Glamorgan 372 (Rees 86, Cosgrove 82, Dernbach 4-78), and 7-0 (2nd innings)
Surrey 303-9 (Davies 83, Ramprakash 73, Harris 4-82)
A fair sized Bank Holiday crowd enjoyed a second consecutive day in the sun as Glamorgan took their lead over Surrey to 76 with all second innings wickets standing, and set up the possibility of an exciting final day’s play tomorrow, weather permitting. All 3 results are still possible, although the home side look to be in a very strong position to win a record 5th consecutive game and consolidate their lead at the top of Division 2.
Resuming on 363-8, Glamorgan’s lower order batsmen survived only 20 minutes of the third day’s play, Tremlett taking both final wickets to give Surrey their 3rd bowling bonus point, and Glamorgan making only a disappointing total of 372, considering how the innings had started so promisingly.
Davies and Harinath opened the Surrey first innings at a rapid rate, Davies taking a particular liking to David Harrison’s bowling and hitting a succession of boundaries. James Harris at the other end posed some early problems, although he too was not safe from the onslaught of Surrey willow. Dalrymple was forced to make early bowling changes in an attempt to regain control over the run rate and build pressure, introducing Waters and Allenby to the attack with some success. However, Davies reached an excellent 50 from only 51 balls faced, and having been dropped twice by the home fielders en route to his half century Glamorgan promptly dropped him for a 3rd time as Dalrymple brought spinner Dean Cosker to the attack.
Dalrymple brought himself on at the other end to bowl spin, and was successful with his very first delivery, trapping Harinath LBW for 31 with the Surrey total at 83. The now legendary Mark Ramprakash, a much respected institution on the county circuit since his prolonged tragic failure to establish himself as a Test match batsman, was warmly received by Glamorgan supporters as he strode out to the wicket. He and Davies played out the last few minutes and Surrey went in to lunch at 92-1.
Glamorgan resumed their attack after lunch with Harrison, who promptly beat an uncomfortable looking Ramprakash several times in his first over. The promising Waters swung the ball nicely from the other end, and also induced an edge from Ramprakash which did not quite carry to slip.
Physically, Harrison does not look like the kind of man to be trifled with, indeed he could easily be mistaken for a gangster boss’s bodyguard, but his bowling in reality is only slightly above a gentle medium pace. His consistent short pitching at this pace means that he often costs his team in excess of 4 runs an over, and today was proving no different.
Davies was then dropped for an astonishing 4th time in his innings, although this was a difficult low chance to Allenby off Waters who was bowling nicely. Ramprakash had still not settled and his progress was streaky with several edges and inadvertently lofted shots. In spite of his Come Dancing success a few years ago, it could not be said that his footwork was impressive today.
These days James Harris is consistently Glamorgan’s premier strike bowler (though the world’s fastest bowler Shaun Tait has been signed for the Twenty20 Cup which starts this Friday). Davies’s run rate had slowed since lunch, though his chance-giving rate had not, and a sharp Harris delivery induced an edge which had Davies caught – only at the 5th time of asking – by Wallace for 83. At 157-2 young Younis Khan, namesake of the great Pakistani batsman and wearing the same 75 shirt number, then left a straight ball in the same excellent Harris over and was bowled for a duck.
Ex-England international Usman Afzaal then joined Ramprakash at the wicket. The latter was still looking curiously unsettled, his bat regularly being beaten, and another edge from Allenby’s bowling just failed to carry to Wallace behind the stumps. Allenby, swinging the ball prodigiously, beat Ramprakash’s bat repeatedly, and again induced an edge which failed to carry, leading to the obvious question of whether Wallace and the slips were standing too far back to Glamorgan’s medium pace attack.
Ramprakash reached his 50 from 82 balls with a lovely cover drive, wholly contrary to how his innings had proceeded until then. The arrival of Afzaal at the crease had seemed to settle him somewhat, although he was still only looking just about comfortable rather than dominant. However, just when it seemed that today was to be his lucky day after all, and that he would be the first centurion of the match, he was dismissed in only the 2nd over after tea, caught behind off the best ball of the day – a viciously rising delivery from the excellent James Harris – for 73. Surrey captain Hamilton-Brown was then LBW to Harris first ball, leaving his team in a spot of trouble at 222-5. Harris – now with 4 wickets – was bowling beautifully at this stage, shaping the ball away from the right hander’s bat, and constantly probing the batsman’s defence.
However Batty survived the hat-trick ball, and together with Afzaal put together a consolidating stand of 58 before Dalrymple took a wonderful catch at slip to dismiss the latter for a well played 49. This sparked another Surrey panic as Cosker bowled Batty for 32 in the following over. Neither Meaker nor Dernbach lasted long at the crease, and Surrey had swiftly collapsed from 280-5 to 290-9. Their last pair soldiered on in order to gain a further batting bonus point before Hamilton-Brown made a surprise declaration at 303-9, 69 runs behind Glamorgan, hoping to catch the home team on the hop and take an early wicket.
The ground-staff were certainly caught on the hop, as they scrabbled to prepare the wicket for this unexpected change of innings. However, Glamorgan openers Cosgrove and Rees who were faced with an awkward 3 overs to contend with before close of play, finished undefeated at 7-0.
Peter Davies
Swalec Stadium Cardiff
