Dean Taylor had never scored a hundred in nearly 200 games and 20 years at Werribee Centrals.
Last week, he scored a triple century and almost made it to 400.
The opener and captain of the Centurions B-grade matting side blasted his way into the club record books with a mammoth 381, this season’s highest individual score in club cricket so far.
Taking on Melton Centrals, Taylor opened the batting with rising junior Noah Bradford (34).
He said that while he wasn’t swinging for the fences, the runs flowed quickly from the start of the day.
“I think after 14 overs I had 120, so everything just clicked at the start,” Taylor said.
“We just set ourselves to have a 35-run opening partnership … we managed to do that without trying to hit the ball that hard and it all just flowed from there.”
Amazingly, Taylor had only once previously made it into the 90s, with the overwhelming feeling being one of relief on making it to his maiden century early in the day.
“It was unbelievable really,” he said. “We’d talked about it over the years – that I’d played so long and never hit 100. I had a few 50s, but I didn’t think it would ever happen for me.
“It was a pretty amazing feeling – then to go on with it was just incredible.”
At the final drinks break, he was alerted to the potential for a piece of club history with Michael Sammut’s club record of 351 (set last season) in sight.
“The club president told me to see if I could break the record – I was able to do that soon after drinks,” Taylor said. “By the end of it, I was spent. It was very taxing on the body.”
While the individual glory was a nice perk, Taylor said he took more joy out of seeing two of the club’s juniors step up and help him along the way.
His 267-run opening stand with Bradford was followed by a 229-run partnership with Zak Johnson (68no), both of them under-17 players at the club.
“They both played a massive role in those partnerships,” Taylor said. “I was stoked for the two young boys – we haven’t had juniors at the club for a few years, so to help those boys along made me more happy than my own score.”
And any regrets about missing a rare quadruple ton?
“No regrets whatsoever,” he said. “You joke with your mates about making a ton, so to make that score is just ridiculous really.”
Ewen McRae
