Everyone who follows cricket is aware of the feats of WG Grace, real or apocryphal. Very few will have heard of Dominic Sibley, however it may well be a name to remember.
At the age of 18 years and 21 days Sibley became the second youngest player to score a double century in a first class game in England, WG Grace being the only player younger than him to achieve this feat, aged 18 years and 12 days in 123 years of the County Championship.
The right-handed Sibley batted for nine and a half hours at the Oval and faced 512balls, scoring 220 not out for Surrey against Yorkshire. Making only his third four day game appearance he hit 21 fours and two sixes. He was part of a stand of 236 with South African Hashim Amla who was dismissed for 151.
Sibley had t gain permission from his school to miss four days of A-Level studies in order to play in the game.
The youngster who will be playing in the first division next year, as Surrey have already been relegated was modest about his achievement and seemed happier to have been at the crease with his hero Amla than at his own achievement. He told the BBC, “I was so relieved to finally get my hundred but when I went to 200 it was just unbelievable. Speaking with my mum this morning I told her how desperate I was to bat with Hashim Amla before he left Surrey. Today I could not have wished for a better partner because with him there I could just play my own game.”
Hopefully this will be the first of many great innings to come, and time will tell whether at the end of his career he can look back on one that continues to rival the great WG.
