Meschede's maiden century helps Glamorgan avoid the follow-on at Cardiff

The first two day's of this match has seen a smorgasbord of strokeplay, with a masterclass of sublime and wristy batting, allied to nimble footwork by Kumar Sangakkara on the opening day, followed by a display of fluent, watchful accumulation for six and a half hours from Steven Davies who completed a career-best 200* before Surrey declared in mid-afternoon. Jacques Rudolph then unfurled some equally graceful strokes on the seemingly benign surface during the post-tea session and looked well on course to complete his 50^th first-class century before falling to Gareth Batty's canny off-spin. His place at the crease in the closing overs was taken by fellow Springbok Colin Ingram, and Glamorgan supporters this morning were looking forward to further strokeplay from the man who ended the South African domestic season as the country's leading run-scorer.

When play began this morning, under clear blue skies, there was still plenty of work to be done by Ingram plus his overnight partner, the newly-capped and in-form Will Bragg who scored a century last week at Leicester, as Glamorgan began the day on 124/2, trailing by 439 runs and looking to establish both a pivotal and productive partnership which would help the Welsh county safely reach the target of 414, thereby securing maximum batting points and avoiding being asked to follow-on.

Both batsmen began in assertive mode as Bragg on-drove Jade Dernbach for four, before Ingram clipped Matthew Dunn to mid-wicket. Bragg then greeted the introduction of Batty's off-spin by drilling him through mid-wicket and deftly late-cutting him for a pair of three's. Dunn then switched to the River End and was despatched off the back foot through extra cover by Ingram as the fifty stand came up.

But with the total on 160, Dunn bowled Bragg as the batsman shaped to leg-glance the bowler with the ball appearing to cannon into the stumps off his pads. The fall of the wicket bizarrely coincided with the gun salute at noon in the grounds of Cardiff Castle to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen's birthday, and with Chris Cooke as his new partner, Ingram punched Batty through the covers for four before using his feet to dance down the wicket and loft him high over mid-on for four.

Cooke greeted the return of Tom Curran to the attack by sweetly driving him through the covers for four, before Ingram played the shot of the morning as he also unfurled an exocet-like drive as the ball sped to the ropes in front of the pavilion. Zafar Ansari's left-arm spin duly replaced Batty's off-breaks at the Cathedral Road End as Glam organ approached their first batting point, and Ingram his fifty. But not before Cooke had added to his boundary tally by steering Curran through backward point.

Ingram then swept Ansari for four to complete a 94-ball half-century before an under-edge to a cut from Cooke saw the 200-mark being reached. But two balls later. Cooke departed after he despatched Curran through extra cover, but then in trying to complete a third run the direct hit from Ansari at the bowler's end left the batsman short of his ground.

204/4 then became 206/5 as two overs later Ingram drove Curran straight into the hands of the fielder at short extra-cover, leaving Mark Wallace and Graham Wagg to mount a rearguard action in the overs before lunch.

The morning session had seen Surrey claim three important wickets as Glamorgan attempted to reach 414 in order to avoid the follow-on. It had also seen the ball starting to turn on the surface which has been exposed to three days of glorious April sunshine. Glamorgan duly began the afternoon session on 210/5 still 353 runs in arrears and there was plenty of batting still to be done as Mark Wallace and Graham Wagg took guard with the spinners Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty resuming the bowling with the new ball a handful of overs away.

Wagg nearly holed out to Kevin Pietersen at mid-off in the first over after the interval with the ball just clearing the head of the fielder, whilst Mark Wallace also swept Ansari for four before benefitting from four overthrows as a throw from Pietersen missed the stumps at the bowler's end and hurtled away to the ropes.

With Glamorgan on 230/5 Jade Dernbach and Matthew Dunn duly returned with the new ball with Wallace guiding a short delivery from the former through the slips, whilst Wagg drilled the latter twice through extra cover before playing a superb on-drive of which Greg Chappell would have been proud as Glamorgan secured a second batting point. A cover drive for three by Wallace brought up the 50-stand.

But the flurry of runs against the new ball came to an end as Batty returned at the Cathedral Road End and induced an inside edge from Wagg's bat which ricocheted into the stumps to leave Glamorgan on 261/6. Wallace responded by savagely pulling and square-cutting a pair of short balls from Dernbach to the ropes before greeting the return of Dunn at the Rover End by cover-driving him for another high-class four as he moved ever closer to the 106 runs which he needs to reach the landmark of 10,000 first-class runs for Glamorgan.

The doughty Glamorgan wicket-keeper then off- and on-drove Dunn for further fours before clipping Batty to mid-wicket to reach his half-century from 87 balls. But with the total on 293, David Lloyd departed for four as he was adjudged leg before attempting to sweep Batty before next over, and without further addition, Wallace feathered a ball from Curran into Gary Wilson's gloves. Craig Meschede then nurdled Curran to third man for four before the 300 came up as Cosker pulled the youngster to fine-leg.

In the overs before tea, Meschede straight drove Batty for four before caressing the next delivery through the covers and driving the last ball of the session to the mid-off ropes.

Despite a fighting fifty by Mark Wallace, three wickets had tumbled during the afternoon session, and Glamorgan resumed after tea on 319/8, still 244 runs behind with Craig Meschede and Dean Cosker facing the seam-spin combination of Tom Curran and Gareth Batty. Cosker deftly on-drove Curran to mid-wicket, whilst Meschede on-drove and cover-drove the youngster for further fours from successive balls to bring up the 50-stand, before Jade Dernbach and Zafar Ansari returned to the attack.

The latter delivered three successive maidens before Meschede send consecutive balls through the covers for four before reaching 50 from 69 balls by upper-cutting Dernbach for four as the resolute ninth wicket pair continued to frustrate the visitors. Meschede also clipped Dernbach for three to mid-wicket before off-driving Batty. He then used the long handle to deposit Ansari into the River Stand for six and reach a career-best score, before driving Batty to long-on as the stand became Glamorgan's best ninth wicket partnership against Surrey beating the 88 added by Robert Croft and David Harrison at Swansea in 2006.

Meschede continued to monopolise the strike as he on-drove Ansari for four before the stand reached three figures as Cosker cover drove Batty, with the stroke being greeted by warm applause by the Glamorgan faithful as Glamorgan moved closer and closer to avoiding the follow-on.

With 21 runs still required, Matthew Dunn returned at the River End but Cosker remained steadfast in defence whilst Meschede nonchalantly on-drove the paceman to the ropes at mid-wicket. A single to long-on brought up the 400 in the 136^th over before Meschede flat-batted Dunn through extra-cover for his 13^th four, and later in the over he garnered another two boundaries as he steered the pace bowler to the vacant third man ropes before nonchalantly flicking him to mid-wicket.

With two needed to avoid the follow-on, Jason Roy entered the attack and with his first delivery, a full length ball, he trapped Cosker l.b.w. ending the ninth wicket stand which had added 119 in 38.5 overs. Andy Carter came in and flicked Roy to long-leg for a single before Meschede flicked Roy to square-leg for four before pulling the next delivery to mid-wicket for a single to complete his maiden Championship hundred from 129 balls.

Next over Carter holed out at mid-off as Glamorgan ended on 419 trailing by 144 runs.