Glamorgan dismiss Leicestershire for 109 at Cardiff -

There has been plenty of rain at the SWALEC Stadium during the past 72 hours and after further spells of precipitation this morning, the umpires - Nigel Cowley and Martin Bodenham - decided to delay the start until 11.30am.


With the heavy cloud cover and dank conditions, it was no surprise that Mark Wallace opted to bowl first on the green-tinged surface, and Michael Hogan, having returned from Australia, was straight in the action as he bowled Greg Smith with his second delivery as Leicestershire - who have not won a Championship game in the Welsh capital since 2001 - lost a wicket before a run had been scored.


Tom Helm also beat the edge of Angus Robson's bat, but the opener survived and together with Ned Eckersley took the score to 6/1 after 5.1 overs when rain caused a further delay of 25 minutes. But Robson departed to the third ball of the session as Helm had an l.b.w. appeal upheld by the umpire against the young opener.


With the scoreboard showing 6/2, visiting captain Ramnaresh Sarwan made his way to the middle, before Eckersley straight drove Hogan for the day's first boundary. The opener then upper cut Helm over the head of gully for another four. Sarwan played and missed a couple of times against Hogan but it was Helm who struck again as in his fifth over, the youngster on loan from Middlesex caused Eckersley to chop a short ball onto his stumps as Glamorgan claimed their first bowling point with the visitors on 17/3.


Josh Cobb responded by straight driving his first ball from Hogan to the ropes but he then drilled Will Owen's second delivery straight into Will Bragg's hands at mid-off. Jim Allenby also struck in his first over as he claimed the prized wicket of Srwan who was caught behind by Wallace in the penultimate over before lunch.

With his team resuming on 43/5, Niall O'Brien guided Allenby to third man for four, before the rains returned. A brief lull led to hopes of resuming at 2.10pm but just as the umpires were poised to return to the middle, the rains returned. It proved though to be a brief shower as play recommenced at 2.25pm with a further 11 overs being lost. Rob Taylor unfurled a trio of booming drives against Hogan and Allenby, each of which ran away for three runs.

But with the total on 62 Allenby struck again as O'Brien edged a drive into Wallace's gloves, before four balls later the Glamorgan wicket-keeper took an outstanding catch diving low to his left in front of the slip cordon to snaffle an outside edge from Taylor's bat as Hogan struck again.


Anthony Ireland announced his arrival at the crease by off-driving Hogan for four before swatting a short ball from Owen to the ropes at mid-wicket. Jigar Naik then hooked Owen for six with the ball almost being caught at long-leg by Tom Helm. Ireland also cover drove Allenby before miscuing a pull against Owen and lofted the ball to Cosker in the gully as rays of sunshine bathed the stadium for the first time in the day with the visitors on 88/8.


Two runs later, Nathan Buck guided a short ball from Owen into Wallace's gloves before Charlie Shreck flayed a pair of fours to long-on and third man, with his quixotic innings also interspersed with several air shots as he played and missed, before being bowled by Allenby in the final over before tea.

There were 40 overs remaining in the day's allocation as Tom Lancefield, on his Glamorgan debut, began the Welsh county's innings with Jacques Rudolph and cover drove his fourth ball from Charlie Shreck to open his first-class account for his new club. After several overs of watchful reconnaissance, Rudolph despatched a ball from Anthony Ireland through extra cover before Lancefield added a boundary by leg-glancing Shreck. Rudolph then played a high class on-drive against Ireland, followed by a rasping cover drive as Nathan Buck entered the attack, but it then started to rain forcing the players off the field and the loss of eleven further overs.


Three overs after the resumption Lancefield departed for 19 after miscuing a pull against Rob Taylor with wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien completing the catch. 43/1 saw Will Bragg arrive at the crease and he was quickly into his stride with a firm push for three through mid-wicket. But with the total on 56/1 in the 17^th over, another bout of rain descended over the ground and forced the players back to the pavilion.,