A disciplined and wholehearted bowling performance by Glamorgan saw table-topping Essex restricted to 300/9 from 112 overs as the visitors gained a slender lead of 40 on the second day of their Specsavers County Championship match at The SSE SWALEC.
Close of Play Report
Timm van der Gugten had taken the new ball in the penultimate over before tea, so when play resumed after the interval, with Essex on 208/4, it was Michael Hogan who returned in tandem with Graham Wagg looking to make further inroads into the visitors line-up and to quell their attempts at amassing a sizeable lead. Bopara had a moment of good fortune as he was turned around by an in-swinger from Wagg with the thick outside edge bisecting second slip and deep gully.
Bopara then did the same to Hogan as the ball skewed over the head of fourth slip, but it proved to be his final scoring shot as with the total on 233 he edged the Australian low to the gully where Chris Cooke held a fine catch diving low in the gully. Ryan ten Doeschate replaced him and nearly departed second delivery, but the ball just evaded the outstretched hands of third slip and sped away for four. Without any further addition, Essex lost another wicket – as Glamorgan gained a much deserved bowling point – with Wagg’s perseverance and swing seeing Ryder chop a ball onto his stumps.
Ten Doeschate then carved a short ball from Hogan to the point boundary as Essex inched closer and closer to Glamorgan’s first innings total, before accruing another batting point at 250 as James Foster square drove van der Gugten for four. But the Dutchman responded by trapping Foster l.b.w. as Essex stuttered again to 254/7. A firm off-drive against Craig Meschede by ten Doeschate brought the scores level before the visiting captain took his side into the ascendancy by straight driving the all-rounder.
The tenacious van der Gugten struck again with the total on 272, as Napier became another l.b.w. victim before new batsman David Masters became yet another player to edge the ball just wide of the slips and secure a four to third man. Ten Doeschate responded by unfurling a rasping cover drive against Meschede before Masters enjoyed a spot of good luck as he fended off a lifter from the Dutchman and saw the ball bounce over the stumps. But the paceman was not to be denied a fourth scalp as two overs later he bowled Master as Essex lost their ninth wicket on 288 as Glamorgan secured a well-deserved third bowling point.
Ten Doeschate and Jamie Porter then scrambled some singles to take Essex to 300, but after the 110 overs threshold so the visitors missed out on a batting point. By this time though the light was deteriorating and with a couple of overs remaining, the umpires took the players off the field with Essex on 300/9 and a lead of 40 runs.
Teatime update
After an enthralling morning’s play with some probing swing and seam bowling by the home attack. Essex resumed on 105/2, still 155 runs in arrears, as Craig Meschede and Timm van der Gugten each had a third spell with the ball. Tom Westley duly completed his fifty in the second over of the session having occupied the crease for almost three and a quarter hours, and it was a measure of the accuracy of the Glamorgan attack that they were able to keep in check a man who has over 700 runs to his name this summer in first-class cricket, and was under serious consideration for a place in the Test squad.
Westley struck his eighth boundary as he glanced van der Gugten to fine-leg, but next over he nearly departed as he thick-edged the Dutchman through the outstretched hands of Chris Cooke at third slip. He celebrated two balls later, and brought up the fifty stand, by cover-driving the bowler before skewing a shot in the air over the head of gully, much to the anger of the fiery bowler!
After playing and missing several times at Meschede, Bopara on-drove the all-rounder before Westley greeted the return of Wagg by flicking him to long-leg as well as mid-wicket. Bopara twice nurdled Wagg through the slips with the ball running away to the vacant third man position before Andrew Salter’s off-spin was employed at the Cathedral Road End. Bopara clipped a full-toss to mid-wicket, but it was Hogan who ended Westley’s stay at the crease as, on 80, he edged a ball into Mark Wallace’s safe gloves rewarding the Australian for both his parsimony and perseverance.
162/3 saw Daniel Lawrence join Bopara and he began by edging Hogan through the slips before lofting Salter over long-on for six. But his stay in the middle was very brief as David Lloyd replaced Hogan and with his fourth delivery he trapped the young batsman leg before. With the scoreboard on 178/4, Jesse Ryder made his way to the crease and also survived another appeal for l.b.w. before cover-driving Lloyd. Van der Gugten then returned for a brief spell before tea, with Bopara cover driving and pulling the paceman to complete a 132-ball fifty beforer Glamorgan took the new ball in the final over of the session.
Lunch Report
Velathon Wales took place yesterday across South Wales as over 12,000 amateur and professional cyclists sped along the region’s roads and dual carriageways. There was plenty of movement as well at The SSE SWALEC on the opening day of Glamorgan’s match against Essex with the visiting bowlers extracting lateral assistance from the wicket which, like others this year at Cardiff, have had a greenish hue with good pace and carry.
The verdant surface was certainly a talking point at the Stadium yesterday, but the consensus amongst the Cardiff cognoscenti was that it was a good cricket wicket and that swing had posed the greatest danger. Graham Wagg had been on the receiving end of one of these in-swingers, as the all-rounder was bowled by a massive in-ducker from Graham Napier. But the left-armer gained revenge with the ball in hand, as in the fourth over of Essex’s innings, he removed their in-form opener Nick Browne with a similarly fiendish delivery which swung in and thudded into the batsman’s pads, trapping him l.b.w.
Glamorgan’s supporters were therefore hoping that the atmospheric conditions would continue to assist the bowlers this morning as Essex resumed their innings on 29/1. Michael Hogan and Wagg continued the bowling duties with Tom Westley clipping Wagg’s first two deliveries to mid-wicket and fine-leg. After four successive maidens from Hogan, Jaik Mickleburgh also straight drove and cover drove successive deliveries from Wagg to the ropes before edging Craig Meschede just wide of the outstretched hands of Aneurin Donald at second slip, followed by a rasping cover drive.
Tom Westley also edged Hogan through the slip cordon, before Mickleburgh greeted the return of Timm van der Gugten by clipping his first ball to fine-leg. But in the Dutchman’s second over he breached Mickleburgh’s forward defensive and bowled the opener for 33 as Essex lost their second wicket on 69.
With Ravi Bopara as his new partner, Westley cover drove Meschede before Wagg returned at the Cathedral Road End and was nudged to fine-leg by Bopara. After a waspish six-over spell, which yielded just nine runs, van der Gugten was replaced by Hogan at the River End. The Australian immediately found the edge of Bopara’s bat but the ball flew wide of third slip and away to the third man boundary, and shortly before lunch the former England all-rounder brought up the hundred as he cover drove Wagg.