Matthew Maynard is congratulated by Mike Kasprowicz

The former England player passed the previous record of 52 held jointly by Alan Jones and Hugh Morris.

He said: "Records are there to be broken and I'm sure mine will be broken. But they're also overrated.

"It's been playing on my mind since I equalled the record, so it's nice to have it out of the way so I can concentrate on just playing cricket."

Maynard's knock also rescued Glamorgan from a perilous position in their Frizzell County Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire.

He helped Glamorgan recover from 117-5 at Sophia Gardens before falling for 114, as the hosts posted 333.

Having reached tea on 89 not out, Maynard returned after the interval to claim the record on his 350th appearance for the Welsh county.

He reached it in style as Maynard glanced Phillip de Freitas to the fine-leg boundary for his 12th four of the day, reaching the milestone off 143 balls in 177 minutes.

I've still got a burning ambition to play for Glamorgan Matthew Maynard

Maynard eventually fell to the same bowler, Darren Maddy providing the catch, but by then the Glamorgan batsman had already figured in important lower-order stands with David Harrison and Mike Kasprowicz for a respectable first-innings score.

"They offered valuable support and we managed to get a couple of decent partnerships together, which gave us a reasonable total at the end," added Maynard.

"Those guys take as much credit, because you can't score the runs unless you've got someone at the other end."

Maynard scored his maiden first-class century for Glamorgan in 1985 against Yorkshire at Swansea, and has never looked back.

His ton accumulation gathered pace in 1991 as he established himself in the Glamorgan middle order.

He made his England Test debut in 1988, but had to wait for his other three caps until the 1993-4 season.

Although never winning the patience of the England selectors, the 38-year-old remains one of the most dangerous batsmen in domestic cricket.