Glamorgan are in control of their game against Derbyshire in Cardiff, but the absence of any significant deterioration of the pitch means that Derbyshire will believe they can hold out on day four.
David Lloyd’s triple century, spanning the first one-and-a-half days of the game, allowed Glamorgan to declare on 550/5 halfway through the afternoon session on day two and when play resumed on day three, Derbyshire were 135/5 with two set batters. Harry Came and Anuj Dal had come together with the score on 75/5 and remained resolute during the morning session. They batted cautiously but took any runs on offer and at lunch the score had moved on to 211/5. The new ball had been taken just before the interval, but the breakthrough had to wait until shortly after lunch, Ajaz Patel taking a sharp slip catch off Timm van der Gugten. Came had made 64 and the partnership was worth 145 runs. 220/6 soon became 221/7 as Patel trapped Alex Thomson lbw and Dal was the next to go, lbw to van der Gugten for 92. Patel took the last two wickets to finish with 5/68 and with Derbyshire ending on 253, trailing by 297, the follow on was enforced and an early tea taken.
When the Derbyshire openers came out after tea, the pitch was still behaving itself and the batters appeared in control. However, Reece then played a loose drive, edging a ball from Harris into the gloves of Chris Cooke for 8 and Derbyshire were 26/1. Brooke Guest was bowled by van der Gugten with the score on 55 and shortly after, Billy Godleman was lbw to the same bowler for 40. Leus du Plooy joined Wayne Madsen and together they saw Derbyshire through to stumps on a pitch that offers slow turn but not much else. They ended on 123/3 requiring a further 174 runs to make Glamorgan to bat again. For Glamorgan the second new ball will be available after lunch on day four and could hold the key.
