It was an attritional day in Cardiff as Glamorgan established a significant first innings lead of 299 and then Leicestershire set about batting the remaining five sessions. By the end of the day a draw looked the most likely outcome on a pitch which was offering little assistance to the bowlers, but it might have been a different story if Glamorgan could have held on to their catches.
Glamorgan started the day on 431/7 and continued the cautious approach that had dominated day two. A century stand between Colin Ingram and Mason Crane came off 170 balls and Crane was unlucky to be run out at the non-strikers end one short of his half century. This occurred just after 500 had been reached and the next milestone was Ingram’s 250, which came off 370 balls.
There was then an episode that is all too common in the modern game, where Leicestershire’s Sam Wood slid and took the ball into the boundary rope, only to leave the umpires believing it had not reached the line.
Fraser Sheat struck a brisk 34 and Glamorgan declared on 550/9, a lead of 299. Ingram finished on 257 not out having been at the crease for three minutes short of 10 hours. The Leicestershire openers were then left to face two overs before lunch, which they did without any problems.
On the resumption, Sheat bowled the most testing spell of his brief Glamorgan career, beating the bat on a number of occasions, but it was Dan Douthwaite who made the breakthrough. His first three balls had gone for 10, but the next struck Rish Patel (23) on the back leg and the lbw appeal was upheld. Ned Leonard removed Lewis Hill in the next over, nipping one back sharply to bowl the Leicestershire captain for a duck, leaving the score on 37/2.
Ajinkya Rahane and Peter Handscomb looked untroubled until the introduction of Crane induced two loose shots from Rahane off successive balls. Unfortunately for Glamorgan, the leg spinner shelled both return catches and the pair were still there when rain brought an end to the afternoon’s play two overs early, with Leicestershire on 111/3, still trailing by 188 runs.
Play restarted promptly after tea with no loss of overs and Crane was in the firing line again when Handscomb hit a ball firmly to him at midwicket and he again could not hold on to the catch. Handscomb was on 26, with Leicestershire on 121/3 and he and Rahane took the score uneventfully to 142/3 at which point, somewhat unexpectedly, the umpires took the players off for bad light. Rahane had reached 47 and Handscomb 33, with 24.5 overs left in the day’s play.
The players came back out 30 minutes later, but after nine balls had been bowled they walked off again. There was general confusion, but no further play was possible, hampered by the inability to make use of the floodlights because of restrictions imposed by the council.
The expectation is for a fine fourth day and Leicestershire will be disappointed if they cannot bat long enough to achieve a draw.
