Henry Smith will not easily forget the day he scored his first century; it was also the day he hit his second.
His double feat in two different matches in the Armidale District Cricket Association competition on Saturday was separated only by 40 minutes and 400 metres, making 107 not out for The Armidale School’s 16s White team at Newling Oval in the morning, then knocked 110 not out for the TAS First XI on the school’s war memorial cricket oval only a block away, in the afternoon.
In his first outing, against TAS 16s Blue who had made 4/140 in their 25 overs, the 16 year old right hander from Duri opened the batting for TAS 16s White and carried his bat, racking up an impressive tally that included a pair of sixes and 10 fours and delivered victory to the team, who batted out the overs to finish with 3/175.
“I’d never got a century before, so it felt pretty good,” he said.
Within the hour he was back at the crease, batting at number four for TAS’ top team which had won the toss and elected to bat against City in the Armidale District Cricket Association’s Second Grade competition.
“I was pretty relaxed after the morning’s game, but wasn’t expecting to do so well. I got clapped when I reached 50 and hit a lot of fours but wasn’t sure what my score was – then the umpire said I must be getting close to a century and that didn’t help (my nerves),” he said.
When TAS’ innings was closed at 4/286 after 40 overs due to time, Henry was clapped off the field through a tunnel of his teammates, 110 not out.
“That was a bit more special,” he said.
It wasn’t to be his last achievement of the day; as wicket keeper he caught a City batsman off a ball by Sam Marshall with City 7/67. Outstanding bowling by TAS, including figures of 4/1 for Oscar Alcorn, prompted the demise of City, all out for 68.
Henry said his double century took a while to sink in: “It was more about being happy for the victory of the (Firsts) team at the time, but it’s nice to think about now,” he said.
With one more round, the TAS Firsts are sitting second on the ladder, behind Hillgrove.
Henry Smith scored his first – and second – cricket centuries in consecutive games on Saturday morning and afternoon.
