LV= County Championship Division Two Nottinghamshire CCC v Glamorgan CCC, Trent Bridge, Day Four
It is not often that you keep Marnus Labuschagne quiet with the bat, so when Brett Hutton dismissed the Glamorgan batter in the first innings for three, there was little doubting the determination of the Australian second time around. He would make up for it with an unbeaten 50 as Glamorgan won comfortably by a seven-wicket margin with more than a session to spare.
Glamorgan wrapped up Nottinghamshire’s second innings with just another 18 runs added to the overnight total setting the visitors 166 runs to win on the final day of their LV= County Championship Division Two game at Trent Bridge.
Whether it is down to the pitches or nerves getting the better of players, low scoring chases can be more challenging to get over the line than an imposing total. Glamorgan’s top order has been questioned of late, with Andrew Salter filling in at the top of the order. So Notts could maybe see an opportunity to get in amongst the Glamorgan batters and set up an unlikely win.
The opening pair of Salter and David Lloyd added 42 for the first wicket, and Welsh hearts would have been beating a little easier. However, there might have been some concern when both the batters lost their wickets just before lunch, Salter lbw to the ever-impressive Liam Patterson-White for 16 and Lloyd bowled by Dane Paterson on the final ball before the interval.
Labuschagne and Sam Northeast, who top-scored in the first innings with 85, were the players tasked with finding the next 114 runs, which seemed well within them. Notts struggled for the vital breakthrough and improved their over-rate before the threat of a points deduction as well as defeat were served.
Glamorgan’s two best-known batters added forty runs, and the target was looking within reach. Northeast, trying to make sure the job was done within good time, pulled James Pattinson towards the deep square-leg boundary, and Patterson-White took a catch that had his teammates rushing to congratulate the all rounder where he had tumbled.
Kiran Carlson joined Labuschagne in the middle. As the pair kept the score ticking over, a decisive victory was on the cards.
What will be a concern for Nottinghamshire was just how the runs flowed freely for their opponents. That being said, Pattinson and Patterson have both recently arrived back without the overs in them they would have liked. In addition, the injury to Joey Evison meant Notts were a bowler down, which didn’t help their cause.
Notts’ luck was confounded when Carlson’s healthy edge evaded the fielder at slip to race for four, bringing up 50 from 66 balls for the fourth wicket. Glamorgan needed just 22 runs to win.
Things progressed steadily for Glamorgan and the ball after Labuchagne reached his fifty from 93 balls, Karlson swatted Pattinson for six to complete an impressive victory.
