KEY POINTS:
It was the cricketing equivalent of walking on the moon - a trip to a place reserved for a precious few. Certainly no one you know has been there before, and aren't likely to in the future.
We're talking about B.J. Watling here, the 22-year-old Northern Districts batsman who journeyed into cricketing outer space in the Hamilton club final between his Old Boys team and Eastern Suburbs.
Watling amassed a personal score of 378 in the first and, not surprisingly, only innings at Jansen Park last weekend. Old Boys reached 683. Eastern Suburbs fell about 200 runs short - of B.J.'s score that is - in reply before everyone decided to call it quits presumably as a sort of mercy ruling.
You take your life in your hands with these claims, but Watling's is probably the highest score in New Zealand senior club cricket.
The records show one C.D. Knight scored 400 for Cornwall 10 years ago, but that was in an under-19 game.
It was a stupendous performance by Watling in the three-day Howden Cup final.
Watling occupied the crease for nearly 10 hours and even the call of that most treasured of sporting occasions - an end-of-season prizegiving ceremony for Northern Districts - failed to move him.
It was Watling's first serious club innings of the season because of representative commitments, which means the former New Zealand under-19 representative finished the club campaign with an average that should stand as a record for a good few centuries. Since Eastern Suburbs had inserted Old Boys, this is also a prime case of a coin toss that was not overly good to win.
The Durban-born Watling, whose family emigrated from South Africa when he was 9, answered a few questions for the Herald.
Presumably this is easily your highest score or do you make a habit of these things?
By a long way. I got 220 for Hamilton Boys in my last year at school in the Senior A competition. That was a great thrill.
Do you know if it is a club record?
I believe it is the highest score in a Hamilton club final.
Eastern Suburbs must have been ruing the dropped chances?
I gave one on 40 and two on 150. They'd sort of lost enthusiasm at about that point. At a higher level they should have been taken.
A favourite shot?
On 291 I pulled their left arm opening bowler for six - a flat one. I don't play the shot a hell of a lot and I really enjoyed that.
I won't ask you to talk us through the innings but what's it like getting into that zone?
You are completely relaxed and seeing the ball like a beach ball. It's a great feeling, free flowing, bizarre. I don't know how to explain it - you're playing shots you never thought you could play. The feet just seem to go where they should, and you hit the ball for places where you wouldn't normally and it goes there. You're so relaxed because you almost don't care if you get out. The hardest part about batting is always the first 40 or 50 runs when you are nervous. Hitting 300 was a great feeling.
Although not for Eastern Suburbs - was there any life left in Easts or had it all gone west?
They tried to keep chirping away even when I was on 150 and 200. They had a bit of a laugh. Bruce Martin is pretty talkative anyway and he was trying to get me out, telling me we had to get out of there because of the Northern Districts prizegiving.
Sledging - the bane of cricket. You resisted the prizegiving trash talk though?
I rang the northern coach, Andy Moles, when I was on 150 and he told me to keep going, get a big one and enjoy it.
Did you make it to the prizegiving?
I had a quick shower, ironed a shirt and wasn't too late although I missed the team photo. I'll have to get inserted.
Scored nearly 400 then ironed a shirt. Truly Bradmanesque.
That Northern Districts photo will forever remind Eastern Suburbs of the day they should not have inserted.
What mementos did you grab - you would have been entitled to anything that wasn't nailed down.
I didn't get a thing. The stumps belong to each of the clubs so I couldn't take them. I thought about grabbing the ball but I thought nah, I can't do that.
You clearly lack Billy Bowden's ruthless streak in the souvenir-gathering department, BJ. He would have excavated the ground along with any nearby villages. Moving forward, what has been the response around town to your innings?
The boys loved it and said well done, brilliant. Things went my way to be fair and there was a bit of luck here and there. You'd have to get to about 250 in first class cricket before you could bat like that. But it was a very enjoyable day.
Who were your heroes?
Geoff Boycott and Hanif Mohammad types I presume.Jonty Rhodes. I loved the way he fielded and enjoyed watching him bat.
Future goals - any plans to crack the 12-hour mark?
I'd love to get somewhere near that score again but I look back on it and it's a lot of runs. I'm keen to play for the Black Caps. I'll keep working hard and hopefully get there one day.
