Kiran Carlson has followed Gareth Bale, Sam Warburton and Geraint Thomas into Whitchurch High School’s hall of fame.

The Glamorgan cricketer may not yet enjoy the same global recognition as his fellow alumni, but the 18-year-old is now on his way after becoming the county’s youngest centurion in first class cricket.

Carlson will resume on Tuesday morning on 101 not out against Essex at Chelmsford after breaking Mike Llewellyn’s 44-year-old county record.

Llewellyn’s century against Cambridge University at Swansea in 1972 came when he 18 years and 213 days. Carlson – who took five wickets on his county debut last month – is only 18 years and 119 days.

“It’s a great day,” said Carlson, who helped Glamorgan recover from 34 for 5 to close on 256 for 7 against promotion-chasing Essex on day one in Division Two of the Specsavers County Championship.

“It has been a fantastic partnership and hopefully we’ll carry on tomorrow.

“When you start playing cricket when you’re seven or eight you always go and watch Glamorgan in T20 games and always think could be there in a few years.”

“I’m more of a batsman and it is lovely to get my first hundred under my belt. It’s a great start to my career and hopefully I can set up the game for us.”

Carlson came in at 34 for four and said: “It’s almost when you’re in that position there is less pressure. Obviously the pitch was doing a bit and I think there is a challenge in that situation.

“We’re still not out of the woods yet. We should really try and push on tomorrow and get a decent first-innings total.”

Carlson put on an unbeaten 128 for the eighth wicket with another comparatively young and inexperienced bowler-batsman, Owen Morgan, 22, who was playing only his eighth game and finished 51 not out. Both players, though, had let-offs that proved costly.

It had looked a different picture when Glamorgan collapsed from 30 without loss to 34 for five in the space of 20 balls in the morning session.

Carlson, who came to the crease with four wickets down, became the youngest Glamorgan player to score a century in first-class cricket. He passed three-figures in 192 balls and his century contained 15 fours.

When bad light ended the day six overs short, he had reached 101, which represented his highest score of a career just three Championship games old. In fact, his four previous innings read 1, 10, 0 and 0.

Morgan said: “We were in a bit of trouble in the early stages being seven down when I got out there.

“But Kiran and myself have put on a good partnership and got us back into the game slightly.

“It was quite tough and the Essex bowlers were bowling well and deservedly took a few wickets. Both myself and Kiran recognised that we needed to treat them respectfully and when the bad ball came to deal with it.

“I tried to give Kiran my own opinions. How much he took in I’m not sure.”