Glamorgan make it two wins on the bounce
After a very disappointing first three games, losing two of them, Glamorgan seemed to have turned things around, this week defeating Northamptonshire by eight wickets. However, the scattering of spectators at Sophia Gardens on the morning of day three would have been expecting Glamorgan to have wrapped things up by tea, but a resolute batting display from Northamptonshire, led by Luke Procter and Saif Zaib meant they were kept waiting until after 7pm, the umpires extending the day by eight overs.
Northants went into the day on 49/3, trailing by 190 runs, the result of another poor first innings batting display, making just 185, having chosen to bat first. It was no surprise to see Procter top-scoring in that innings with 61, while there were three wickets-a-piece for Asitha Fernando and Andy Gorvin.
Glamorgan then posted 424, Ben Kellaway backing up his unbeaten 181 against Kent last week, with 95, while Sam Northeast made 67. Marnus Labuschagne, playing the first of two games for Glamorgan prior to the World Test Championship final, was dismissed for a duck by fellow Australian, Harry Conway.
There was then just time for Northants to lose three second innings wickets in the 14 overs left to be bowled on day two, Gorvin picking up George Bartlett (13) and night watchman Calvin Harrison in the penultimate over of the day.
The Glamorgan seamers were rather wayward on the morning of day three, with the pitch giving the bowlers less assistance than on the first two days, and Procter and James Sales were allowed to put on 39 runs in the first 10 overs. Procter was given a life when on 35, an edge put down in the slips by Kiran Carlson off the bowling of James Harris. However, Timm van der Gugten made the breakthrough, inducing a nick off the bat of Sales (35), which nestled in the gloves of Chris Cooke. That made the score 97/4, 122 still needed to make Glamorgan bat again.
At the other end, Fernando was in the middle of a probing spell, and he gave Cooke his second catch of the morning, the struggling Rob Keogh out for six. Meanwhile, as in the first innings, Procter was remaining resolute, scoring just 19 runs in the 28 overs bowled in the morning session, taking him to 49 at the interval. Northants went to lunch on 148/5, still trailing by 81, with Saif Zaib on 32.
Soon after the resumption, Procter brought up his 50 off 114 balls, but Fernando made the breakthrough, Cooke again taking the catch, as he went for 56, to leave Northants on 172/6. Zaib was still there and he reached his 50 when he edged the second ball from Zain ul Hassan through the vacant second slip area, the landmark coming off 62 balls.
Zaib and Lewis McManus took Northants to within 17 of the deficit, but having just reached the fifty partnership, James Harris, who had been a little expensive, induced an edge from the bat of Zaib, into the hands of Northeast at second slip. McManus and Justin Broad were still there at tea, with the score 229/7, the deficit now down to 10, McManus being particularly watchful as his 20 runs had come from 92 balls.
The new ball was taken in the third over of the evening session, and with the first delivery, Broad clipped a leg stump half volley from Timm van der Gugten into the hands of Asa Tribe at midwicket. That brought the hero of last week’s win, Ben Sanderson to the crease, but it was a leg side boundary off the bat of McManus that brought the scores level. The ninth wicket pair added 33, before a superb, full-stretch diving catch from Kiran Carlson at third slip, off the bowling of Harris saw the end of Sanderson.
We then saw the dance of the fielders that so often accompanies the presence of an established batter (McManus) with the number 11 (Conway), as Glamorgan tried to limit the runs. It was no surprise when, as usual, it didn’t work, partly due to wayward bowling, and the pair added 41, to take the final total to 304. McManus was the last man out for 66 off 145 balls, strangled down the leg side off Fernando.
Glamorgan were left needing 66, with 12 overs remaining in the regulation day’s play, with a possibility of bowling an extra eight, but two wickets from Sanderson had them 6/2, Labuschagne making just four. Northeast joined Asa Tribe and the two settled the nerves of the few home supporters who had stayed on, the pair seeing Glamorgan home.
