Kent reach 236/8 when bad light stops play at Cardiff

After the high octane excitement of Friday night's thrilling tie in the NatWest T20 Blast, and Michael Hogan producing one of the finest closing overs in the history of the Welsh county in limited-overs cricket, Glamorgan and Kent returned to action in the LV=County Championship where the Welsh county, after events of the past three weeks, have slipped to sixth place in the table one spot above their opponents in this contest. Each have a solitary victory to their name so far this season, but with all of the sides above them in the table having played one more game, both teams have an opportunity to rise back up the table over the course of the next few days.


Hogan was swiftly back in action this morning after Kent won the toss and batted first under the clear blue skies, with Glamorgan making two changes to their side which drew a fortnight ago against Essex at Chelmsford with Andrew Salter replacing on-loan seam bowler Tom Helm, and Ruadhri Smith replacing Tom Lancefield. Hogan duly took the new ball with Graham Wagg, with the pairing having the best strike rate currently in Division Two cricket.


In his third over Wagg was despatched through the covers for four by Daniel Bell-Drummond before next over, Rob Key also found the ropes as he leg-glanced Hogan. Bell-Drummond then despatched successive deliveries from Wagg through the covers and backward point respectively before drilling Hogan through mid-wicket for another four.


Dean Cosker entered the attack after forty minutes and his fourth ball was lofted by Key over wide long-on, whilst Smith also replaced Hogan at the Cathedral Road End and was carved through point by Bell-Drummond. Key then swept Cosker for four en route to the 50 mark in the 19^th over. It was though only a brief trundle for the left-arm spinner as Allenby joined forces with Smith, with the youngster beating the bat on several occasions.


Shortly before lunch, Wagg returned to the attack as Glamorgan continued to keep a brake on Kent's progress. But just before the break Key claimed two boundaries against Wagg - the first off the middle through mid-wicket and the second off the edge to third man. But then Salter made the breakthrough as with his second ball Bell-Drummond was caught at bat-pad propping forward to the youngster.

Michael Hogan returned to the attack after lunch with Kent on 80/1 whilst Andrew Salter continued at the River End with a cluster of close catchers on the leg-side. After Fabian Cowdrey leg-glanced Hogan for four, Rob Key swatted a full toss from Salter through mid-wicket for another boundary, But the youngster struck again with the final ball of the over as, with Kent on 98/2, he removed Cowdrey - his former colleague in the Cardiff MCCU side - who edged to Jim Allenby at slip and departed for 9 on his Championship debut.


Key then completed his fifty from 115 balls by pulling Hogan to deep backward square-leg, whilst Brendan Nash announced his arrival at the crease by sweeping Salter for four before cover-driving Wagg and then clipping Allneby to square-leg when the all-rounder replaced Salter at the River End. The change did the trick as later in the over, he trapped Key leg before for 63 as Glamorgan claimed their first bowling point.


Two balls later 131/3 became 131/4 as Wagg bowled Nash Darren Stevens and Ben Harmison duly joined forces with the latter drilling Wagg through the covers for four. Stevens also clipped Wagg through mid-wicket for four but with the total on 146 he edged a drive against Allenby and Jacques Rudolph at second slip held the catch at the second attempt.


Ben Harmison was duly joined by Sam Billings with Hogan returning to the attack shortly before tea as the home side looked to further press home the advantage they had secured during the session.

The afternoon session had definitely belonged to Glamorgan's as Kent slipped from 80/1 to 154/5 and when play resumed after the interval, the home attack were eager to make further inroads. Michael Hogan did not disappoint as with the final ball of his opening over he yorked Sam Billings as Kent's nosedive continued to 157/6.


But Adam Ball and Ben Harmison steadied the ship with the former starting with an edge through the slips against Hogan followed by an on-driven boundary against Ruaidhri Smith. Ball then cut Dean Cosker for four shortly before Jim Allenby almost caught and bowled Harmison as the tall batsman nearly drove a ball back into the bowler's hands. Andrew Salter and Dean Cosker then had a brief spell in tandem with Ball on-driving the off-spinner for four but bad light then stopped play after 82 overs with Kent on 203/6.


The quarter of an hour stoppage worked to Glamorgan's favour as play resumed with Graham Wagg armed with the new ball which was despatched through extra cover by Ball to bring up their fifty stand. He then did the same against Hogan but the Australian gained revenge next over as the batsman was bowled shouldering arms with the total on 215. Mitch Claydon began by edging Wagg through the slip cordon before Harmison did the same to Hogan, before clipping the fast bowler to square-leg where Will Bragg took a good catch diving full stretch to his right.


With his side on 224/8, Adam Riley joined Claydon but with the light becoming gloomy the spin of Cosker and Salter was re-introduced for a handful of overs before the light deteriorated again with Kent on 236/8.