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Cricket world stunned by 'ridiculous' feat not seen this century

sam goodwin
Sports Editor
·4-min read
Sam Northeast, pictured here becoming the first player this century to make 400 runs in a first class innings.
Sam Northeast became the first player this century to make 400 runs in a first class innings. Image: Getty

English batter Sam Northeast has stunned the cricket world after becoming the first player this century to score more than 400 runs in a first class innings.

Northeast joined an exclusive group of players to pass 400 runs in a single innings on Saturday, hitting 410 not out for Glamorgan in a county championship match.

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The 32-year-old right-hander, often labelled the best batter never to be selected for England, hit 45 fours and three sixes in his 450-ball knock against Leicestershire.

Unfortunately for Northeast he didn't get the chance to challenge Brian Lara's world-record individual score of 501 - set in 1994 while playing for Warwickshire, also in an English county game - with Glamorgan declaring at 5-795.

His score was the third-highest individual innings in England ever, and the ninth-highest first-class innings ever made worldwide.

It is also the highest individual score this century in elite-level cricket, surpassing Lara's Test-record 400 not out for West Indies against England in 2004.

Only eight players had previously ever made 400 or more in first-class cricket.

Like Lara, Australian legend Bill Ponsford passed the 400 mark on two occasions, when playing for Victoria in the 1920s.

Sir Donald Bradman made 452 not out in a game for NSW against Queensland in 1930.

Northeast's knock was the fourth 400-plus score in the English county game ever, after Lara, Archie MacLaren (424) in 1895 and Graeme Hick (405) in 1988.

He'd started the day unbeaten on 308 and soon went past Steve James' 309 not out against Sussex in 2000 as the highest first-class score by a Glamorgan player.

Sam Northeast, pictured here in action for Glamorgan in the County Championship.
Sam Northeast in action for Glamorgan in the County Championship. (Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)

Northeast's monumental knock at Grace Road helped Glamorgan win by an innings and 28 runs - with a bit of help from his Australian friends.

Glamorgan's veteran 41-year-old Aussie paceman Michael Hogan took a match-winning 4-43, while Test all-rounder Michael Neser also chipped in with 3-60.

"It's truly special to be part of the list of names ... it's just crazy, people keep telling me what a special achievement it is," Northeast said afterwards.

"To get the team win topped off a special day for me. It was an unbelievable group bowling performance spearheaded by Hoges and Ness."

Cricket fans and commentators were left gobsmacked by Northeast's record feat.

Cricket's 400-run club

Brian Lara - 501 not out (Warwickshire v Durham, Birmingham, 2 June 1994)

Hanif Mohammad - 499 (Karachi v Bahawalpur, Karachi, 8 January 1959)

Don Bradman - 452 not out (NSW v Queensland, Sydney, 3 January 1930)

B.B Nimbalkar - 443 not out (Maharashtra v Kathiawar, Pune, 16 December 1948)

Bill Ponsford - 437 (Victoria v Queensland, Melbourne, 16 December 1927)

Bill Ponsford - 429 (Victoria v Tasmania, Melbourne, 2 February 1923)

Aftab Baloch - 428 (Sind v Baluchistan, Karachi, 18 February 1974)

Archie MacLaren - 424 (Lancashire v Somerset, Taunton, 15 July 1895)

Sam Northeast - 410 not out (Glamorgan v Leicestershire, Leicester, 23 Jully, 2022)

Graeme Hick - 405 not out (Worcestershire v Somerset, Taunton, 5 May 1988)

Brian Lara - 400 not out (West Indies v England, St John's, Antigua, 10 April 2004)

with AAP

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