Shaw loving life with Steelbacks as he reflects on historic innings

And the India star was quick to praise the Steelbacks supporters for their part in his historic double hundred against Somerset on Wednesday.

Shaw smashed an incredible 244 off just 153 balls to set up an 87-run victory in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup clash at Wantage Road.

Shaw’s innings was Northamptonshire’s highest ever score in List A cricket and the sixth highest worldwide in List A history.

The 23-year-old put on a batting masterclass, blasting 11 sixes and 28 fours.

Along the way, he eclipsed his undefeated 227 for Mumbai against Puducherry at Jaipur in 2021.

He also moved past Ben Duckett’s 220 not out for England Lions against Sri Lanka A in 2016 to post the second highest ever List A innings made in England.

Only Alistair Brown with 268 for Surrey against Glamorgan at the Oval in 2002 has scored more.

After almost chopping on before scoring, Shaw did not offer another chance until he passed 200.

“You know when an inside edge doesn't get me out, that means this day is for me," Shaw said. "You have to be lucky sometimes, so I think this was a day for me.

"I didn't look back after that."

He made batting look effortless, scoring all around the wicket, threading the ball through the gaps with surgical precision.

Shaw reached his first 100 off 81 balls before powering to 200 off just 48 more. In the process, he overtook David Sales’ 161 in 2006, the previous best for the Steelbacks in 50-over cricket, before moving past David Willey’s 167 in 2013 and Wayne Larkins’ 172 in 1983, both scored in 40-over affairs.

And Shaw said: “When I’d just got 150, I thought I was timing the ball really well and I thought this could be the day to go bigger.

"Not every day it's going to be like this, but this was the day, so I tried to grab it with both of my hands and it came very well.”

On going past his previous best, Shaw said: “The 227 was in my head to be honest. I spoke to Whitey (Sam Whiteman) when he was there and I told him it's 227, my highest score.

"But it was a good team effort all around. I always try and win matches for the team and I'm the kind of a player who puts my team first and then myself.

"If scoring like this can help my team to win, then I should continue this."

On his motivation for playing county cricket, Shaw added: “Definitely experience for sure.

"I'm not really thinking what the Indian selectors may be thinking, but I just want to have a good time here, have a good time with the players over here and the support staff.

"Northamptonshire have given me this opportunity. It's really nice to have me here and they're really looking after me. I'm really enjoying it.

“It's always nice to see the crowd around and cheering for you. It boosts me up when the crowd is there. And then when the claps go around, it boosts me up as well.

"It's nice to see everyone coming here watching the game. It's not even the weekend, it's Wednesday, so it’s nice to see a lot of people coming here and supporting the team."

The Steelbacks have now won back-to-back matches after losing their Metro Bank One-Day Cup opener at Gloucestershire on Friday.

Next up is a trip to Durham on Sunday.

And Shaw said: “It should be a habit of winning every game now because we have got the start.

"We lost the first game but came back again and won the last game (against Sussex Sharks) and today as well. So, we just have to keep this momentum going on, not break any momentum.

"Everyone knows their roles. There are a lot of senior players who have already experienced so much cricket and they’re good lads and they know exactly what they're doing.

“This is history, and this can't be repeated again and again. We have to move forward and start again from ball zero (in the next game).”

Somerset struggled to deal with Shaw throughout his innings, and the away side eventually fell to a big defeat.

“Prithvi Shaw left us with too high a mountain to climb," said Somerset coach Paul Tweddle.

"I think after the first innings we would have had to play unbelievably.

"And to be fair, I think, for large parts of that we were in and around it, but someone would have had to have done something very special, much like Shaw did for them, and really have a day out for us to get near that.

“But I think the positives for us are that it wasn't out with a whimper, it was very much some quality batting.

"That puts us in a good, positive mindset from a batting point of view should we come into those sort of situations with a more gettable score.

“I’m not concerned about our bowling. When someone plays as well as that it really shows up maybe some inexperience, or some poor execution at times.

"It doesn't worry me because everyone's on a journey towards becoming better cricketers, and that was a great opportunity for them to be able to learn from someone playing a very, very good innings.

“To be able to help us move forward in the competition, I think that leads us into the next game when hopefully, we can learn from that, and act on it, because the games come quick and fast.”