Rain halts Glamorgan's progress on 84/2 after they dismiss Derbyshire for 205

With the General Election later in the week, the newspapers have full of talk about the possibility of a new coalition with speculation that some of the nation's politicians with a wide spectrum of views could join forces in the new parliament. In the hour's play yesterday at the SWALEC Stadium, there was another and equally diverse partnership in action for the first time as Michael Hogan, Glamorgan's talismanic new ball bowler joined forces with Andy Carter, the Welsh county's on-loan bowler from Nottinghamshire , as together with left-armer Graham Wagg, previously of Warwickshire and Derbyshire, they attempted to make headway into the visiting line-up after Glamorgan had opted to bowl first.

Rain and patches of damp on the outfield meant that play did not commence until 2.40pm, and with the precipitation returning at 3.50pm, just 15.5 overs were possible during which Glamorgan reduced Derbyshire to 47/2 with both Wagg and the impressive Carter each claiming a wicket after the home side had opted to bowl first. With better weather this morning over Glamorgan's headquarters, the home bowlers were looking to make further inroads into the Derbyshire side on the easy-paced surface .

Hogan and Carter duly resumed the bowling with the latter completing the over from last night, with four overthrows seeing the Peakites reach fifty. Scott Elstone then square-cut Hogan through backward point for four before Ben Slater twice despatched Carter through extra cover with a pair of rasping drives. A firm off-drive by Elstone against Hogan also brought up the fifty stand before Wagg returned to the attack at the River End, with Craig Meschede also having a spell at the Cathedral Road End. The latter was also steered through point by Elstone, before Slater edged Wagg through the gully for three.

The 100 came up in the 31^st over as Elstone swatted a short, wide delivery from Wagg to the ropes at backward point. He also thick-edged a delivery from Meschede through point before greeting the introduction of Dean Cosker's left-arm spin by firstly on-driving him for four and then despatching further deliveries to the ropes at mid-wicket and long-leg. Slater then reached his patient fifty from 118 balls by steering Carter off the back foot through extra cover to register his sixth boundary, but four balls later the tall pace bowler gained reward for his perseverance as Slater edged into Mark Wallace's gloves.

132/3 then became 132/4 as Hogan returned and had Elstone, who posted a century last week against Glamorgan 2^nd XI at Derby, caught at short mid-wicket as he attempted a pull to reach his half-century . Shiv Thakor and Alex Hughes then saw Derbyshire to lunch.

Resuming the afternoon session on 155/4, Derbyshire appeared to be steadily closing in on their first batting point, as Craig Meschede and Andy Carter joined forces with the ball. The latter was cover driven by Shiv Thakor for the first boundary of the session, whilst Meschede almost had Alex Hughes caught in front of slip by a diving Mark Wallace.

But their innings changed complexion as six wickets fell for 33 runs in 12.4 overss as firstly, with the total on 172, Carter claimed his third wicket as Thakor skied an attempted pull and was well caught by Graham Wagg running in from deep backward square-leg. Three runs later, the tall pace bowler struck again as Harvey Hosein edged into Wallace's gloves as Glamorgan secured a second bowling point and with only a couple of more runs added, Alex Hughes edged Meschede to give Wallace another straightforward catch behind the stumps.

Debutant Matt Critchley opened his account with a pair of fours through backward point but Michael Hogan then returned at the Cathedral Road End and with his second delivery had the young leg-spinner caught behind. Wagg also returned at the River End and was spliced over the top of the slips by Ben Cotton but he then gave Jacques Rudolph an extra birthday present as he spooned a catch to the Glamorgan captain at short mid-wicket as he dug out a yorker from Wagg. Last man Mark Footitt duly brought up the 200 - and the batting point - by pulling Wagg but next over lobbed a high catch to Hogan at mid-on as Derbyshire ended on 205.

There were 48 overs remaining in the day's allocation when Glamorgan began their first innings in overcast conditions and with just two runs on the board the home side nearly lost an early wicket as Jacques Rudolph edged Ben Cotton into and out of the hands of third slip. He atoned for his error of judgement by off-driving Mark Footitt for three - a stroke which James Kettleborough also completed against the left-arm fast bowler before drilling him through extra cover for four.

After eight overs, there was a period of bad light which saw 24 minutes play - but no overs - being lost before Rudolph was dropped for a second time in the gully against Cotton. He celebrated his good fortune by cover-driving the next delivery for four and shortly afterwards he added further boundaries to his tally courtesy of a pair of booming off-drives. Rudolph duly brought up the 50 by guiding Cotton through the slip cordon.

The seam of Shiv Thakor and the leg-spin of Matt Critchley were then introduced as the visitors strove to break the opening stand. Rudolph added another four to his tally as he square-drove Thakor but the all-rounder gained immediate revenge as he trapped the opener l.b.w. as Glamorgan lost their first wicket on 62. Will Bragg joined Kettleborough but their partnership proved to a brief one as four overs later Thakor bowled Kettleborough for 17.

Colin Ingram then made his way to the middle as Alex Hughes' medium pace was employed at the River End with Cotton briefly returning at the Cathedral Road End. But the weather intervened again as rain started to fall as the players left the field with Glamorgan on 84/2.