Club cricketer smashes huge double century in midweek match... but his work colleagues don't care

SAM MORSHEAD: Mike Simpson of Sheffield Collegiate got to three figures in 29 deliveries, 150 in 40 and went past 200 from a scarcely believable 52 balls before finishing on 237 not out from 62

^{Sheffield Collegiate batsman Mike Simpson hit a 52-ball double ton on Wednesday}

We've all dreamed about scoring a T20 century, some of us have even managed it but have you ever heard of hitting quite as ridiculous as this?

Mike Simpson of Sheffield Collegiate went on the rampage during his side's Sheffield Alliance Midweek League match against Khan at Shiregreen Cricket Club on Wednesday, smashing a remarkable double century in an innings spread across just 12 eight-ball overs.

Simpson got to three figures in 29 deliveries, 150 in 40 and went past 200 from a scarcely believable 52 balls before finishing on 237 not out from 62. His side finished their 96-ball innings on 304 without loss - the highest partnership and total ever recorded in the Sheffield Alliance.

One-hundred-and-eighty of his runs came in sixes, while a further nine fours took his overall boundary haul to 216.

No one had ever made a double-century in the competition prior to Simpson's Wednesday-night fireworks.

"It's definitely the most entertaining, with the 30 sixes and just the nine fours. It was a good feeling"

"It was last game of the season, we couldn't win the league any more and I thought I'd just let myself play," the 32-year-old told The Cricketer.

"There we go... it just happened to come off.

"One of the lads said in the changing room before the game: 'You're due one, you get one every season and this is the last game of the season'.

"It's usually just one a year that it comes off and just takes the game away from them."

Very modest in his self-appraisal, when asked about his knack of making fast runs - more on that later - Simpson simply said: "I've always been a big hitter and attacked the bowling, and I've hit a lot of sixes over the years. It comes a bit more naturally to me."

To rub salt into an already painful wound for Khan, they were restricted to just 77 in reply to hand Sheffield Collegiate the win by the ever-so-sizeable margin of 229 runs.

Simpson, a powerful middle-order bat in Collegiate's weekend first team, averages 33.15 for the club across all competitions this season.

He has made 9,710 runs since making his debut in 2003. 

"When you're out there doing it, you just don't feel like you're going to miss it"

Interestingly, however, 237 is not his personal best. Back in 2009, Simpson carted the Sherwood Colliery 3rd XI for 317 not out in 128 balls in a Mansfield & District League encounter.

On that occasion he shared in another bumper opening stand, this time of 245, with Bill Root - the current Nottinghamshire player and brother of England captain Joe.

But which of Simpson's many explosive knocks does he rate the highest? And where does this one stand?

"It's definitely up there," he said. "It's definitely the most entertaining, with the 30 sixes and just the nine fours. It was a good feeling.

"When you're out there doing it, you just don't feel like you're going to miss it."

Unfortunately for the site engineer, he won't get the chance to brag about his latest massive score at work... none of his colleagues on the building site are the slightest bit bothered.

"They don't really have any interest in it or anything like that," he said. "No one really cares."

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