Global attention for Derby club cricketer’s 0 not out off 137

The 48-year-old said the response to the match had “gone crackers”.

“It’s gone round the world,” he said. “It has been mentioned in Australia, Pakistan, Qatar.

“I have had friend requests from around the globe.”

While the teams are at the bottom of the table in Division Nine of the Derbyshire Cricket League, it felt to the batsman like he had won The Ashes.

“Our dressing room was bouncing” after the draw, he said, telling BBC Radio Derby: “[The players] were all grinning, and thought it was brilliant. It shows you how good local cricket can be.”

He explained: “We had been in the field for three hours chasing leather all over the place.

“They came off and were dejected, [but] at the end it was like we had won a cup or something.

“The atmosphere in our dressing room was second to none. It was brilliant.”

He added: “Towards the end it became a thing where I was determined not to score.”