It was a simply red letter day for Aneurin Donald and Glamorgan CCC yesterday as, in one of the most audacious and pulsating innings in the Welsh county’s history, the teenager wrote his name into the record books at Colwyn Bay on the opening day of Glamorgan’s Specsavers County Championship match against Derbyshire as he struck 200 from just 123 balls to equal Ravi Shastri’s world record for the fastest double-hundred – in terms of balls faced – in first-class cricket.
The 19 year-old, whose previous Championship best had been 98 against Gloucestershire at the end of last season, had good fortune early in his record-breaking innings and survived a sharp chance at slip before completing a century from 80 balls - just one ball slower than Gilbert Parkhouse’s Club record set at Northampton in 1961 – before romping to a maiden double-hundred from 123 balls.
In the process, the teenager equalled the efforts of Ravi Shastri who also struck 200 from 123 balls against Bombay against Baroda in domestic cricket in India in 1984/85 which is the fastest double-hundred on record where the number of balls faced are exactly known. In the past, however, county scorers recorded hundreds in terms of time, and by this yardstick it was not the fastest in Glamorgan’s history as Maurice Turnbull’s double-hundred for Glamorgan against Worcestershire at Swansea in 1937 spanned just 188 minutes, compared with Donald’s 201 minutes.
What is undeniable is that Donald at, 19 years and 210 days, is the youngest=ever double-centurion for the Welsh county, breaking the record held by John Hopkins who, at 24 years and 30 days, scored two-hundred at Worcester in 1977. Aneurin’s score of 234 also beat Mark Cosgrove’s 233 at Derby in 2006 for the highest first-class innings by a Glamorgan batsman in Championship cricket against Derbyshire,
His tally of 15 sixes also beat Graham Wagg’s Club record of 11 set last summer against Surrey at Guildford, whilst his overall aggregate of 41 boundaries equalled the Glamorgan record made by Steve James during his triple-hundred at the same ground against Sussex in 2000. One more maximum would have also seen Aneurin equal the record for the most sixes in an innings in a Championship match, held jointly by Andrew Symonds of Gloucestershire and Essex’s Graham Napier who each struck 16 sixes at Abergavenny in 1995 and Whitgift School in 2011 respectively.
Through his efforts, Glamorgan ended the day on 481/8 - their highest-ever score at the close of day one of a Championship match – and just eighteen runs short of their best-ever daily tally, made against Essex at Sophia Gardens in 2000 when Glamorgan amassed 499 against Essex
One of the few Club records which Donald did not beat during a remarkable innings when passing motorists in Penrhyn Avenue were put at peril by his six-hitting exploits was the most number of runs in a day by a Glamorgan batsman which remains at 238 by Matthew Maynard against Hampshire at Southampton in 1991.