An unbeaten 119 by Will Bragg has taken Glamorgan to 295/3 at the end of the third day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Essex at The SSE SWALEC with the Welsh county leading by 242 runs and helping to set up the prospect of an intriguing day’s play tomorrow.
Close of Play Report
The afternoon sessionhad seen Glamorgan stage a spirited recovery after the early loss of Jacques Rudolph, with Will Bragg and Chris Cooke each posting half-centuries as the Welsh county reached 206/2 at tea, and a decent lead of 153. However, the hard graft was still not over as more runs during the final session would take the home side further into the ascendancy.
Essex opted , even though the new ball was twenty overs away, to recall at first their opening attack of David Masters and Jamie Porter in a bid to make inroads, and Bragg responded by cover-driving Porter for four. But the wily Masters, who again asked the wicket-keeper to stand up to his mix of subtle seam and off-cutters, trapped Cooke leg before with a delivery which jagged back in, ending the third wicket stand which had added 106 in 30.1 overs.
With Aneurin Donald having joined Bragg, Graham Napier returned to the attack and was clipped to long-leg by the new batsman, who then cut the veteran for four square of the wicket before twice cover driving Napier for further boundaries. Bragg also flicked Masters to fine-leg for four before completing his second century of the summer, and in the context of the game one of his most important for the Welsh county, after four and a half hours at the crease as he flicked Masters for two to the mid-wicket ropes.
Donald found the ropes again as he clipped Masters behind square on the leg-side before Ravi Bopara and Tom Westley had a spell in tandem as the possibility of the new ball loomed. The Glamorgan batsmen continued to make untroubled progress, with a series of well-placed one’s and two’s as Essex opted against taking the new ball until 83.3 overs as Porter and Masters returned for the closing overs.
Bragg and Donald maintained their steady accumulation with Donald drilling Masters through mid-off for a rasping four, followed by a classical on-drive against Porter and another hearty pull for four against Masters. With fine weather forecast again for tomorrow, there could be a very interesting day’s play on the final day of what has been a superb advert for Championship cricket.
Tea Report
Glamorgan began the afternoon session on 77/1 with a modest lead of 24 runs that Mark Wallace and Will Bragg were looking to significantly enhance. With David Masters and Jamie Porter resuming the bowling, the pair continued to quietly accumulate, and ensured the scoreboard ticked over by running a series of swift singles as they worked the ball into the many gaps in the field as Essex kept a predatory slip cordon of four catchers.
Neither were afraid to punish the bad ball with Wallace quickly pouncing on a short ball from Porter and savagely pulling it to the ropes at mid-wicket. Bragg also brought up the hundred – and the century stand - with his trademark force off the back foot square of the wicket as Masters dropped short outside off stump. But with the total on 108 Ravi Bopara returned to the attack and with his second delivery he ended the doughty stand as Wallace edged a ball into Foster’s gloves.
With Chris Cooke as his new partner, Bragg completed his fifty by clipping Graham Napier to square-leg, before nonchalantly doing the same to David Masters when the veteran switched to the River End as Essex rotated their bowlers in a bid to find the magic formula to quell the Glamorgan fightback. But when Napier switched to the Cathedral Road End, Bragg dispatched him through the covers, whilst Cooke upper cut Masters high over the slips for four.
Ryan ten Doeschate had a brief spell himself at the River End, whilst Tom Westley’s off-spin was also deployed, but the changes brought no change of fortune for the visitors as Cooke effortlessly drove the visiting captain through the covers for four. At the other end, Bragg continued to work the ball around and the freedom in which the pair were able to score put further into context the quality of the Glamorgan bowling on the same surface yesterday. Shortly before tea, Cooke punched Napier through point for four before completing his fifty from 79 balls.
Lunch Report
The newspapers have been full of stories about the departure of LVG from Manchester United, but at Cardiff it has all been about the arrival of TVdG as a potent force in county cricket as Timm van der Gugten, the fast bowler of Dutch parentage who was born and raised in Australia, claimed Championship-best figures and took centre stage in a wholehearted bowling performance which saw Glamorgan, lying at the foot of the Division Two table, keep in check the table-topping Essex batsmen in whose ranks were some of this season’s leading run-scorers.
Indeed, to the casual observer at Glamorgan’s headquarters yesterday there were few signs that this was a contest between the side in first place, already with handsome victories to their credit and a side at the foot of the table, seeking their first success of the summer, as van der Gugten, Michael Hogan, Craig Meschede and the effervescent Graham Wagg swung and seamed the ball, with every Essex batsman having to work hard for their runs on a day which was a fantastic advert for the cut and thrust of the County Championship.
This contest - staged on a good cricket wicket, with decent bounce and carry – had therefore reached the halfway mark with Essex having just got their noses in front, leading by 40 runs, as Ryan ten Doeschate and Jamie Porter took their places in the middle at 11a.m., eager to further extend their advantage, and with the home bowlers looking to quickly finish the innings.
Van der Gugten resumed the bowling and was clipped by Porter to fine-leg for three before Hogan continued at the Cathedral Road End. Ten Doeschate then opened his shoulders to pull van der Gugten for four but a couple of balls later he edged another expansive blow as Mark Wallace completed a regulation catch to give the Dutchman his best Championship return of 5/90.
With Essex all out for 313, Glamorgan faced a 53-run deficit on first innings, but with just two runs on the board, they lost Jacques Rudolph who, playing forward, edged the ball into wicket-keeper James Foster’s gloves. Will Bragg joined Mark Wallace and survived two impassioned appeals for l.b.w. against Masters before firmly clipping the veteran to the ropes at mid-wicket.
The southpaw then greeted the introduction of Ravi Bopara into the attack by flicking him to square-leg, as well as punching him off the back foot through extra cover for a pair of well-timed fours. He then glided Graham Napier through the slip cordon for four when the all-rounder entered the attack, before Jesse Ryder – who collected a ten-wicket haul in the match at Chelmsford last summer - had a trundle at the Cathedral Road End.
Wallace cover drove both bowlers besides gliding successive balls from Ryder through backward point as Glamorgan came closer to parity, but Wallace had a slice of luck as – on 23 - he skewed a drive against Napier and was dropped at deep gully by Bopara. The new ball pairing of Masters and Porter then returned shortly before lunch, with Bragg edging the latter between first and second slip.