Premier Cricket: Camberwell Magpies batsman smacks 237 off 72 balls

Chris Thewlis played an extraordinary innings for Camberwell Magpies in Premier Cricket, blitzing 200 in 63 balls against Kingston Hawthorn.

Chris Thewlis of Camberwell Magpies after his extraordinary innings.

It was a spectacular innings … 237 runs off 72 balls.

There were 24 sixes and 20 fours – that’s more than 200 runs in boundaries.

But the man who played it on Saturday in Premier Cricket, Chris Thewlis of the Camberwell Magpies in the Second XI match against Kingston Hawthorn, was doing his best to downplay it.

The right-hander opened the batting and scorched to his first century in 36 balls, in the 11th over of the innings.

He needed only 63 deliveries to get to 200.

“It was a pretty flat wicket to be fair, mate,’’ Thewlis said soon after unstrapping the pads at Watson Park in Ashburton.

“I’ve got crook hamstrings so I can’t run between wickets too much or too well.

“The idea was to stand still and swing as hard as I could. And I managed to get a couple away.

“I get bored pretty quickly – it’s been an issue over the years. It seamed around for the first couple of overs and I just tried to knock a couple around. And then the hamstrings were feeling a bit tight so I thought I’d start swinging.’’

The scorebook for Chris Thewlis’s innings.

Told his innings had been the talk of Premier Cricket, Thewlis replied with a laugh: “I don’t think anyone would give a shit about a twos game down at Watson!’’

Thewlis and opening partner Will Mazza (31 off 34) blitzed a 141-run partnership. Then came a helter-skelter 157-run stand with Coby Fitzsimmons (33 off 40).

Thewlis was out caught trying to hit “another dinger’’.

By then, he said, he was a “bit puffed out and my bat was getting a bit heavy and my arms were a bit tired’’.

His only regret was that he chipped a piece off his favourite bat, a Gray-Nicolls Delta.

He was already past his first century when he called for a replacement.

The Magpies finished with a formidable 5-441 off their 50 overs.

Veteran Kingston Hawthorn scorer James “Jimmy’’ Moloney said Thewlis hit the ball as cleanly as any batsman he had seen.

“I’ve not seen something that good,’’ he said.

“One of the best innings I’ve seen in cricket. He hit it all over the park.’’

Thewlis thrashed 150 two years ago at the same ground and against the same opponent.

The 29-year-old is a life member of the Magpies, whom he joined from Wangaratta at the age of 15.

He has played 58 matches in the First XI, scoring one century and seven half-centuries.

Injuries have held him back.

“My body is cooked,’’ he said. “I’ve torn my hamstring six times in the space of two years. I’ve barely played a game in the last four years. I’m falling apart!’’

But the affable mortgage broker can still take an attack apart.