IT is 10 years ago this summer that Daryl Mitchell came within two runs of achieving that rarest of feats in cricket — a triple century.

The Worcestershire opener scored 298 against Somerset at Taunton in 2009 — a game in which Ben Cox made his debut for the County.

The still-prolific Mitchell, who has scored 11 County Championship hundreds in the past two seasons, faced only 380 balls and struck 54 fours and one six for a total of 222 in boundaries.

But Mitchell admitted it only sunk in afterwards in the dressing room that he had come so close to reaching the 300 mark.

The 35-year-old newly re-elected chairman of the Professional Cricketers' Association reflected on the momentous innings.

He said: “The stand-out thing I remember is being dropped on about 27 — a pretty straightforward one to Craig Kieswetter who was keeping wicket.

“I remember scoring at a real rate and had about 230 not out at the end of the day.

"The way I play that was sort of unheard of really!

“People talk about being 'in the zone' but I just got a bit of a role really.

"It was always a good wicket at Taunton in those days, a rapid outfield, and scoring was pretty straightforward.

“The ball raced away to the boundary and it was a good pitch. I remember scoring really freely.”

Mitchell continued: “Was I thinking of 300? No.

"It was only when I sat in the dressing room after I had got out that I was thinking ‘I was only two away from 300’.

“It hadn’t really crossed my mind.

“I remember Anul Suppiah bowled me a real long hop and I cut it and absolutely smashed it on 297.

“Unfortunately it went straight to the bloke on the boundary and I only scored one and was bowled by Peter Trego in the next over.

“That delivery was probably a missed opportunity. I got out trying to hit Trego over his head to get to 300. I hadn’t thought about it too much.

“I hadn’t contemplated getting 300. I just got in a rhythm and kept going and unfortunately got out a couple short.”

Worcestershire totalled 571 and Somerset, who were bowled out for 280, forced a draw after finishing on 523-8 when following on.

Along Mitchell and Cox in the County side were Stephen Moore, Vikram Solanki, Moeen Ali, Alexei Kervezee, David Wheeldon, Gareth Andrew, Richard Jones, Matt Mason and Jack Shantry.