28 minutes of madness: Greater Illawarra’s Jayden Zahra-Smith stuns Country championships

In one of the most destructive half-hour spells in cricket history, one country star has put in a performance for the ages that has to be seen to be believed.

Jayden Zahra-Smith after scoring a century from 26 balls for Greater Illawarra. Picture: supplied

Going into his team’s Regional Bash game against Southern Districts at Hayden Drexel Oval in Nowra, Greater Illawarra batter Jayden Zahra-Smith just wanted to get off to a good start.

Chasing 148 in the T20 fixture, which formed part of NSW’s T20 country championships, the opening batter wanted to get on top of the opposition bowlers early.

“I was just trying to be really aggressive, take on the bowlers and make the most of the six-over powerplay,” he said.

Well, it’s fair to say he well and truly took full advantage, with Zahra-Smith putting on a performance for the ages as he smashed a century in just 26 balls.

In a remarkable display of power hitting, the left-hander belted 10 fours and nine sixes as he cracked the ton with the final ball of just the seventh over. Watch the blistering innings here.

Jayden Zahra-Smith batting for club side Wollongong Cricket Club. Picture: supplied

“I’ve always been pretty aggressive early on, and I just said to my batting partner that I’m going to take it on early and try and put a few over the fence – and it ended up paying off. It was good.”

Zahra-Smith didn’t waste any time getting going, smashing Southern Districts opener James Joyce for a boundary with the first ball of the innings. He belted 21 from the first over as Greater Illawarra blasted its way to 0-28 before the bowlers could change ends.

“It felt good for the confidence to hit a few. They came off so I just kept going,” he said.

Indeed, the 22-year-old kept swinging, personally smashing 22 from the fourth over and then another 22 from the sixth as he cleared the fence from mid-wicket to cover and everywhere else in between.

During one particularly brutal run he went 4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6 – much to the delight of his batting partner Cooper Maddinson, who was watching from the other end with a sense of awe and bemusement.

“Maddo was just laughing the whole time, saying, ‘How are you hitting them so good?’ He said it was like a different deck to when he was batting.”

The emotions were far less jovial for Southern Districts, who used five bowlers in the first seven overs, with Joyce going for 28 from his solitary over and Cameron Herd being punted for 23 from his six deliveries.

“I knew one of them, Mason King. He was getting into me at the start but after I hit a few he was a pretty quiet,” laughed Zahra-Smith. “After that he didn’t say too much at all.”

After helping his side to 76 from the first five overs, Zahra-Smith was finally held to a dot ball.

However it only proved to be a temporary reprieve as he then slogged 6, 6, 6, 4, 2, 4, 6 off his next seven deliveries to even surprise himself and bring up a century in 26 balls.

“At the start I wasn’t thinking about that, I was just trying to clear the fence,” he said. “But I just kept on going, I kept being aggressive and it paid off. It doesn’t always go that way but it was good to put on a show for the lads,” he added.

The 22-year-old has been in good touch in local cricket. Picture: Kevin Merrigan

“It was pretty surreal at the time. I couldn’t believe how quickly I’d got there. And after the game all the boys were pulling up scores from AB de Villiers, Adam Gilchrist and that and they were saying that I got a quicker hundred. That was pretty cool to hear my name in the same sentence as those guys. It was unreal.”

The fun came to an end shortly after, with the fourth ball of the eight over, as Zahra-Smith was dismissed for an incredible 101 from just 28 balls, finishing with a strike rate of 360.

He left Greater Illawarra sitting pretty on 1-117 from just 46 balls, with batting partner Maddinson holding the fort down the other end on 10 from 19 balls.

“I’ve got 80-odds pretty fast but never a century that quick. I like to be aggressive, take on the powerplay and go hard early but that’s the best it’s ever come off,” said Zahra-Smith.

For the record, Greater Illawarra cruised to a nine-wicket win inside 14 overs.

And just to prove how fickle a game cricket can be, Zahra-Smith backed up his incredible knock by being dismissed for just one on the very next day as Greater Illawarra took on Western in the first round of the men’s 50-over country championships.

The star hitter did return to form shortly after, however, plundering 61 from just 21 balls as he once again haunted Southern Districts in the second round of the tournament.