St George's College bowler Akash Singh grabs rare ten-wicket haul

GETTING ten wickets in an innings is a dream for any bowler, as it is a rare achievement in cricket.

Former India spinner Anil Kumble is one bowler who achieved the milestone when he snatched ten wickets in a Test match against Pakistan in 1999.

Upper six St George’s College fast bowler Akash Singh can now be added to that list of bowlers.

Singh took ten wickets against Bon Air High School in an East Zone Under-19 match on March 5. He finished with remarkable figures of ten wickets for 11 runs in seven overs to lead St George’s to the victory and the East Zone Under-19 title.

“It is an amazing feeling,” Singh said. “Growing up I never thought of getting ten wickets. It was never a dream because it is something you rarely see in a cricket game or something you never see. In the moment it was a great feeling, together with my team-mates with the support (from them). It was just an overwhelming feeling.”

Singh said when he took the eighth wicket he started thinking about the possibility of getting ten wickets.

Singh, who enjoys watching Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, said his precision helped him finish with the ten-wicket haul as all his wickets were either bowled or leg before wicket (lbw).

“I think it was line and length and bowling on the wicket. I was attacking the stumps for the whole game and it paid off because six of my wickets were bowled down and four was lbw.”

Speaking about the performance of St George’s in 2024, Singh said, “I think it is a great performance so far. We have a very young team…everybody is pulling their weight and going good so far.”

The cricket programme at St George’s is still developing and Singh believes in years to come the school can be a force to be reckoned with.

“Yes of course (we have potential). My hope is to at least carry the team to the championship division next year even though I may not be there and come back and help these guys in training.”

Coach Zaheer Mohammed was proud of Singh’s ten-wicket haul.

“It was unbelievable, first time in my life seeing that type of performance from a youth,” Mohammed said.

Mohammed has goals for the cricketers at St George’s. “What we need to do is continue with the coaching programme throughout the year, off-season as well. Off-season we do a lot of technique work with the boys. There are some new ones coming into the school (in) Form One, Form Two who are new to cricket. We want to try to harvest those talents…Akash might be leaving, so we need someone to pick up that mantle after he leaves.”

St George’s physical education teacher Anderson Harry, said sport was not the focus in the past. “When I came to St George’s I did not know the culture of the school. The only sport it really had at St George’s was volleyball.”

Harry, who comes from a sporting background, wanted to introduce the students to more sports.

“I saw the need for sports and academics. They had the academics, but they did not really have the sporting background.”

Harry said the school competes in about seven sports now, including football, cricket, basketball, badminton, table tennis, volleyball and karate.

Harry is hoping for more support to lift the standard of sport at St George’s.

“We normally raise funds from the sports day, but that is not enough for all the number of sports we have in the school at the moment.”