Leicestershire open their Championship campaign with a comprehensive win against Glamorgan
An impressive bowling display by the Leicestershire pace attack secured a win for the Midland’s side inside three days at Sophia Gardens. They had the better of the conditions on day one, having won the toss, but didn’t have too much trouble taking wickets on day three as Glamorgan were bowled out in their second innings for a disappointing 248, Kiran Carlson and Andy Gorvin the only batters to put up any meaningful resistance. Ian Holland followed his excellent first innings bowling display with 4/46 in the second.
Leicestershire’s not out batters overnight, Ben Cox and Chris Wright did not last long, adding just one bye to the overnight score. Cox was lbw to Andy Gorvin for 51 and then the star of the Foxes’ reply Wright, was bowled by the same bowler for 74. Rishi Patel had come out to bat having dislocated his thumb early on day one. Gorvin finished with 4/51 and Asitha Fernando 4/71.
Leicestershire finished on 427, a lead of 198 and soon had Glamorgan in trouble, Holland the main tormentor again as he first trapped Zain ul-Hassan lbw with a leg stump yorker and then next ball bowled Sam Northeast, playing on. Carlson played out the hat trick delivery, but Eddie Byrom then slashed at a wide ball from the same bowler into the hands of Rehan Ahmed at point and Glamorgan were 19/3.
It was 20 balls into his spell before Ben Green conceded a run and shortly after, he induced an edge off the bat of Colin Ingram, well caught by Cox diving in front of first slip. At lunch Glamorgan had reached 40/4.
In the second over after lunch, Wright trapped Ben Kellaway lbw for three, but the 39-year-old hobbled off a few overs later, as Leicestershire’s injury concerns mounted. At 46/5, Glamorgan still needed 149 to make Leicestershire bat again, but Carlson and Chris Cooke halted the clatter of wickets. The ball was still passing the edge, but Carlson brought up his half century with a six over backward point. However, the respite was short lived and just after the pair reached their fifty partnership, Cooke was trapped lbw by Ben Green for 21, with a ball that kept low.
Carlson brought up his 5000th first class run during the afternoon session as he continued to put up lone resistance and at tea Glamorgan had reached 162/7, Timm van der Gugten having been caught down the leg side by Cox off Ben Mike for nine. This would have been a relief to the bowler having trapped the same batter plumb lbw only to have overstepped.
Carlson and Gorvin gave Glamorgan supporters some hope after tea as they put on 99 runs for the eighth wicket, both playing some crisp shots, particularly square of the wicket. Carlson went to his century off 199 balls, but then top edged Ben Mike to fine leg, where sub fielder, Liam Trevaskis took a fine catch, diving forward. Shoaib Bashir lasted 16 balls before falling lbw to Holland, but Gorvin was able to reach his maiden first class fifty before Green bowled Fernando, to finish with figures of 3/28.
Leicestershire were left needing 51 runs to win and Rehan Ahmed opened the batting with Sol Budinger. The extra half hour was taken and the game finished in rather farcical circumstances as off spinner Ben Kellaway was excluded from the attack after bowling two high full tosses from just four balls. The required runs were eventually scored in just six overs giving the Foxes the win by 10 wickets. They take 23 points and Glamorgan two.
The ability to take 20 wickets to create opportunities for positive results has been a concern for Leicestershire, so this opening win will be a huge boost.
After the game Glamorgan head coach Richard Dawson was understandably reticent about his sides performance saying “we didn’t play consistently enough over the three days.”
In reference to the innings of Carlson and Gorvin: “We want a bit of fight and a bit of scrap in our players, working hard. It was difficult. The start of the innings was tough for him (Carlson), but he then made the score which was a fantastic effort.”
When asked about possible team changes: “I’ve not even thought of that.”
Kiran Carlson was obviously pleased with his innings, but described “very raw emotions right now. Don’t want to start the season like that and to come off with the loss is really hard to take. Fair play to Leicester, they outplayed us for three days and deserved to win. We’ve got to pick ourselves up and make sure we are ready to go next week.”
