Chris Cooke and Kiran Carlson wrote their names into the Club’s record books today by sharing a fifth wicket stand of 307 in 72.2 overs against Northamptonshire in their County Championship encounter at Sophia Gardens (writes Andrew Hignell).
Overall, it was the sixth highest stand in first-class cricket for Glamorgan and the second highest stand for Glamorgan at the Cardiff ground. As the list below shows, it was also the eighth triple-century stand in the Club’s long and proud history:
425* - Adrian Dale and Viv Richards for the 4th wicket v Middlesex at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 1993
374 - Matthew Elliott and Steve James for the 1st wicket v Sussex at Colwyn Bay, 2000
330 - Roy Fredericks and Alan Jones for the 1st wicket v Northamptonshire at Swansea, 1972
315 - Gareth Rees and Mark Cosgrove for the 1st wicket v Surrey at The Oval, 2009
313 - Emrys Davies and Willie Jones for the 2nd wicket v Essex at Brentwood, 1948
307* - Kiran Carlson and Chris Cooke for the 5th wicket v Northamptonshire at Sophia Gardens, 2021
306* - Javed Miandad and Younis Ahmed for the 4th wicket v Australians at Neath, 1985
306 - Matthew Maynard and David Hemp for the 3rd wicket at Abergavenny, 1995
As the next list shows of progressive partnerships for the fifth wicket shows, the outstanding efforts of Kiran and Chris this afternoon also broke the previous best made 72 years ago and eclipsing the efforts of some great names in Glamorgan’s history:
100 by Norman Riches and Jock Tait v Hampshire at Southampton, 1921
137 by Jimmy Stone and Frank Pinch v West Indians at Cardiff Arms Park, 1923
137 by Cyril Walters and Emrys Davies v Somerset at Weston-super-Mare, 1926
181 by Eddie Bates and Guy Morgan v Worcestershire at Kidderminster, 1927
181 by Dick Duckfield and Cyril Smart v Hampshire at Cardiff Arms Park, 1935
204 by Emrys Davies and Cyril Smart v Somerset at Rodney Parade, Newport, 1939
264 by Maurice Robinson and Stan Montgomery v Hampshire at Bournemouth, 1949
307*by Kiran Carlson and Chris Cooke v Northamptonshire at Sophia Gardens, 2021
It was also the third successive century stand for Glamorgan for that wicket this summer, following partnerships of 106 and 111 earlier in the season at Northampton, whilst at Headingley in the Championship match against Yorkshire Chris Cooke and Billy Root added 212 for the fifth wicket. For Chris, his unbeaten 133 follows scores of 136 and an unbeaten 57 in the match at Northampton back in April, taking his tally this summer against the East Midlands side to 326 for once out.