New South Wales Premier Cricket record books with an incredible knock that included 35 sixes and 14 fours while playing for Western Suburbs at Pratten Park.
In the 11th over, Singh, who was instrumental in Australia’s U19 World Cup victory earlier this year, stepped to the crease at No. 3. He took four balls to get off the mark after starting carefully, but after the set, he burst into action. His innings became the third-highest individual score in Sydney first-grade history, after Victor Trumper’s 335 in 1903 and Phil Jaques’ 321 in 2007, surpassing Bob Simpson’s long-standing Western Suburbs mark of 229 in two-day cricket.
More astonishingly, Singh’s 314 is believed to be the highest limited-overs score in Australia’s first-grade elite cricket. To put Singh’s achievement in perspective, the next-highest contribution in the Western Suburbs innings was only 37.
Singh scored 214 runs from his following 67 deliveries after reaching his century off 74 balls, demonstrating incredible acceleration.
The innings also represent a turning point in the player’s life. Singh was passed over for a NSW rookie contract even though he scored the most runs (55) in the U19 World Cup final against India and reached a youth Test hundred against England. Singh has been struggling to maintain concentration, even though a number of his younger teammates have already transitioned into state cricket. “I’ve missed out the last season or two, worrying about stuff outside my own game,” he admitted. “Now I just want to focus on what’s in front of me.”