Kiran Carlson, in Glamorgan’s final T20 match of the season against Middlesex at Sophia Gardens, struck the fastest T20 fifty on record for the Welsh county, racing from 0 to 50 in just fifteen balls. It was also the joint third fastest on record in the tournament and the quickest in any form of white ball cricket for the Welsh county (writes Andrew Hignell).
With England adopting the Bazball approach to batting in Test cricket, plenty was being written in the newspapers over the past few months about Brendon McCullum, the England Head coach and former New Zealand international who spent 2006 as one of Glamorgan’s overseas players. The opening T20 game that year against Worcestershire at Cardiff had seen the Kiwi score a remarkable 18-ball fifty before the following night at Edgbaston his fellow countryman James Franklin had done the same against Warwickshire.
Shortly after Australia had won at Lord’s this afternoon to go 2-0 up in the Ashes series, these records were shattered during a remarkable game at Cardiff as Kiran Carlson raced to 50 from 15 balls against Middlesex, although his record-breaking efforts were in a losing cause as Glamorgan ended their T20 season with a 49-run defeat.
With his team chasing a target of 201, Kiran began by cutting and sweeping the first two balls from Josh de Caires for four before striking the last two balls of the opening over for four and six. He then square drove Tom Helm for four before impishly scooping him to the ropes, followed by a booming straight drive for six against Ethan Bamber. Kiran continued his assault by sweeping Nathan Fernandes for four and six, before reaching his half-century by square-cutting Helm.
He celebrated by pulling Helm for another four, followed by a hook for six against Bamber as Glamorgan ended the powerplays on 87-1. Kiran then greeted Luke Hollman by savagely pulling him for six but, three balls later, his 30-ball assault ended as he drilled the ball straight back to the leg-spinner who gleefully completed the catch.
Kiran’s 15-ball fifty was also the fastest for the Club in any form of white-ball cricket beating the previous record of 19 balls set by Stewart Walters against Lancashire at Colwyn Bay in a 40-over match in 2011.
His 15-ball fifty was also the third fastest on record in T20 cricket in the Uk and surpassed only by Marcus Trescothick’s 13-ball fifty for Somerset against Hampshire at Taunton in 2010 and Gerard Brophy’s 14-ball half-century for Yorkshire against Derbyshire at Derby in 2006. The world record remains Yuvrav Singh’s 12-ball fifty for India against England at Durban during the T20 World Cup in 2007/08.