‘I just wanted to hit everything for six’: Sydney young gun blasts 314 ... and loses 10 balls

Harjas Singh asked his mum on Friday whether he could drive her car more if he scored a hundred on Saturday playing cricket for Western Suburbs in the Sydney first grade competition.

He might get the keys for good now after trying to hit “everything for six” and it paying off in a big way.

The former Australian under-19s representative has set Sydney Premier Cricket alight with a stunning triple century in a one-day match that featured more than 200 runs in sixes.

Harjas’ innings on Saturday was the stuff of dreams as the 20-year-old bludgeoned a scarcely believable 314 from 141 balls at Pratten Park in Ashfield.

Coming in at No.3 in the 11th over of the innings, Harjas didn’t score a run from his first four deliveries then plundered an incredible 35 sixes and 14 fours on his way to a club record score – eclipsing Bob Simpson’s 229 in a two-dayer – and the third-highest individual score in Sydney first grade cricket history.

“I said to Mum yesterday, ‘if I score a hundred, would you let me drive your car more often?’ She just told me to zip it,” Harjas told this masthead after his remarkable innings. “I was just happy getting 100 today to be honest.”

Harjas was 21 runs shy of Victor Trumper’s 335 from 205 balls, which was made in three hours for Paddington against Redfern in 1903.

Ben Rohrer previously held the record for the highest score in a first grade one-day match with 205 not out in 2016.

“After 100 you start upping the ante and I just wanted to hit everything for six,” Harjas said. “It was an unreal feeling for everything to be coming off the middle.

“In the last over, I was trying to go for as many bombs as possible. I ended up holing out to long-off.

“The most pleasing aspect of it was just the clean power hitting. I’ve worked on that quite a bit in the off-season.

“A lot of it for me is just enjoying the moment. I feel like over the off-season I’ve got better with my mental toughness and taking it ball by ball.”

Wests president Michael Swan said onlookers were stunned after watching the carnage unfold, which saw Harjas hit five sixes in an over and lose 10 balls during his onslaught.

“It’s pretty insane,” Swan said. “Guys who have watched a lot of sport are just saying they’ve never seen something like it. It was just phenomenal and quite the innings.

“He’s an absolute ripper guy and he’s devoted to his craft. People are so happy for him because he is such a genuinely good guy. We hope there’s a lot more to come like this.

“He played two reverse sweeps when he got to 100 and the coach said, ‘can you not do that and just hit it straight and hard?’ Harjas just said, ‘OK’. 200 runs later, he’s on 300.

“You’ve had Michael Clarke and Phil Hughes and Simmo [Bob Simpson] and these sort of guys all play for the same club. He’s gone past some pretty impressive people.”

Wests finished their innings on 5-483, with Josh Clarke, another seasoned first-grader pushing for higher honours, next best on 37. Sydney made 8-287 in response.

Harjas played for Australia at the 2024 under-19 World Cup and batted at No.4 behind incumbent Test opener Sam Konstas. Harjas top-scored with 55 from 64 balls in Australia’s victory over India in the final.

His previous highest score was “about 230” and he was dropped on 190. He says 38 minutes of extra time had to be added to the innings because of the number of balls he hit out the ground.

“The bat has a crack now in the shoulder,” Harjas said. “We’ll chuck some fibreglass tape on it and hope it holds on during the year.

“I fielded for the entire time. The boys were quite lenient with me being a touch bit slower in the field. They kept me at third man and long-on. The lower back is a bit cooked.

“We’ve won five from five grades. I think some of the boys will be coming back to our sheds and we’ll have a couple of beverages and have a good time.”