Glamorgan were dismissed for 154 shortly before tea after being put in to bat by Durham in bowler-friendly conditions in their rain-affected Specsavers County Championship match at an overcast Sophia Gardens, Cardiff with Matt Salisbury and Chris Rushworth sharing six wickets. In reply, Durham were 75/0 when bad light brought an early finish.
Evening update
Cameron Steel and Alex Lees began Durham’s 1st innings with 28 overs remaining and still with a heavy cloud cover. Lees though was unperturbed by the murky conditions as he square-drove and late cut Lukas Carey for four – his first runs for his new county having left Yorkshire a couple of weeks ago. He then unfurled a pair of booming off-drives against Smith plus another against both Carey and Hogan.
Lees also square-drove Hogan before doing the same to Smith as Durham’s new opening pairing brought up the fifty stand. Steel added a pair of threes to the tally before lees edged Hogan through the gully. Lees then cover drove Hogan for a pair of fours to completing his half-century from 53 balls. Steel straight drove Meschede for his first boundary – ten less than his more assertive partner – but shortly before 6.30pm the umpires conferred and with the light having deteriorated, they took the players off the field.
Teatime Report
Glamorgan resumed on 29/3 after the interval with Kiran Carlson and David Lloyd looking to stabilize things, with the latter square-cutting Barry McCarthy for four before driving him for three through mid-off. Carlson then clipped Rushworth for four through mid-wicket before taking a nasty blow on his forearm from the seamer. Lloyd then brought up the 50 by drilling McCarthy through the covers before straight-driving him for another forceful boundary.
Carlson showed no ill effect from the blows to his body by cover-driving McCarthy for four before punching Gareth Harte off the back foot through the covers. He also guided Salisbury through the gully for four before Lloyd pulled Harte to the square-leg boundary. Carlson then drilled Salisbury through extra-cover for four but two balls later he shouldered arms to the former Essex seamer and lost his off-stump.
77/4 saw Chris Cooke join Lloyd who drilled Harte through the covers for four, but next over Cooke edged Salisbury to Paul Collingwood at first slip with Craig Meschede making his way to the middle for his first Championship innings since last September. Lloyd again drilled Harte through the covers before Meschede did the same to McCarthy before being dropped by Axar Patel at mid-wicket.
But Lloyd was not so fortunate next over as he drilled a ball straight back at Collingwood who gleefully pouched the return. 89/6 then became 91/7 as Meschede feathered a catch into Poynter’s gloves as McCathy claimed his first wicket of the innings. Ruaidhri Smith then scythed Collingwood over the head of the slips for four, before Andrew Salter brought up the hundred by advancing down the wicket and off-driving the veteran all-rounder for four.
Smith then pulled Salisbury for four before dispatching him through the covers for another boundary, before nurdling Rushworth through the gully. He then pulled Rushworth for another four but two overs later he inside-edged the seamer onto his stumps and departed for a belligerent 36. 141/8 saw Lukas Carey make his way to the middle but his stay was brief as he departed l.b.w. to Axar Patel.
142/9 saw Michael Hogan join Salter with the red-ball captain straight driving Patel for six before being bowled next over as Glamorgan ended on 154
Morning Update
It was June 25th when Glamorgan’s last red ball game got underway, as the Welsh county welcomed Northamptonshire to their headquarters, with a batsman called Ricardo playing a starring role for the visitors. Almost two months later, it was Ernesto who dominated early proceedings, or more precisely the remnants of a tropical storm of that name, as steady rain fell over the Welsh capital throughout Saturday and during the early part of Sunday morning, thereby preventing a prompt start as the Welsh county looked to bounce back from the disappointments of the past week in the Vitality Blast competition.
With light rain still falling at 10.00 a.m., the umpires – Jeff Evans and Alex Wharf – decided to delay proceedings. After an inspection at 10.45 a.m., it was agreed to start at 11.30 a.m. with shortly afterwards, an uncontested toss as Durham opted to bowl first. The Welsh county made three changes to their line-up from their last Championship encounter, against Sussex at Hove, with David Lloyd, Craig Meschede and Ruaidhri Smith replacing Usman Khawaja, Jeremy Lawlor and the injured Timm van der Gugten.
But this was not the end of the delay, because just as the players were walking out, the drizzle returned leading to a further delay until 12.40pm with 18 overs lost. Nick Selman and Jack Murphy duly faced the bowling of Chris Rushworth and Matt Salisbury. Murphy guided Rushworth for four through the gulley before twice cover-driving Salisbury as well as square-driving him to the ropes. But the tall opener departed to the first ball of Rushworth’s third over as Michael Richardson at third slip dived low to t=his left to cling onto an outside edge.
17/1 then became 18/2 as Connor Brown edged a ball from Salisbury with wicket-keeper Stuart Poynter taking a fine one-handed catch diving to his right in front of first slip. Kiran Carlson joined Selman and cover-drove Rushworth for four to open his account, but with the total on 26, with having made 3, Selman edged Rushworth to third slip where Richardson held another catch.