Warwickshire batsman Dominic Sibley is proud to have six centuries in successive first-class matches under his belt - but insists he must "keep improving."
A ton against Hampshire in the last Specsavers County Championship match at Edgbaston continued Sibley’s remarkable sequence which began with 106 against Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground last autumn.
In five first-class games since he has followed up with 144 not out v Sussex and 119 v Kent, both at Edgbaston, 126 for MCC v Surrey in Dubai and then 132 against Kent and 109 not out v Hampshire back in Birmingham in the first two championship games this season.
I look at someone like Rory Burns down at Surrey who is scoring runs and backing them up with more and that is the challenge for me now, to find that consistency.
Dom Sibley
To compile such a run requires all the essentials of batting – technique, patience, concentration, shot-selection – to be shown on a sustained basis. Sibley has delivered them – and is hungry to deliver more.
“It’s nice to have got six, but hopefully I can get another one in the next game down in Taunton and make it seven,” he said.
“It’s been a bit of a strange one because the run has gone over two seasons – a bit of last and now this year. The century in Dubai was really nice because that sort of kick-started this season and then to get one against Kent was very nice because you want to kick off the season well in the championship.
“Then I had a very lean patch in the white-ball stuff which was frustrating but it was good to come straight back out against a really good Hampshire attack and make it two in two championship games. Making it six in a row made it nice as well.
“I think my game is in pretty good order, although there are always bits that any player can improve on and that’s definitely the case with myself. But on the whole, it’s okay at the moment and hopefully that continues.”
Sibley’s productivity at the top of the order is sure to have been noted by England’s selectors, but the 23-year-old has no intention of being distracted by media speculation.
“I just want to keep trying to score as many runs as I can for Warwickshire,” he said. “I look at someone like Rory Burns down at Surrey who is scoring runs and backing them up with more and that is the challenge for me now, to find that consistency. If I do get runs, can I back it up and keep backing it up and do what he’s doing?
“I’m not looking too far ahead. I’ll just try to stay in the moment and score runs for Warwickshire. I’ve got enough to think about already when you look at the attacks we come up against in Division One.
“Look at who we have got coming up next – Somerset, Surrey, Notts. There are no easy runs flying around in this division so to get two hundreds in the first two games is really pleasing but you can’t rest on your laurels and you have to keep improving because there are some seriously good attacks around with international bowlers everywhere. It’s a really exciting challenge but I just want to get my head down and do as well as I can.”
