Dom thing special!

Richard Isaacs looks at how Dominic Sibley has eclipsed Denis Compton and Len Hutton.

Teen sensation Sibley makes his mark on record books

The 2013 domestic cricket season has been a major disappointment for Surrey County Cricket Club but they now have something to celebrate... courtesy of an 18-year-old schoolboy. Dominic Sibley created history on Thursday by becoming the youngest ever double centurion in the history of the County Championship by reaching 220 not out at the end of the third day of the final game at the KIA Oval against Yorkshire. He was finally dismissed on Friday - bowled by Ryan Sidebottom - having scored 242 off 536 balls with 24 fours and two sixes. The Whitgift School pupil, who was given a couple of weeks off lessons to play in the last few rounds of games for the county, broke David Sales' 17-year-old record as he batted through a mammoth 512 deliveries against the strong Tykes attack. A product of the Surrey Cricket Academy, Sibley made his first XI debut earlier this year but it was something of a bitter-sweet experience as he was forced to retire hurt just seven deliveries into the game against Essex in the Yorkshire Bank 40 with a badly cut knee. And the Ashtead Cricket Club youth, who played a couple of England Under 19 Tests in South Africa last winter, had seen his first three first-class innings yield just 22 runs but Surrey persevered with him and he took full advantage with this incredible innings. Sibley sits atop the list of the youngest Championship double ton makers, removing the now Northants veteran David Sales - who has gone on to score over 14,000 first-class runs and hit 29 centuries.

Youngest Double Centurions in County Championship

Yrs	Days	Name	Score	Team	Against	Venue	Season
18	21	Dominic Sibley	220no	Surrey	Yorkshire	The Oval	2013
18	234	David Sales	210no	Nhants	Worcs	Kidderminster	1996
19	206	James Taylor	207no	Leics	Surrey	The Oval	2009
19	249	David Nicholls	211	Kent	Derbyshire	Folkestone	1963
19	307	Dick Young	220	Sussex	Essex	Leyton	1905
20	43	Graeme Hick	227no	Worcs	Notts	Worcester	1986
20	54	Graeme Hick	219no	Worcs	Glamorgan	Neath	1986
20	75	Andrew Symonds	254no	Gloucs	Glamorgan	Abergavenny	1995
20	94	Alex Lees	275no	Yorkshire	Derbyshire	Chesterfield	2013

A look at the list shows a number of players with very big futures in the game - James Taylor and Alex Lees for example - while Graeme Hick posted over 100 first-class tons in his career after scoring two doubles as a 20-year-old in 1986. So, the 18-year-old from Epsom has plenty of encouragement for his career ahead! In the history of first-class cricket around the world, Sibley's performance is a little way down the list but is in very good company! The youngest ever double ton maker was Pakistani Hasan Raza. He was just 15 years and 213 days when he made 204* for Karachi Whites in 1997/98. However, there is still some doubt as to the validity of Raza's date of birth - he made his Test debut at the recorded age of 14 years and 227 days in October 1996, the youngest Test debutant ever - but the Pakistan Cricket Board withdrew their claim to that record due to the doubts. The legendary Pakistani batsman Javed Miandad was just 17 years and 310 days when he scored 311 for the Karachi Whites team in 1974/75 while the famous brothers, Hanif and Mushtaq Mohammad also feature in the list. Sibley is not the youngest to score a first-class century in England, however. That record remains intact from 147 years ago when a certain 18-year-old from Bristol strolled in at number five for England in a match against Surrey at the Kennington Oval on 30 July 1866. Coming to the wicket with the England side at 90-3, William Gilbert Grace proceeded to score an undefeated 224 not out in the visitors' 521 all out (in 198.3 overs... however, they were just four ball overs back in those days!). Surrey had no response and only just scored as many runs as Grace did between them in two innings - all out for 99 and 126 following-on.

Youngest Double Centurions in First-Class cricket

Yrs	Days	Name	Score	Team	Against	Venue	Season
15	213	Hasan Raza	204no	Karachi Whites	Bahawalpur	Karachi	1997/98
16	94	Ijaz Ahmed	201no	Pkn Automobiles	Karachi	Karachi	1984/85
17	15	Reetinder Sodhi	200no	Punjab	Delhi	Patiala	1997/98
17	55	Ambati Rayudu	210	Hyderabad	Andhra	Secunderabad	2002/03
17	121	Johann Myburgh	203	Northerns B	Easterns	Pretoria	1997/98
17	195	Umar Akmal	248	Sui Northern Gas	Karachi Blues	Karachi-AAS	2007/08
17	203	Ian Craig	213no	New South Wales	South Africans	Sydney	1952/53
17	310	Javed Miandad	311	Karachi Whites	National Bank of Pkn	Karachi	1974/75
17	316	Taslim Arif	205	Karachi Blues	Hyderabad (P)	Karachi-BYC	1971/72
17	323	Hanif Mohammad	203no	Pakistanis	Bombay	Bombay-B	1952/53
18	2	Mushtaq Mohammad	229no	Karachi Whites	East Pakistan	Karachi	1961/62
18	12	WG Grace	224no	England	Surrey	The Oval	1866
18	21	Dominic Sibley	242	Surrey	Yorkshire	The Oval	2013

When it comes to the youngest-ever County Championship centurions, the Surrey youngster slots in fourth behind Kent's Godfrey Bryan, former New Zealand all-rounder Dipak Patel and Leicestershire captain Josh Cobb - but he jumps just ahead of two legends of English cricket in the early days of their careers - Denis Compton and Len Hutton.

Youngest Championship Century Makers

Yrs	Days	Name	Score	Team	Against	Venue	Season
17	245	Godfrey Bryan	124	Kent	Notts	Nottingham	1920
17	270	Dipak Patel	107	Worcs	Surrey	Worcester	1976
18	3	Josh Cobb	148no	Leics	Middlesex	Lord's	2008
18	21	Dominic Sibley	242	Surrey	Yorkshire	The Oval	2013
18	25	Denis Compton	100no	Middlesex	Northants	Northampton	1936
18	32	Len Hutton	196	Yorkshire	Worcs	Worcester	1934

The statistics certainly would point to a flourishing career for the talented young batsman - once he completes his A levels of course!