Northants hit by late fightback as Glamorgan debutant grabs a century

The away side eventually made 259 all out after being asked to bat, but they had slumped to 135 for nine.

Callum Taylor, on debut, hit an extraordinary 106 with 11 fours and six sixes to put the visitors in the match before Northants finished the day on 82 for one.

Taylor, a 22-year-old from Newport, was 27 from 46 balls when the ninth wicket fell. He then swung another 79 runs in only 48 balls.

He cleared his front leg to hoist Brett Hutton over square leg, then took the same bowler back over his head.

Simon Kerrigan, the left-arm spinner playing his first professional match since 2017, was smashed over long-on and Blessing Muzarabani heaved over midwicket and then scooped beyond backward square-leg.

He aimed leg side again to swing Muzarabani over the hoardings and reach three-figures in 88 balls. He skipped up the wicket and leapt with delight.

And Taylor said: "I was very excited to get to the hundred, as shown by my reaction.

"There's a lot of things that go through your head before your debut, one of them is scoring a hundred and it happened so sometimes your imagination does come true.

"The expectation of us losing the last wicket pretty quickly was high, so me and Hoges (Michael Hogan) showed a bit of intent. It loosened me and Mick up to show some positive intent.

"It's a dream come true to play but to score a hundred on debut is surreal and I'm excited for the future.”

Hogan joined the fun with three sixes of his own and the pair smashed 124 in 68 balls for a 10th wicket record partnership for Glamorgan against Northants.

Hogan timed two perfect lofted drives against Jack White down the ground and a mighty strike off Muzarabani that found the gardens of the Wantage Road houses.

It was a remarkable turnaround but not entirely unexpected. Three times in the last four innings, Northants have been on the verge of dismissing the opposition cheaply only to see the innings go spiralling away from them under a barrage of hitting.

And so it followed once again as the home attack had no answer when the batsmen switched to all-out attack and the chance to immediately take hold of the game was lost.

Because until Taylor’s tonking, it was an excellent day for home side, who once again made a host of changes with their focus on the T20 Blast that begins on Thursday.

Hutton was making his seasonal reappearance after playing a crucial role in last season’s promotion campaign and he took four afternoon wickets.

He got one to straighten on Billy Root from round the wicket who edged to first slip for 16.

Chris Cooke was too slow to defend a full ball that shaped back and was bowled for two.

Kieran Bull was caught behind pushing forward before Marchant de Lange slashed a wider ball to first slip where Saif Zaib held a sharp chance.

But then Taylor played with glorious abandon to turn the day Glamorgan’s way.

Northants have also endured trouble with the bat this season but made a solid reply.

They lost Emilio Gay, caught and bowled to a top edge trying to pull de Lange, but Ben Curran and Charlie Thurston, both of whom have shown promise in their limited experience, shared a half-century stand at over four-an-over to the close.