Congratulations. Can you summarize how you are feeling right now? You probably had just enough time for it to sink into the road to the south.
Thanks. I guess it’s something you always look for in your career, but never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I was going to end up on 410 and join some amazing names. The list of players: Lara, Hick, Bradman… Joining this list is, as I said, beyond my wildest imagination. It’s been a crazy few days. You are always striving to achieve an important personal milestone like this in your career. These two days were special – and crowned by a great victory.
Honestly it was yesterday [when I realised]. I never really thought about it today. Thinking about it now… hitting a six to get to 400, what do I do? I could have done it in a more conventional way. If I had gone out without reaching 400, I would be kicking myself now. It was always about trying to set up the game. It was a situation of seeing how much we could get. The bulk of the work was done yesterday. me and cooky [Chris Cooke, who made 191 not out] we could go out and have fun this morning after we come in.
Not at all. I knew I needed two points to get Glamorgan’s top score. It was a job done this morning. Even just to match Steve James, I was like ‘OK, I’m happy now’. After that it was all about getting started and seeing how far I could go. I remember walking by and thinking, ‘333 is pretty good… 350 is pretty good, we’ll keep going’. That’s kind of how I took it today.
Your previous highest first class score was 191. What was your highest score – did you do something ridiculous in a school or club game?
191 was my highest level overall. I had a lot more nerves in the 190s than in the 390s, which seems completely ridiculous to even talk about now. I really wanted that double. It was something I wanted to check off my career list and somehow I thought it would never happen. It’s not something you think about all the time, is it? “I want to get a double cent this week”. You just think, ‘let’s rebuild again and carry on’. You can never get enough, as all my coaches have told me over the years. I guess that was kinda true.
Players talk about feeling in the zone, or like they’re done hitting after innings like this. Did anything seem extremely different to you?
I spoke to my dad last night and he said it was the best he had ever seen me play. I was like, ‘really?’ I said I felt good, but not like I was on another planet, and he was like, ‘no, that’s the best I’ve ever seen you play.’ It was coming from someone who has seen me beat quite a few times in my career, so the fact that he acknowledged that was good. It wasn’t really any different. You obviously tried to make plans against some bowlers and to be honest it looked like a normal day at the office – but it clearly wasn’t.
Did you have family there today? Did your dad make the trip?
He watched every ball on the creek. He was considering coming today but didn’t want to pressure me – pick me up and do nothing. He likes to watch the stream. I don’t think he missed a ball from the first pitch.
Mast [Maynard, Glamorgan’s coach] and Lloydy [David Lloyd, captain] and Kiran [Carlson, vice-captain] Basically we said it and we said we could get 28 more runs for the best sixth wicket partnership ever in any cricket – ‘if you really want to do that we’re not going to Stop”. Cookey and I had it in mind that lunch was the statement and that was always what it was going to be. We left ourselves with what now looks like exactly the right amount of time and number of runs – it couldn’t have worked better to be honest.
It was probably a time when I wasn’t sure where the future was and everything seemed pretty uncertain. To have found a very good home in Glamorgan and to enjoy my cricket again, I couldn’t be happier right now. I just hope everything continues on an upward trajectory. We won today and we’re looking for a promotion, which is fantastic. With a bit of luck [there are] more good times ahead for me and Glamorgan cricket.
How do you celebrate an unfinished 410 run?
I’m literally heading over to a mate’s BBQ – a mate from when I was in Hampshire. I have just come down from Leicester. We have this booked so it will be nice to celebrate with some friends. Should be fun tonight and then I’ll see the family tomorrow and celebrate some more – then head back to the county again.
#Sam #Northeast #nerves #190s #390s #ridiculous