Sam Northeast: Glamorgan batter savours 'special' win after record knock of 410
- Published
Sam Northeast (R) and Chris Cooke walk off at Leicestershire after setting a Glamorgan record stand of 461
Glamorgan batter Sam Northeast was delighted after becoming one of only nine men to have hit more than 400 runs in a first-class innings.
The 32-year-old's unbeaten 410 helped claim a thrilling win at Leicestershire that boosted their promotion hopes.
In the County Championship, only Brian Lara's 501 not out in 1994 and Archie MacLaren's 424 in 1895 recorded higher scores.
"It hasn't quite sunk in yet but it was a very special day," Northeast said.
"It's truly special to be part of the list of names... it's just crazy, people keep telling me what a special achievement it is."
Northeast could potentially have overhauled even West Indies great Lara's mark, but after helping Glamorgan reach 795-5 at lunch on the final day - the highest score in the Welsh county's history - there was the chance to claim a crucial win.
Leicestershire had hit 584 in their first innings but now trailed by 211 and Glamorgan's bowlers stepped up - dismissing Leicestershire for 183 with just five overs left of play to seal victory by an innings and 28 runs.
Northeast was delighted to add a victory to his record knock, which propelled Glamorgan into second in Division Two.
"To get that win has put us right in the mix," said the former Kent and Hampshire captain.
"We know we'll have to go away to a few tricky spots, but it's a little break now and play some one-day cricket... then come back in September and give it absolutely everything."
Highest first-class innings in history:
Brian Lara, 501 for Warwickshire v Durham 1994
Hanif Mohammad, 499 for Karachi v Bahawalpur 1959
Don Bradman, 452 for New South Wales v Queensland 1930
Bhausaheb Nimbalkar, 443 for Maharashtra v Kathiawar 1948
Bill Ponsford, 437 for Victoria v Queensland 1927
Bill Ponsford, 429 for Victoria v Tasmania 1923
Aftab Baloch, 428 for Sind v Baluchistan 1974
Archie MacLaren, 424 for Lancashire v Somerset 1895
Sam Northeast, 410* for Glamorgan v Leicestershire 2022
Graeme Hick, 405* for Worcestershire v Somerset 1988
Brian Lara, 400* for West Indies v England 2004
Has Northeast staked England claim?
Despite his undoubted talent, Northeast has never represented England, but - unlike in his innings - flat-batted the chances of winning international honours late in his career.
"It's something where I just want to perform for Glamorgan now and keep up the good run of form and finish strongly, put some good numbers up really and hopefully contribute to some success for the team," he said.
But when asked, Glamorgan coach Matthew Maynard agreed that Northeast was one of the best players not to have played for England, adding "yet".
"It depends on the selection doesn't it? Those things, as Sam knows, are out of his control, all he can do is score runs and to have that achievement now is amazing," Maynard said.
"He's got to keep doing it, he's scored two centuries for us in two consecutive games. If it had been four centuries you never know, he might have been going on a winter tour. He's still got an opportunity to do that in September of course (when the County Championship resumes) and fingers crossed for him.
"To have a man in your side who is one of only nine to have scored over 400 in the whole of the first-class game is just a remarkable feat, an incredible achievement.
"He also batted selflessly, he didn't just nudge it and knock it around to get there. He knew we wanted to up the scoring rate and he did it."
Northeast shared a stand of 461 with Chris Cooke, setting another Glamorgan record, who also finished unbeaten on 191.
"It (the tactics) were just to get ourselves in in the first hour and to see if we could build a partnership, because we knew we'd have to go past them quite big to set something up for the day and to give our bowlers a chance," Northeast added.
"We got ourselves in and were able to capitalise. Cookey stroked the ball unbelievably well, hit it well and on another day he would have got a double hundred.
"We walked off (at lunch) with the declaration in mind and set our bowlers something, but it was a pretty dead pitch by the end there and it was just an unbelievable bowling group performance."