County Championship: Sam Northeast and Glamorgan hit records in win at Leicestershire
- Published
Glamorgan batter Sam Northeast's unbeaten 410 was the third highest score in County Championship history
LV= County Championship Division Two, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester |
Leicestershire 584: Mulder 156 & 183: Mulder 59; Hogan 4-43 |
Glamorgan 795-5 dec: Northeast 410*, C Cooke 191*, Ingram 139, C Cooke 71*; Wright 3-99 |
Glamorgan (23 pts) beat Leicestershire (6 pts) by an innings and 28 runs |
Sam Northeast and Glamorgan smashed Championship records as they stormed to a remarkable win with 32 balls to spare over Leicestershire.
Northeast's unbeaten 410 was a Glamorgan record, the third highest Championship score in history and the ninth best in any first-class match.
Their total of 795-5 was the team's highest in the Welsh county's 101-year history.
The Foxes, 211 behind on first innings, crumbled to 183 all out.
Michael Hogan (4-43) and Michael Neser (3-60) led the victory charge after the batting heroics from Northeast and Chris Cooke (191 not out).
Only Brian Lara (501) and Archie MacLaren (424) have scored more for any county than Northeast.
It took the former Kent and Hampshire captain, on 308 overnight, just a few minutes to pass Steve James's previous county high of 309 not out, set against Sussex at Colwyn Bay in 2000, which also produced the previous Glamorgan best total of 718-3.
Cooke shared in a partnership of 461 which saw both batters make hundreds in the morning session of the last day, ending with nine fielders on the boundary in an avalanche of runs and records.
The declaration gave Glamorgan 65 overs to force victory, with Leicestershire losing Louis Kimber, caught by Northeast off Michael Hogan for 19, before spinner Andrew Salter had Rishi Patel caught at slip for 37 and Lewis Hill caught behind cutting for 19.
Leicestershire were not safe with three wickets down by tea despite no real sign of the pitch deteriorating, with Wiaan Mulder (59) holding out as Hogan and Michael Neser continued to blast away.
Wickets fell every times the Foxes looked to have got a stand together with Mulder ninth out, caught behind off Hogan with 9.3 overs still remaining.
Neser then bowled last man Wright in the gloom to spark joyous celebrations.
Glamorgan move eight points clear of Middlesex in the Division Two promotion race, 15 points behind leaders Nottinghamshire with four matches to play.
Glamorgan batter Sam Northeast told BBC Sport Wales:
"That finish was unbelievable, to get the team win topped off a special day for me, the boys put in some tough yards and it's a very special day.
"We wanted to build a partnership because we knew we'd have to go past them quite big to give our bowlers a chance, we got ourselves in and Cookey struck the ball really well. Then it was an unbelievable group bowling performances spearheaded by Hoges and Ness.
"It's truly special to be part of the list of names (for highest first-class scores), you never thought it would have happened this week, it's crazy and I'm truly grateful for everything which has happened today."
Glamorgan coach Matthew Maynard:
"It's an amazing victory with so many records broken and great individual performances, an amazing effort with the bat and to get 10 wickets on a flat deck from lunchtime was terrific.
"Salts (Andrew Salter) did a really good job to allow us to rotate the seamers, Hogie showed his class again, and Ness bowled brilliantly again, absolutely delighted for him in his final four-day game for us, likewise Colin Ingram with a great contribution.
"To have a man in your side who's one of only nine players to have scored 400 in the first-class game, it's an incredible achievement and he batted selflessly as well, brilliant cricket."
Leicestershire coach Paul Nixon told BBC Radio Leicester:
"It's massively disappointing on a fantastic pitch, both teams batted brilliantly in the first innings, I was delighted with the way we got 584.
"But we dropped four relatively simple catches and it's cost us massively in the game, though Glamorgan gave us a lot of luck as well.
"You can't drop international-quality players and if you do, you get harmed. Then they played brilliantly, they believed they could do it, and they bowled really well to our new batsmen with a bit of seam movement and Neser was outstanding>"