County Championship: Sam Northeast ton puts Glamorgan on top at Lord’s

Glamorgan's new Championship captain Sam Northeast led from the front with an unbeaten 186 as they reached 370-3 against Middlesex on a blustery day.

Northeast shared a stand of 129 with Billy Root (67) and 176 with Kiran Carlson (77).

The home side's understandable decision to bowl first back-fired on a far from typical April wicket.

Northeast passed 20,000 runs in professional cricket during his immaculate knock.

It was a remarkable start to his season after hitting an unbeaten 166 against Yorkshire in his final match of 2023, and came on the ground where he scored a century for Harrow school aged 17.

Both sides fielded two newcomers with Leus Du Plooy and Henry Brookes in home ranks, while recent loan signing Craig Miles joined Pakistan's Mir Hamza in the Glamorgan team.

Toby Roland-Jones had no hesitation in asking Glamorgan to bat, and Ethan Bamber quickly had Zain Ul Hassan caught behind for five.

The pitch was a light brown rather than the usual early season green-top, the Kookaburra ball gave the bowlers no joy, and the elegant Northeast was quickly into his stride, driving fluently as he reached his 50 in 51 balls.

Root, promoted from the middle order, survived a difficult slip chance on 29 but quickly followed his captain to a half-century as the pair dominated the morning session.

Brookes broke the stand with a fine delivery that moved back in to bowl Root after a stand of 129.

Although Middlesex put the brakes on temporarily with tight spells from Ryan Higgins and spinner Josh De Caires, Northeast reached three figures off 146 balls.

Kiran Carlson, normally a rapid scorer, was initially forced to work hard for his runs but Middlesex's windswept bowlers struggled to break through and Northeast went for his shots again after tea.

Carlson looked to be joining in the acceleration before he hammered the persevering Bamber straight to cover in the first over with the new ball.

Colin Ingram got off the mark with an edged four but added 49 with Northeast as the captain dug in to fight another day, and Middlesex were left to reflect on a day of unexpectedly tough toil.

Glamorgan captain Sam Northeast told BBC Sport Wales:

"It's one off the bucket list getting a (county) hundred at Lord's and we've put ourselves in a great position.

"I'm not sure this was in the script when I was tossing up, a good toss to lose because I would have had a bowl as well.

"I felt in good rhythm from ball one, I went through a few spells of getting bogged down but overall I was pretty happy with my tempo and the way I played.

"It's been a fantastic day, I'm not sure we could have dreamed of it this morning, and with Kiran, Rooty and Colin coming in at the end with some impetus, it was fantastic to see.

"Hopefully we can declare in a strong position at some stage, I want to lead from the front, and I want to walk away with a victory."

Middlesex bowler Henry Brookes said:

"On a personal note it was nice to make my debut here and take a wicket but it was one of those days where it didn't go according to plan.

"There wasn't too much movement all day long, most sides look to bowl at this time of the season but there wasn't much swing after the first 10 to 15 overs.

"We had to get creative with our plans and fields and look to do some different things, there wasn't too much pace in the pitch."