Sam Cheek smashes 402 off 137 balls as father-son duo put on 590-run stand in Adelaide club cricket
Sam Cheek walked to the crease on Saturday at the Ascot Park Primary School ground in Adelaide with one job: score fast. His father Darren, 63, was already at the other end. Forty overs later, neither had been dismissed, the scoreboard read 590 for no wicket, and the opposition had given them a guard of honour on the way off.
How did this actually happen?
Coromandel Cricket Club's fifth XI needed a huge percentage boost to make the finals of the Section 8 Claim This Cup in the Adelaide and Suburban Association. Father and son opened the batting against Morphettville Park at a ground with short straight boundaries, and Darren got moving first.
"The first couple of overs I was hitting them well and hitting the middle," Darren told The Guardian. "Sam was in all sorts at the beginning."
Sam was nearly out for a duck. A fielder dropped him off his second ball and took a blow to the head as the ball slipped through his fingers. From there, one of the most absurd innings in amateur cricket history got underway.
The numbers are hard to believe
Sam reached his fifty off 29 balls. His century came off 56. Then things got ridiculous. He went from 100 to 150 in 17 deliveries, from 150 to 200 in 14, and from 200 to 300 in just 22 balls. He cleared the rope 42 times and found the boundary 30 more.
His final score: 402 not out off 137 balls. Four balls were lost entirely. No windscreens were broken, though.
Darren, who regularly plays in the over-60s competition, made 175 not out off 108 and deliberately rotated strike to let Sam keep swinging. They blocked the final two deliveries to finish the innings unbeaten.
Thirty years in the making
Darren has been at Coromandel since 1983. He still remembers hitting 184 against Morphettville Park back in 1996, not for the runs but because nine-year-old Sam was on the sideline cheering for him.
"It's 30 years later and I'm having the joy of being with him and seeing him doing these remarkable things," Darren said. This time around, Sam's two sons, aged four and six, were the ones waving and carrying on from the boundary.
Darren's next goal? Keep playing long enough to bat alongside his oldest grandson.
The opposition took it well
Morphettville Park made 146 for three in reply, which probably tells you what kind of day it was. But Darren had nothing but praise for them.
"Their captain just kept pumping their players up, saying 'come on, this is cricket.' They fought it out the whole day." The opposition captain organised a guard of honour for the pair as they left the field.
Both Cheeks then opened the bowling. Sam sent down eight overs for 11 runs and no wickets. Darren took one for 11 from six overs. Because of course they did.
