Callum Taylor this afternoon emulated the achievements of Matthew Maynard and Mike Powell by scoring a century on his first-class debut. (writes Andrew Hignell)
Like Maynard, the youngster from Newport CC reached his hundred with a six, over deep square-leg having faced 88 balls and hit 10 fours and 6 sixes during his 131 minutes at the crease. The other Glamorgan batsmen to score a century on their first-class debut have been:
Frank Pinch – 138* v Worcestershire at Swansea, 1921.
Matthew Maynard - 102 v Yorkshire at Swansea, 1985.
Michael Powell - 200* v Oxford University at The Parks, 1997.
Callum’s first 50 had taken 64 balls with 6 fours and a six, whilst his second 50 came from just 24 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes. It was not Callum’s first innings for Glamorgan’s 1st XI, with the son of a former Pontypool RFC back-row forward having appeared in T20 cricket last summer, and reverse-sweeping his first ball faced, against Somerset at Taunton, to the third man boundary for four. Frank Pinch had also played for Glamorgan in their Minor County games during 1920 before the young schoolmaster made his debut hundred the following year in the Championship match against Worcestershire at Swansea.
Similarly, Matthew Maynard had also batted two days before his debut century in the rain-affected Sunday League match against Yorkshire – also at the St. Helen’s ground - with the young tyro reaching his maiden century with three successive sixes against Phil Carrrick in the Championship encounter against the White Rose county.
Callum also shared in a remarkable tenth wicket stand with Michael Hogan as they added 124 in the space of just 11.2 overs to post the Welsh county’s highest stand for that wicket against the East Midlands side, beating the 115 which Allan Watkins and Don Shepherd had added for the tenth wicket at the same ground during 1958. Their efforts were also the fourth highest for that wicket in the Club’s history, and only surpassed by:
131* by Cyril Smart and Wilf Hughes v South Africans at Cardiff Arms Park, 1935.
140* by Rodney Ontong and Robin Hobbs v Hampshire at Swansea, 1981.
143 by Terry Davies and Simon Daniels v Gloucestershire at Swansea, 1982.