It’s one of the most coveted batting achievements in first-class cricket and, given the fact that he is currently the country’s leading run scorer, Sam Northeast could become the ninth batter in cricket history to score 1,000 runs before the end of May and join an illustrious list including the likes WG Grace and Don Bradman (writes Andrew Hignell)
At the present time, Sam has amassed 562 runs at an impressive average of 112.40 so he needs a further 438 runs in a maximum of six innings in the next three Championship matches – against Sussex and Middlesex at Cardiff, plus the game at Leicester which ends on 27 May - to add his name to the list below:
• WG Grace for the MCC, Gloucestershire and England in 1895.
• Tom Hayward for Surrey in 1900.
• Wally Hammond for Gloucestershire in 1927.
• Charlie Hallows for Lancashire in 1928.
• Don Bradman for Australia in 1930 and again in 1938.
• Bill Edrich for Middlesex in 1938.
• Glenn Turner for New Zealand in 1973.
• Graeme Hick for Worcestershire in 1988.
The nearest any batter has come to achieving the feat in the past few years was in 2012 when Nick Compton of Middlesex went to the crease on 31 May needing 59 runs against Worcestershire. However, rain interrupted his innings when he was on 9 and it was the following day, 1 June, when he reached the milestone.
If Sam achieves the feat of 1,000 first-class runs before the end of May, it would also break the Glamorgan record currently held by Gilbert Parkhouse who reached the landmark on 17 June in both 1950 and 1959.