(writes Andrew Hignell)
Having become the first man to score over a thousand Championship runs in the UK this summer and the first Glamorgan batsman to score hundreds in each innings of a match since 2005, Marnus Labuschagne will go into the Welsh county’s Specsavers County Championship match against Middlesex at Sophia Gardens on the cusp of yet another all-time batting record for his adopted county.
The Australian has an overall tally of 1057 first-class runs this summer at a very healthy average of 70.46, and he has also scored half-centuries or more in his last six innings for the Welsh county – 83 v Derbyshire at Swansea, 51 against Middlesex at Radlett, 65 and 82 against Gloucestershire at Bristol, and most recently 106 and 100 in the game against Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens.
This fine run equals the achievements of Alan Jones – coincidentally the man who presented the Australian with his Glamorgan cap during the lunch interval on day three of the game with Worcestershire at Cardiff - and Hugh Morris who each scored six successive scores in excess of 50 for the Welsh county in first-class cricket in the UK.Alan achieved the feat during July 1967, amassing 527 runs with scores of 58 against Surrey at The Oval, 100 and 65 versus Somerset at Neath, 82 and 56 against Northamptonshire at Northampton, plus an unbeaten 166 in the only innings of the game with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. He very nearly made it seven in a row, but the next game the prolific left-hander was dismissed for 46 by Lancashire’s Ken Higgs at the Arms Park.
Hugh’s sequence from 29th August 1995 until 6th May 1996 saw him amass 710 runs with 61 against Leicestershire at Grace Road, followed by 166* and 104* in the game with Nottinghamshire at Sophia Gardens, 126* against Cambridge University at Fenner’s, plus 202* and 51 during the game against Yorkshire at Sophia Gardens.
In more recent times of two divisional cricket, Marnus’ sequence is the most prolific since July and August 2004 when Matthew Elliott made five successive scores in excess of fifty, with scores of 53 against Sri Lanka A at Swansea, 54 and 77* versus Hampshire at Sophia Gardens, and then 103 plus 85 in the match with Somerset at Taunton.
If Marnus passes fifty in the first innings of the match against Middlesex he will therefore set another Club record by hitting seven successive scores in excess of fifty in first-class cricket.