A terrific double hundred from James Kettleborough helped Glamorgan’s Second XI draw with Essex at Bishop’s Stortford yesterday.
Kettleborough, who played in the first three Specsavers County Championship matches of the season before being left out, gave a timely reminder of his class with a career-best 209*.
After being bowled out for 205, Glamorgan’s bowlers reduced Essex to 285, before Kettleborough’s innings shaped the match and gave Steve Watkin’s side a glimpse of victory.
But it was not to be, as Essex held out on a pulsating final day, finishing on 305/5, with promising Glamorgan seamer Palash Joshi taking two tickets.
For Kettleborough, it was a welcome knock after the frustration of being left out of the first team.
He said: “I’m pretty pleased, because it’s been frustrating since I was dropped and it is always nice to score a few runs.”
After Mark Wallace and Nick Selman earned call-ups to the first team after impressing in the Second XI, former Northants opener Kettleborough hoped he could do the same by continuing in this rich vein.
He added: “I guess the selectors of the first team this year have shown that guys who have scored runs in the 2nd team will be rewarded and hopefully I can give them a few headaches and get back into the side.
“It’s disappointing to get dropped so I wanted to spend some quality time in the middle get some runs under my belt.”
On notching a first ever double hundred, Kettleborough was understandably delighted to ‘tick off’ the milestone.
He said: “It’s something I've never done before so it was nice to tick it off at a reasonably high level and it would be great to carry this form into first team cricket.”