While teenager Jason Sangha was becoming the youngest Australian to hit a first-class century against England, his mum Sylvia was experiencing three hours from hell.
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Sangha derailed England's Ashes preparations on Saturday when he hit 133 as part of a four-and-a-half hour, 263-run fourth-wicket partnership with Matt Short for the Cricket Australia XI in Townsville.
At 18, he became the second-youngest player behind Sachin Tendulkar to score a first-class century against England, and the youngest to reach three figures in a first-class game in Australia since Ricky Ponting in 1992-93.
His mum had already booked a flight back to Sydney for Saturday afternoon and had to leave the ground at lunch, before losing her livestream as the plane took off while he was in the nervous nineties.
"He was 94 and facing a ball and I had to turn it off," Ms Sangha told AAP.
"It was the worst - I just though you just can't do that to a parent!
"I don't miss a game. I would have paid $1000 for the pilot to just sit on the runway."
And so began the longest three-hour flight, until she landed to the likes of Steve Waugh telling her what she'd missed.
"He follows Jason around. He said 'congratulations, brilliant batting from Jason'," she said.
"I had about 30 messages of congratulations."
And while Sangha's knock – just two weeks after finishing school – broke records, it's not the first time he's shown class well beyond his years. In one incredible 2015-16 summer, he played in the under-15, under-17 and under-19s national championships, before scoring a century on debut for the under-19 Australian team against Pakistan in Dubai.
It earned him the right to be NSW's youngest ever contracted player the following season just before his 17th birthday, while he has already scored his maiden two first-grade centuries in Sydney this year.
