Craig Meschede’s maiden hundred rescued Glamorgan against Surrey in a match which will live long in the all-rounder’s memory
Press Association21-Apr-2015
ScorecardCraig Meschede maiden hundred edged Glamorgan beyond the follow on•Getty Images
Craig Meschede’s maiden hundred rescued Glamorgan against Surrey in a match which will live long in the all-rounder’s memory.Meschede might have wondered whether the spotlight would ever be his after being farmed out on loan by Somerset, the move happening after fellow all-rounder Jim Allenby had made a winter switch across the Severn Bridge in the opposite direction.But in the space of three days Meschede has gone a long way to proving the wisdom of his season-long move and winning the affections of Glamorgan supporters into the bargain.On Sunday, he grabbed the headlines by ruining Kevin Pietersen’s attempt to impress the England selectors by having his fellow South African native caught at slip for only 19.The 23-year-old was back with the bat on Tuesday with Glamorgan in dire straits at 293 for 7 in this Division Two contest, still needing 121 to save the follow-on after Surrey’s massive 563 for 7 declared, and far exceeding his previous career-best 62 to make an unbeaten 101.”It means the world to me,” he said. “I have been longing for this moment for my whole professional career and finally it has happened, so it is really special for me. It’s just nice to finally get a big score under my name and kind of have some belief in myself, knowing that I can do it. That’s the main thing.”If you score runs, hopefully you can go up the order, but I am also a bowler and I have got to take that aspect in my game as well.”His 130-ball innings, which featured 16 fours and a six, guided a relieved Glamorgan to 419, although there was late anxiety when the supporting Dean Cosker was ninth man out with the hosts two runs short of their target of 414.Preventing the follow-on appeared a tall order yet, in tandem with Cosker, Meschede frustrated a Surrey attack who had hitherto provided variation and penetration and shared the wickets around on a batsman-friendly surface.Meschede revealed a full range of shots either side of the wicket but kept his best for a sweetly-timed straight drive off the economical Gareth Batty which belonged to a top-order batsman, let alone an aspiring all-rounder batting at No. 9.Two games into his new career he already has a place in the Glamorgan annals, his partnership of 119 with Cosker eclipsing the club’s previous ninth-wicket best of 88 against Surrey between Robert Croft and David Harrison at Swansea in 2006.Meschede was still five runs short of a century when Cosker departed but Andy Carter hit a single and he then struck a legside boundary before moving to three figures with his first false shot of the day, an uppish pull which just cleared the retreating fielder at midwicket.Glamorgan’s innings appeared to have turned earlier on a remarkable run out after they had just passed the 200 mark with Colin Ingram, the South African one-day international batsman, posting a first fifty for his new county.Ingram had lost his morning partner Will Bragg, bowled around his legs by Matt Dunn for 37, but the Kolpak signing and Chris Cooke were motoring along against the soft ball. But then Cooke pushed the ball firmly through the covers and it was only the enthusiasm of Zafar Ansari which prevented it going all the way to the boundary.Cooke set off for a third run but he soon realised he was in danger and to his horror he was stranded by Ansari’s direct hit from fully 70 yards. The bizarre dismissal had the effect of unsettling Ingram and he soon fell for 56 when striking Tom Curran to cover.Mark Wallace and Graham Wagg set about repairing the damage against the new ball with an entertaining post-lunch partnership which had reached 55 when the latter was bowled playing back attempting to cut Batty.Last week Wallace became the first specialist wicket-keeper in Glamorgan history to reach 10,000 runs and once again he illustrated that losing the captaincy to Jacques Rudolph at the end of last season has had no effect on his commitment to the cause.Wallace played diligently to reach his half-century from 87 balls but, after Batty had punished David Lloyd’s ill-judged sweep, Curran took his edge while he was defending and removed him for 51.At that stage Surrey must have felt they would be enforcing the follow-on at some point after tea, but Meschede and Cosker had other ideas to set up what could yet be an intriguing final day.