Spinners prosper at St Helen's

Date: Friday 23 July 2010

Despite losing a fair chunk of the game to the elements, there is still plenty of life left in the LV=County Championship match between Glamorgan and Leicestershire at Swansea.

Another outstanding performance from Leicestershire spin twins Claude Henderson and Jigar Naik helped dismiss Glamorgan for 290 but the Welsh county’s first innings lead proved important.

Their 43-run advantage was not overhauled by Leicestershire in the 26 overs sent down by the hosts in the time remaining and two wickets were lost in the process.

It means the game is delicately poised and all three results are still very much a possibility given County trail by just two runs on a St Helen’s pitch that is offering plenty of encouragement to the slow men.

Henderson and Naik took the spinners’ tally to fifteen out of twenty wickets at the halfway stage with excellent displays.

The slow left armer, who has been in terrific form this season, took his third five wicket haul of the summer – including the key wicket of Mark Cosgrove – and Naik 4-110 as County rallied.

Glamorgan were 176-3 at one stage as Cosgrove hit his second hundred of the summer against Leicestershire.

It was a typically vigorous effort from the powerfully built Australian, who has been in fine fettle throughout the t20 campaign and took just 111 balls to reach the milestone.

There was relief all round when Henderson (5-72) had the big-hitting batsman stumped by Tom New after advancing when on 117 and he was one of nine men who fell to the seductive charms of the spinners.

Despite their good work, Glamorgan had constructed a handy advantage and then cashed in on that with the early wicket of Matthew Boyce. Will Jefferson also departed and Leicestershire were still not in profit by stumps.

Jacques du Toit finished unbeaten on an important, patient 26, but just like the first innings, scoring was difficult and County had to be content with patient accumulation.

Earlier in proceedings, the Dragons resumed on 45 without loss and Cosgrove was dominant; an unusual trait for batsmen in this game.

He struck a number of early boundaries as County struggled to pin him down and Cosgrove bought up a 52-ball half-century which included eight fours.

Leicestershire needed to stop the bleeding and a wicket at the other end proved a welcome respite. Nadeem Malik found the edge of Gareth Rees, and the left hander, who had not added to his overnight score, was well held by Matthew Boyce at first slip.

It was the first time this opening stand had been broken for a while as the duo shared 198 to lead Glamorgan to a ten-wicket win at Grace Road earlier this summer.

On this occasion 76 runs had been added so the team were certainly glad to see a ‘one’ in the wickets column. However, the side needed more and wickets weren’t immediately coming.

Number three Tom Maynard drove Naik down the ground while Cosgrove was also fluent in that area as the 100 came up after an hour’s worth of play.

Although the batsmen were aggressive against Naik, the off-spinner was not fazed. He turned one sharply to rip through Maynard’s defences and County had their second success.

Henderson formed a spin partnership with his colleague and as ever, the slow left armer was hard to get away.

Cosgrove was still going about his business at a fair old gallop though and bought up his century. He cut Naik for four after earlier clipping a couple of legside boundaries and all told, sixty of his ton had come up in the form of fours.

Glamorgan moved beyond 150 for the loss of just two wickets but Henderson was wheeling away impressively and claimed his first scalp to check progress. He trapped Ben Wright leg before and County had their first bowling point.

The spinner’s second wicket after lunch was the critical one. Leicestershire badly needed to see the back of Cosgrove and did when the Aussie paid the price for leaving his crease.

At 176-4, County were back in it but home captain Jamie Dalrymple combined with ex-Fox Jim Allenby to further frustrate the bowlers.

Both picked up sharp singles against the slow men and were also aggressive when the opportunity presented itself. Dalrymple was certainly prepared to take on the bowlers and launched two sixes and five fours en route to a bright 48.

However, after the stand moved past fifty, the skipper fell to Naik’s off spin as Taylor took a fine catch under the helmet at short leg.

Although Allenby and Mark Wallace edged Glamorgan into the lead, the keeper became Henderson’s third wicket as Taylor completed another catch under the lid with the score on 249.

Allenby went shortly after as his old mate Paul Nixon took a brilliant diving catch at short extra cover and County certainly had their tails up.

James Harris and Robert Croft – who is well known to County followers for his batting talents as well as his wicket-taking ability – steered the ship into tea and but it sailed into troubled waters after the break.

Naik trapped his off-spinning colleague leg before to ensure there wasn’t a repeat of his Colwyn Bay heroics last season and the tweaker struck again when Taylor took a third catch at short leg to remove Dean Cosker.

Harris and David Harrison added some lusty blows to extend Glamorgan’s lead by a further 27 runs and the latter was particularly severe on the spinners.

Harrison struck two fours and a maximum in his first six deliveries but Henderson had him caught off a skier by captain Matthew Hoggard at mid on to end his fun.

That left a minimum of 23 overs in the day and Jefferson and Boyce were looking to construct another solid opening partnership.

With the pitch clearly turning, Croft took the new ball alongside Harris in a bold move by Dalrymple but it was the seamer who drew first blood. He enticed Boyce to edge to the skipper at second slip and both he and the ever-economical Croft made Jefferson and du Toit scrap hard.

Only two boundaries came in the opening eighteen overs and Jefferson fell when Cosker entered the equation. The batsman was trapped leg before for an innings which spanned four minutes over an hour and it was a blow to lose Jefferson fifteen minutes before the close.

Naik was utilised as nightwatchman and he battled through to stumps alongside du Toit.

Croft and Cosker were extremely frugal though and the team need to negate their threat in the opening session tomorrow to ensure a home victory charge does not develop.

And if Leicestershire can develop a handy lead, then batting last will not be easy here. There should be a fascinating last day in store.