Close of Play report

Glamorgan had reached 231-5 at tea with Tribe unbeaten on 120 and he continued his unflustered accumulation after tea with a resolute Chris Cooke with the pair completing a series of singles against the spin of loanee Calvin Harrison and the seam of Justin Broad. Tribe brought up the 250 and the first batting point by nurdling Broad for four before swatting a short ball from the bowler for four over point. Cooke – on his 150th first-class appearance for Glamorgan - pulled a long-hop from Harrison for six en route to his fifty from 101 balls. He celebrated by pulling Harrison again for four as well as Saif Zaib when he entered the attack shortly before the new ball was available.

Tribe also launched Zaib for a straight six, before pulling Ramesh for four to reach 150 from 221 balls before Northants took the new ball after 80 overs. Cooke greeted the return of Procter by clipping him to square-leg for four before scything Guthrie through point for four. But on 84 his valiant innings ended as he pulled another short ball from Liam Guthrie to deep backward square-leg where Justin Broad completed a tumbling catch. It also ended the sixth wicket stand which had added 162 in 43.4 overs - Glamorgan's best-ever against Northants for that wicket surpassing the 150 added by Maurice Turnbull and Trevor Every at Swansea in 1933.

Timm van der Gugten announced his arrival by on-driving Procter for four before Tribe steered Guthrie for four to third man. The pair continued to work the ball around for singles as the 350, and another batting point was accrued in the 92nd over. Tribe then straight-drove Harrison for four to reach 175* before cover-driving Broad for four to reach his highest score in senior cricket. At 21 years and 163 days, he ended the day nineteen runs away from becoming the youngest double-centurion for Glamorgan in Championship cricket since 2016 when Aneurin Donald made 234 against Derbyshire at Colwyn Bay aged 19 years and 210 days.

Afternoon Report

Glamorgan resumed after lunch on 115-4 with Tribe harpooning Ramesh for six over mid-wicket before Kellaway cover-drove Guthrie for four. The latter also paddle-swept and reverse-swept Ramesh for a pair of fours, whilst Tribe flicked Guthrie to the ropes at mid-wicket before punching the Australian left-armer off the back foot through extra-cover. Tribe then swatted Whitehouse for four to mid-wicket.

With the total on 164, Harrison replaced Ramesh and with his second delivery bowled Kellaway around his legs as the young tyro attempted an orthodox sweep. Chris Cooke began by clipping Harrison for four to square-leg before imperiously pulling Broad for four. He then unfurled a superb cover-drive for four against Broad, before Tribe completed his hundred from 150 balls by inside-edging a drive against Harrison - his fourth century in as many games following his unbeaten hundreds in the closing pair of matches in the One-Day Cup and a career-best 175 in a one-day game for Jersey.

Tribe celebrated with a flowing on-drive for four against Procter before reaching a career-best 108 by sweeping Harrison, surpassing his previous best against Leicestershire earlier in the season at Grace Road. Clearly the air in the East Midlands is very much to his liking as he then flicked Procter to fine-leg for four. Cooke also on-drove the home captain for four before Tribe swept Harrison in front of square for a further boundary

Lunchtime Report

It's already been a highly successful few days for various teams at Glamorgan County Cricket Club, with their Women's team on Saturday clinching a place in next weekend's final of the Metro Bank Women’s One-Day Cup Division Two at Worcester, whilst yesterday at Headingley, the Under 18s won the boy's equivalent of the 50-overs competition by defeating their counterparts from Yorkshire by 46 runs. (writes Andrew Hignell)

This morning at Northampton the Men's 1st XI continued their quest for promotion into Division One of the Rothesay County Championship as they began the game 28 points behind leaders Leicestershire and 24 points ahead of Derbyshire in third place. Glamorgan made one change to their line-up from the game with Lancashire which ended on 1 August with a thumping victory for the Welsh county, with Timm van der Gugten replacing Ned Leonard. It was Zain ul Hassan and Asa Tribe who opened the batting against a Northants side missing the rested Ben Sanderson and including debutant seamer Ben Whitehouse and spinner Nirvan Ramesh.

ul Hassan struck the day’s first boundary as he square drove Luke Procter in the sixth over, but in the next over and with the total on 15, he edged a ball from the Northants captain into Lewis McManus’ gloves. With Sam Northeast as his new partner, Tribe then flicked Liam Guthrie to the ropes in front, and behind, square-leg for successive fours. Northeast then greeted the introduction of Whitehouse into the attack by punching him through point for four, before Tribe drilled him for a pair of fours through the covers.

Northeast brought up the 50 in the 15th over by pulling Broad for four prior to a sublime leg-glance by Tribe against Justin Broad. The Jerseyman then pulled a long-hop from Whitehouse to the ropes at mid-wicket before Northeast cover-drove Broad for another coruscating four. But with the total on 65, Northeast edged Broad to Calvin Harrison at second slip as Kiran Carlson joined Tribe.

Tribe continued his assault on Whitehouse by pulling two further balls for four before adding a third with a nurdle to third man to complete a 63-ball fifty. Procter then switched ends and was rewarded with the wicket of Carlson who inside-edged a delivery into the wicket-keeper’s gloves. 82-3 saw Colin Ingram make his way to the middle. He began with a cover-drive for four against Procter before Northants switched to spin with Nirvan Ramesh and Calvin Harrison bowling in tandem.

Shortly before lunch the hundred came up courtesy of four overthrows as Ingram scuttled through for a single but next over, the southpaw miscued a drive against Ramesh and was caught at mid-off to give the seventeen year-old his maiden Championship wicket.

Close of Play

Northants resumed after tea on 165-3 and with the Northampton floodlights coming into action as van der Gugten and Crane bowled in tandem. Ingram, at slip, failed to hold onto a very sharp chance as Sales edged the leg-spinner. Zaib responded by drilling Crane to mid-off for successive fours, before square-cutting the next delivery for four. Sales also straight-drove van der Gugten for four before pulling Crane for four.

Zaib deftly late-cut ul Hassan for four when the all-rounder returned to the attack before ramping him to fine-leg prior to reaching fifty from 57 balls. He celebrated by ramping him again before pulling Fernando for four to secure his team’s first batting point as Northants reached 250. Sales then greeted the return of Crane to the attack by pulling him to mid-wicket for four but, next over and with the total on 265, he miscued a drive to mid-off where Andy Gorvin, who was fielding as substitute completed a juggling catch.

Justin Broad began by sweeping and flicking Crane for legside boundaries before Zaib struck successive balls from Crane for four. Broad also reverse-swept Carlson for four but next over, and the final one of the day he edged Crane into Cooke’s gloves.

Afternoon Report

Northants resumed after lunch on 2-0 with their opening pair adopting an assertive approach with Luke Procter straight-driving the second delivery of the session from Harris for four before repeating the stroke in Harris’ next over. Ricardo Vasconcelos then guided Harris for four through the gully before clipping van der Gugten for six to square-leg. The Northants openers then struck a trio of three’s in Ben Kellaway’s opening over before Vasconcelos straight-drove the spinner for four prior to pulling Asitha Fernando to mid-wicket.

Vasconcelos greeted the introduction of Zain ul Hassan into the attack by pulling and cover-driving him for four to maintain the helter-skelter tempo of the home team’s response, before swatting Fernando for four through the covers to complete his fifty. But next over he drove ul Hassan head-high to Crane at mid-wicket as Glamorgan claimed their first wicket.

87-1 saw the arrival of Calvin Harrison who began by flicking ul Hassan for six over mid-wicket before punching Harris through extra-cover for four and lofting ul Hassan for a second six. He continued to put bat to ball by twice drilling Harris through extra-cover for a pair of firmly-struck fours. Procter then harpooned Mason Crane for six before lofting him over long-off for four as he completed his fifty from 74 balls. Procter also clipped Harris to mid-wicket for four but Harrison’s cameo ended in Crane’s third over as he edged the leg-spinner to slip where Colin Ingram took a sharp, low catch to his right.

Having been joined by James Sales, Procter pulled the returning Kellaway for four but in Crane’s next over, he was snared by the wrist spinner as Kiran Carlson pouched another edge.

Morning Report

It has been quite a fortnight for 21 year-old Asa Tribe who, since 20 August, has struck a rich vein of form having passed fifty in each of his last five innings for both Glamorgan and Jersey. His tally coming into this match stood at 552 runs at an astonishing average of 276, and yesterday he continued his prolific sequence by batting throughout the 96 overs to end the day on a Championship-best score of 181* which together with a record sixth wicket stand of 162 against the East Midlands side with Chris Cooke (84) guided the Welsh county to 367-6 at the end of the opening day of this encounter.

In the closing overs, Timm van der Gugten also lent useful support against a tiring attack and, knowing that there were further batting points as well as personal landmarks ahead, helped to guide the Jerseyman through the final overs ready for further work this morning. Tribe duly picked up where he had left off last night by nonchalantly flicking the first ball of the day, from Luke Procter, to fine-leg for four prior to guiding Justin Broad through the slips for four as well as deftly square-cutting him. Van der Gugten also creamed successive fours against Procter.

Tribe then edged Justin Broad just in front and then through the wicket-keeper’s gloves for four to bring up the 400 and another batting point before, two balls later, reaching his coveted double-hundred by flicking Broad to the boards at square-leg. Having started the match, aged 21 years and 163 days, he became the youngest double-centurion for Glamorgan in Championship cricket since 2016 when Aneurin Donald made 234 against Derbyshire at Colwyn Bay aged 19 years and 210 days.

Next over, he exquisitely on-drove Procter for four but was then bowled by the next delivery and departed for 206 having faced 297 balls and struck 31 fours and 2 sixes. 409-7 then became 413-8 as next over Calvin Harrison trapped van der Gugten l.b.w. with his first delivery of the day. Mason Crane then flayed Liam Guthrie for a four through point before pulling him to square-leg. James Harris, on his 100th first-class appearance for Glamorgan – then swept Harrison for four before scything Ben Whitehouse for four as Glamorgan soared past the 450-mark.

Crane also pulled Nirvan Ramesh for four when the debutant returned to the attack, but the seventeen year-old polished off the innings as he trapped Harris l.b.w before having Asitha Fernando caught at mid-wicket. This left Northants with a couple of overs to face before lunch, nut Vasconcelos was rapped on the gloves by van der Gugten in what proved to be the solitary over.

Afternoon Update

The rains had eased around noon and as the players and officials were taking lunch, mopping up operations began in earnest at the Wantage Road ground, allowing the umpires to agree on a 13.50pm resumption with 61.5 overs remaining in the day.

Crane and Carlson resumed the bowling duties with Adi Sharma pulling the latter for six before on-driving Crane for four. But his stay at the crease was a brief one as next over he pulled Carlson into the hands of ul Hassan at cow corner. 344-6 then became 351-7 as Lewis McManus under-edged a cut against Crane into Cooke’s gloves. Next over Carlson snared Liam Guthrie l.b.w. before Zaib reverse-swept Crane for four as he completed his hundred from 136 balls with a straight-driven four. The new ball was then taken with Northants on 382-8 and Glamorgan’s over-rate out of the red.

Zaib continued his assault though, pulling van der Gugten for six but on 144 he was run out attempting a second run with Zain ul Hassan making a direct hit as Northants slipped to 412-9. Shortly afterwards the rains returned and an early tea was taken. The rain persisited until 1630pm and although mopping-up operations began, the umpires called off play for the day at 1700pm.

Morning Report

It was quite a day yesterday for Asa Tribe as he completed a career-best 206 and became the first Jersey-born batter to score a double-hundred in the County Championship before a few hours later being picked up in the auction being held as part of the South African IT20 competition - taking place from Boxing Day until the end of January 2026 - for R200,000 by the Paarl Royals.

On the field though, Asa and his colleagues met stern resistance from Northamptonshire who ended the day on 309-5 in reply to Glamorgan’s first innings total of 467, with three of the home batters posting half-centuries, including Saif Zaib who ended the day unbeaten on 76 after countering the wiles of Mason Crane with some strokes from his own T20 and Hundred repertoire. Despite being ramped for four by his Welsh Fire colleague, Crane ended the day with four wickets to his name, including that of Justin Broad who was caught behind the wicket off the final ball of the day.

The upshot was that Glamorgan were looking to quickly polish off Northamptonshire’s resistance this morning and to build on a first innings lead. The weather, which so far this season has seen the Welsh county lose just nine hours play in Championship cricket, was not on their side as overnight rain and morning drizzle delayed the start of play. After an initial inspection, the umpires made a further inspection at 1130am and decided, with rain still falling, that no play will take place before lunch, with the latter taking place at 12.30pm and a further inspection around 13.10pm if the precipitation has ceased.

Close of Play Report

There were fifty minutes of play remaining when the players returned to the field after tea, prior to a Glamorgan declaration and the shaking of hands by both captains. The Welsh county were leading by 258 runs and Northants opting for the leg-spin of Calvin Harrison plus the medium-pace of Ben Whitehouse. The latter was twice steered to third man by Chris Cooke before Timm van der Gugten did the same. Cooke also pulled Harrison for four before the latter claimed his maiden Championship wicket as van der Gugten was caught in the gully. 234-7 saw Mason Crane join Cooke as Aadi Sharma`s occasional leg-breaks were employed before James Sales bowled the final over in off-spin mode.

Afternoon Update

Whitehouse and Ramesh resumed the bowling duties with rainclouds gathering on the horizon and the Northampton groundstaff hovering with the covers. But their pairing proved to be a brief one as Ingram pulled Whitehouse to fine-leg where Ramesh sustained a leg injury as he fell trying to complete the catch. Ingram then pulled Whitehouse for four before swatting him through backward point, with Carlson then pulling a full toss from Saif Zaib for four.

Carlson then square-drove Whitehouse for four before Ingram on-drove Zaib to reach 1,000 runs for the season but next over he lost Carlson who feathered a ball from Harrison into McManus’ gloves. 146-4 saw Chris Cooke join Ingram as Guthrie returned to the attack but their stand was only worth eighteen as, on 55, Ingram was caught at slip off Harrison. His departure saw the arrival of Ben Kellaway with Asa Tribe as his runner, with the youngster showing no effects of his calf strain as he deftly nurdled Guthrie for four to third man before covering driving the Australian for an elegant four.

However, with the total on 184, Kellaway was, for the second time in the game, bowled around his legs as he tried to sweep Harrison. Timm van der Gugten joined Cooke and stoutly defended as Northants opted for an all-spin attack as Zaib returned at the Pavilion End

Morning Report

Only 25.3 overs were possible on a dank day at Northampton yesterday as the home side reduced their deficit to 54 runs with just one wicket remaining – that of their two Championship debutants, Ben Whitehouse and seventeen year-old Nirmal Ramesh, who has been excused his academic commitments at Westminster School over the course of the past few days in order to make his first-class debut rather than immediately resuming his A-level studies. However, the youngster was back in the field at 1030am as Northants opted to declare on their overnight total.

Asa Tribe and Zain ul Hassan opened the batting against Liam Guthrie and Luke Procter with the latter, in his second over, finding the edge of ul-Hassan’s bat only for Calvin Harrison at second slip to spill the chance. But it was not an expensive miss as next delivery, the opener shouldered arms to a ball that nipped back in and bowled him. 9-1 saw Sam Northeast arrive at the crease with Tribe clipping Guthrie to square-leg.

Northeast had a life next over as Broad in the gully could not cling onto an sharp chance as the visiting captain edged his opposite number, with Tribe then flicking Guthrie to square-leg. Northeast then cover-drove Guthrie for four, besides also clipping him to square-leg. Procter saw another chance go abegging as Tribe edged into and out of the wicket-keeper’s gloves with first slip unable to grab the ricochet.

Tribe greeted the introduction of Whitehouse into the attack by nurdling him to third man for four before Northeast drilled a pair of fours through the covers when Justin Broad replaced Procter as Glamorgan’s lead soared into three figures. But Tribe’s purple patch of scores abruptly came to an end in Broad’s next over as the Jerseyman was adjudged to have edged a ball down the legside into Lewis McManus’ gloves and departed for a mere 24.

Kiran Carlson announced his arrival by flicking Broad to the boards at mid-wicket, but the tall seamer then produced a sharply rising delivery which Northeast feathered into McManus’ gloves. 58-3 saw the arrival of Colin Ingram, who needed 44 runs to reach 1,000 first-class runs for the season. Thoughts of reaching this milestone were nearly dispelled as his second delivery from Broad nearly bounced back onto the stumps. The southpaw duly celebrated his good fortune by square-cutting Whitehead for four.

Next over, Carlson top-edged a ball from Broad which just evaded the grasp of the slip fielders running back in the hope of catching the ball. Ramesh then entered the attack in tandem with the probing Procter, who was nurdled for four by Ingram followed by a drive off the front foot through point. Ingram then swept Calvin Harrison for four when the wrist spinner entered the attack shortly before lunch, followed by a square-cut for four against Ramesh.