Day 4: Durham 383ao (AZ Lees 182*, AG Salter 7/45) Glamorgan 234ao & 220/5 (CB Cooke 85*, KS Carlson 61) Match Drawn
Despite a flurry of wickets in the morning session of the final day, the LV=Insurance County Championship match between Glamorgan and Durham in Cardiff finished in a draw after half centuries from Kiran Carlson and Chris Cooke took the home side to safety.
The day started with seven Durham wickets falling for 32 runs as Andrew Salter claimed career best figures. Durham had a first innings lead of 149 with Alex Lees finishing undefeated on 182, his highest First-class score in a Durham shirt.
Four early Glamorgan wickets gave Durham some hope of claiming victory but the stand between Cooke and Carlson took the home side to safety with the teams shaking hands with 16 overs un-bowled.
Durham resumed their first innings 114 runs in front with seven wickets in hand. In a madcap first hour they went from 351 for three to 383 all out. The destroyer in chief was Salter who finished seven for 45, his first five wicket haul in the format, as the Durham middle and lower order attempted to press home their advantage with quick runs.
Salter dismissed David Bedingham in the second over of the day, well stumped by Chris Cooke with a ball that appeared to swing away from the batter. What followed was a succession of Durham players giving away their wickets with attempted big shots.
As his side collapsed around him Alex Lees stood firm, carrying his bat for the second time in his career on his way to his highest first-class score for Durham. While a quick conclusion of the Durham innings may not have been their plan as they started out the final day of this match it did give them more time to claim the 10 Glamorgan wickets they needed for victory.
In the 14 overs they bowled before lunch Durham claimed three Glamorgan wickets with the home side still trailing by 116 at the break.
While the morning session was hectic, things settled down after lunch. Durham had Glamorgan 66 for four when Ben Raine had Ingram bowled but a partnership of 90 between Carlson and Cooke took Glamorgan into the lead.
It was a breakthrough year for Carlson in 2021 with the Welsh batter scoring 928 first-class runs at an average of 48.84 and he was playing exceptionally before edging one through to the wicket-keeper on 61 off the bowling of Matthew Potts.
Cooke made 59 in the first innings and was 85 not out in the second, those runs combined with the 205 not out he made in the last match of the 2021 season it is an impressing run of scores for the Glamorgan wicket-keeper.
Durham take 15 points away from this match while Glamorgan claim 11.
Day 3
An undefeated hundred from Alex Lees put Durham in charge of their LV=Insurance County Championship fixture against Glamorgan in Cardiff as the visitors reached 348 for three, a first innings lead of 114.
Much of the previous two days have been lost to weather but Durham have put themselves in a position where they could push for a win.
Lees was well supported by captain Scott Borthwick who made 64 and David Bedingham who made a quick-fire half-century as just three wickets fell on the third day of this match.
Durham will resume their first innings on the final day tomorrow and will need quick runs and quick wickets if they are to claim a positive result.
Lees, back with Durham after making his Test debut last month in the Caribbean, looked in excellent touch on his way to 163 not out. He took his guard outside off stump when the Glamorgan seamers came around the wicket and this neutralised much of their threat.
Michael Jones and Sean Dickson were both dismissed by Timm van der Gugten who bowled with decent pace and late movement. The other Glamorgan seamers found success harder to come by.
With the short boundary on the Grandstand side of the ground and a quick outfield Glamorgan’s bowlers did a good job to keep things tight even with wickets hard to come by. The best chance for a further dismissal in the afternoon session was when van der Gugten induced a leading edge from Borthwick that ballooned just over the head of Kiran Carlson in the covers.
Durham reached the tea interval at 163 for two with Lees and Borthwick both in control. Lees reached his 18th first-class century from 226 balls, getting to the landmark with a lovely drive for four through wide mid-on off Callum Taylor.
Borthwick passed his fifty from 93 balls as he and Lees shared a stand worth 147 for the third wicket. It was the seventh bowler Glamorgan used, Andrew Salter, who got the breakthrough when Borthwick drove one into the hands of Sam Northeast at mid-wicket.
There was a change of gears once Lees reached his hundred with the scoring rate ticking upwards, but it was when Bedingham came to the crease that the push for the win really started. The South African continued his fantastic form for Western Provence in his first match of this season with Durham as he passed fifty from just 56 balls. His last three first-class innings before this match were 81, 71 and 199. He was on 74 from 78 balls at the close of day three in this game.
There are 104 overs scheduled tomorrow and the quick rate that Durham put on their runs in the evening session has set up an interesting final day.
Day 2: Glamorgan 234/10 (BA Raine 3/35, MJ Potts 3/67; CA Ingram 87, CB Cooke 59) Durham 5/0
Another afternoon filled with poor weather meant that just 26.5 overs were bowled on day two of the LV=Insurance County Championship match between Glamorgan and Durham in Cardiff.
The morning session saw Glamorgan bowled out for 234 as six wickets fell for 41 runs with the dismissals shared around by the Durham seamers.
There was time for one over of the Durham first innings before the lunch break but that was where the play finished for the day, with the visitors on 5 without loss, 229 runs behind on first innings.
Chris Cooke and Colin Ingram were looking well set in the opening exchanges. Both batters started off with real attacking intent with Ingram particularly good when driving down the ground, before Ingram edged one to first slip on 87.
The dismissal of Ingram to Paul Coughlin began the Glamorgan collapse that saw them go from 188 for four to 229 all out.
Callum Taylor managed to get two balls away to the boundary for four on his way to 11 before he was trapped lbw by Matthew Potts. Two balls later Potts repeated the trick to dismiss former Durham team mate James Weighell with a fantastic yorker that trapped him plumb in front to leave Glamorgan 214 for seven.
Cooke played well despite wickets falling around him, making 59 from 120 balls. He was the ninth wicket to fall when he upper cut the ball down to third man off the bowling of Paul Coughlin with Liam Trevaskis taking a very good catch diving forward with the ball just inches off the ground.
The Durham openers saw out the one over before the lunch break but during the interval the there was a return of the heavy hail and rain storms that ruined the second half of day one.
With the groundstaff using the bucket of a tractor to scoop ice off the field before even more rain fell, there was no chance of further play.
Day 1: Glamorgan 164/4 (BA Raine 2/23; CA Ingram 71*, CB Cooke 30*)
Just 47 overs were possible on a day curtailed by weather in the LV=Insurance County Championship match between Glamorgan and Durham in Cardiff, with Durham closing on 164/4.
It was the visitors who won the toss and put Glamorgan into bat. Useful contributions of 28 from David Lloyd and 24 from Sam Northeast gave Glamorgan a decent start but two wickets in eight balls just before lunch brought Durham back into the game.
It was Colin Ingram who was the star for Glamorgan finishing on 71 not out before a huge hailstorm took the players off the field for the final time just after tea.
Lloyd, himself a relative newcomer to opening in first class cricket, looked much more assured with real positive intent from the outset. He made an enterprising 28 before he edged behind to David Bedingham off the bowling of Ben Raine.
New Glamorgan signing, Sam Northeast, looked in good touch before he was trapped lbw by Chris Rushworth. When Raine had Kiran Carlson bowled for 1 in the next over Glamorgan found themselves 108 for four.
ngram, who has played just one other first-class match since 2017, looked in fantastic touch, passing his fifty from 76 balls with one half chance in the gully being his only slip up.
Just 17 overs were possible after the lunch break with short but heavy rain and hail showers taking the players off the field at regular intervals before one almighty downpour took them off for good.
Despite these regular interruptions Ingram and Chris Cooke put on an undefeated partnership of 56 for the fifth wicket. With the ball getting older things looked a little easier for batting although there was still the odd delivery that seamed or swung.
Raine was the pick of the Durham bowlers as he got the ball to move often enough to trouble the batters throughout his 11 overs, finishing with 2/23 from 11 overs.