Victoria wicketkeeper Sam Harper became just the second gloveman to score twin centuries in a Sheffield Shield game, achieving the milestone for Victoria against Western Australia.
Sam Harper defies first-class record to make twin tons
Victoria were put in to bat by WA at the WACA ground in Perth. Harper, who was pushed up the batting order as a makeshift opener for this game, entered the match with a first-class batting average of 24.86 from 64 matches. From the 108 innings he had played in his first-class career before this match, Harper had made only three hundreds and nine fifties.
Nothing in his record would have prepared people for what he was about to do.
Harper came out all guns blazing, smashing five fours and a six in his first 18 balls. By his 27th delivery, the 29-year-old keeper had raced to 50. At lunch, he was batting on 80 off 56 balls, which he duly converted into a 76-ball hundred. He was eventually dismissed for 119 off 109 balls, having hit 15 fours and two sixes.
Victoria declared on 426-9 before bowling out WA for 238, where another opener named Sam (Fanning) fell one short of a hundred, while a seamer named Sam (Elliot) took 5-75.
Starting the second innings with a lead of 188, Harper continued from where he had left off in the first innings. This time he reached his 50 off 54 balls and his second hundred of the game off 112 balls. Others in the Victoria lineup batted around him as they made their second declaration of the match, this time at 274-4. Harper finished unbeaten on 141 off 156 balls, hitting one more four than in the first innings.
In their chase, WA were reduced to 91-8, primarily thanks to Scott Boland's five-wicket haul.
Match 23, Western Australia vs Victoria
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Harper creates history
Harper became just the second designated wicketkeeper to score two hundreds in the same Sheffield Shield match after Leo O'Connor, who had made twin tons for Queensland against New South Wales 99 years back in December 1926.
He also became the first non-Asian wicketkeeper to achieve this feat as an opener, with Pakistan's Hanif Mohammad (1952), Tariq Baig (1989), and Saad Baig (2025), and India's Amit Deshpande (2001) being the only others to do so.
The last wicketkeeper to make two hundreds in a first-class match before Harper was India's Chetan Bist, who achieved the feat for Nagaland against Andhra in the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy.
Wicketkeepers with twin centuries in Sheffield Shield
| Inns1 | Inns2 | Name | Match | Venue | Season |
| 103 | 143* | Leo O'Connor | Queensland v New South Wales | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney | 1926/27 |
| 119 | 141* | Sam Harper | Victoria vs Western Australia | WACA, Perth | 2025/26 |
Wicketkeeper-openers with twin centuries in first-class cricket
| Inns1 | Inns2 | Name | Match | Venue | Season |
| 121 | 109* | Hanif Mohammad | Pakistanis v North Zone | Gandhi Sports Complex Ground, Amritsar | 1952/53 |
| 103 | 103 | Tariq Baig | Lahore City v Bahawalpur | Lahore City Cricket Association Ground, Lahore | 1989/90 |
| 128 | 156* | Amit Deshpande | Vidarbha v Rajasthan | Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur | 2000/01 |
| 109 | 116 | Saad Baig | Karachi Blues v Peshawar | Marghzar Cricket Ground, Islamabad | 2025/26 |
| 119 | 141* | Sam Harper | Victoria vs Western Australia | WACA, Perth | 2025/26 |
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