Glamorgan’s Kiran Carlson has been named the Rothesay County Championship Player of the Round after his maiden first-class double-ton helped Glamorgan to victory over Hampshire at the Utilita Bowl, a first Division One win in 21 years for the Welsh county.
Carlson made 209 from 232 balls as Glamorgan posted a mammoth 536 for seven declared before bowling out Hampshire twice to win by an innings and 69 runs and move up to fifth in the Division One table.
“It feels like a bit of a monkey off my back,” Carlson told ecb.co.uk about reaching 200 for the first time. “I’ve got a couple of scores in the 190s and several scores over 150 but never quite reached it. It’s always been a goal and it’s nice to tick it off. Hopefully it’s not the last one!”
Carlson’s knock moves him up to joint second on the overall Rothesay County Championship leader board, level with Matt Milnes, Matthew Potts, James Sales and Jamie Smith on five votes so far this season. James Rew is out in front alone on seven votes and is the only player this season to receive points from three separate games.
“It probably hasn’t fully sunk in yet,” Carlson said about captaining the promoted county to such a long-awaited win. “It was a massive moment for the club and gives us confidence going forward that we can compete.
“We’ve played some good cricket before this last week but had not been able to dominate for large periods. We’d have a good session and then let other teams come back into it. It was nice to be on the front foot from ball one and dictate the game the whole way through and to do that against a good Hampshire team is really pleasing.
“Getting that first win is a nice marker in the sand and we’re only a couple of wins away from being right up around the top of the table. That’s got to be the goal now. We’ve got to keep on trying to win games of cricket. It’s cliché, but we’re going to take each week as it comes and it’s nice to have a home game now after the win and we’re all very excited for Friday against Somerset.”
Carlson received the maximum of three votes for his double-century. Durham’s Ben Raine also received three votes and moved into joint seventh place on the leaderboard after match figures of eight for 81 in his side’s draw with Middlesex, including a first-innings return of five for 58 from 32 overs.
Matt Milnes’ nine-wicket match haul and second-innings figures of six for 12 from 15 overs earned him maximum votes in Kent’s victory over Derbyshire, while Joe Root took the honours from Yorkshire’s win over Somerset after scoring 64 and taking four for 49.
Jack Carson’s maiden first-class ton and four first-innings wickets earned him three votes despite Sussex’s loss to Surrey and Nottinghamshire quick Olly Stone also received three votes after his eight wickets in the match, including a five-wicket haul, helped the champions to a 10-wicket win over Leicestershire.
Finally, Ben Sanderson’s second-innings seven for 31 and 11 wickets in the match as Northamptonshire beat Worcestershire by 10 wickets earned him the full three votes.
Round Five votes
Division One
Leicestershire v Nottinghamshire: 3 – Olly Stone (Nottinghamshire); 2 – Ben Slater (Nottinghamshire): 1 – Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire).
Somerset v Yorkshire: 3 – Joe Root (Yorkshire); 2 – Joshua Thomas (Somerset); 1 – James Wharton (Yorkshire).
Hampshire v Glamorgan: 3 – Kiran Carlson (Glamorgan); 2 – Zain-ul-Hasan (Glamorgan); 1 – Timm van der Gugten (Glamorgan).
Surrey v Sussex: 3 – Jack Carson (Sussex); 2 – Dom Sibley (Surrey); 1 – Ollie Robinson (Sussex).
Division Two
Kent v Derbyshire: 3 – Matt Milnes (Kent); 2 – Chris Benjamin (Kent); 1 – Rory Haydon (Derbyshire).
Northamptonshire v Worcestershire: 3 – Ben Sanderson (Northamptonshire); 2 – James Sales (Northamptonshire); 1 – Gareth Roderick (Worcestershire).
Middlesex v Durham: 3 – Ben Raine (Durham); 2 – Ryan Higgins (Middlesex); 1 – David Bedingham (Durham).
Leaderboard
7 – James Rew (Somerset); 5 – Kiran Carlson (Glamorgan); Matt Milnes (Kent), Matthew Potts (Durham), James Sales (Northamptonshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey); 4 – Tom Abell (Somerset), Leus du Plooy (Middlesex), Emilio Gay (Durham), Ben Raine (Durham).