County Championship: Carlson and Cooke put Glamorgan in control against Northants

Kiaran Carlson made his first-class debut in 2016

Glamorgan took complete control of their Championship match against Northamptonshire with Kiran Carlson's 170 not out leading the way.

They reached a formidable 462-4, 247 runs ahead of the visitors.

Carlson and Chris Cooke (133*) turned the screw in a record county fifth-wicket stand after Marnus Labuschagne hit 77.

Northants were handicapped by the loss of all-rounder Gareth Berg with a serious ankle injury.

Glamorgan will now have the option of declaring on the final morning and trying to put pressure on the visitors.

Labuschagne made a scratchy start in the morning but moved up through the gears to look close to his aggressive best in a stand of 122 at four an over with Billy Root (45).

Luke Procter hit the stumps twice in an over as Labuschagne was deceived into leaving a ball that nipped back, while Root dragged one onto his wicket two balls later.

Any thoughts the visitors had of first-innings parity were dispelled by Carlson and Cooke, with Carlson in particular unveiling some fluent off-side shots - although he was dropped on 50 off a return chance by Rob Keogh.

Aided by some sharp running, Carlson reached three figures off 151 balls including 11 fours, while Cooke's more measured effort came off 186 balls.

But Glamorgan finally cut loose in the closing overs as their unbeaten stand of 307 beat the previous fifth-wicket best of 264, set by Maurice Robinson and Stan Montgomery against Hampshire in 1949.

Ben Sanderson was steady as always while spinner Simon Kerrigan worked hard to try to control the run-rate on a tough day in the field.

With both teams destined to play in the second division of three in the final bloc of Championship matches, points from this match and the teams' earlier meeting will count towards the next phase.

Glamorgan batsman Kiran Carlson told BBC Sport Wales:

"Chris and me put on a great partnership there, it was nice to bat with him and always nice to score runs, great to do it with the skipper and to put the team in a good position.

"Marnus and Billy both batted brilliantly for their partnership earlier, and set the platform for us. Chris and me set our stall out to bat for a long time, we knew there were runs to be had.

"It's great to be in the record books though you don't think about it while you're batting, lovely for Chris and me to share that record.

"We'll have to see in the morning the best route to take nine wickets to try to win the game- I'd prefer to do that than get a new career-best (currently 192)."

Northants bowling coach Chris Liddle told BBC Radio Northampton:

"A tough day, it was always going to be hard when we had Gareth (Berg) go down yesterday so we were a bowler light.

"At times when we got the ball in the right areas for long enough we made it hard work for them, with Procter getting two wickets in the over, but we didn't string enough of them together and you've got to give credit to Glamorgan's batsmen.

"We've showed character before when we've been up against it, we've come out and fought hard so hopefully there'll be more of the same.

"We'll be ready to bat out the day, survive this game and come away with a draw."