County slip to innings defeat

Date: Saturday 08 August 2009

Final Report: Glamorgan 566 (Croft 121, Shantry 100, Bragg 80, Rees 44, Dalrymple 40, Powell 40, Henderson 6-152) beat Leicestershire 313 (Ackerman 92, Dippenaar 85, Dalrymple 3-11, Harris 3-90) and 181 (Dippenaar 57, Cosker 3-12, Croft 3-30) by an innings and 72 runs.

Leicestershire suffered an innings defeat at Colwyn Bay as Robert Croft and Adam Shantry shone with the ball on the final day after their batting heroics on the third.

Shantry claimed two important early breakthroughs by dismissing HD Ackerman and James Taylor, while Croft took 3-30 later in proceeding to wrap up the win.

Dean Cosker also finished with figures of 3-12 as County collapsed before lunch, despite the efforts of captain Boeta Dippenaar (57) and Tom New (26).

The duo shared 67 for the fifth wicket, but when Croft trapped New leg-before with the score on 163, four more wickets fell in a passage where five batsmen were dismissed for the addition of just three runs.

It was a nightmare passage of play and ended any hopes of salvaging something from the game.

That was a possibility at the start of the day with the team 176 runs behind, but it needed a solid first session.

Quite simply, it never materialised - and the loss of seven wickets was unrecoverable.

With Ackerman and Dippenaar at the crease, County harboured hopes of a partnership similar to the 152-run effort the duo shared in the first innings.

The early signs were promising with Ackerman pulling a six and a four in the opening over.

However, Ackerman fell without further adding to his tally of 17, trapped leg-before by left armer Shantry with the eleventh ball of the morning.

The seamer then struck for a second time shortly afterwards when Taylor was smartly stumped down the leg-side by Mark Wallace after sliding out of his crease momentarily.

At 96-4, the team were now in some trouble but Dippenaar and New shared an important stand which was constructed nicely.

Dippenaar was happy to take the attack to the opposition when spin entered the equation from both ends, and lofted a six as his second fifty in the match came up from 106 balls.

The knock also included four fours at that point, and was a gutsy effort well backed by New.

However, Croft, like Shantry, was not content with his batting feats and got his first wicket of the game by snaring New leg-before to end the partnership of 67.

It was a critical blow to County’s hopes of saving the game – and by lunch, the game was all but over.

Jacques du Toit was dismissed in the same Croft over as Jamie Dalrymple held an excellent diving catch at slip to continue his personal good match.

Claude Henderson was then run out following a mix-up, and with Nathan Buck trapped leg-before by Cosker and Dippenaar becoming Croft’s third victim all with the score on 166, County had lost five wickets for just three runs.

Dippenaar also fell to a slip catch from Dalrymple to end a fine knock of 57 from 137 balls.

He was ninth out following a stay of just short of three hours, but the captain badly needed someone to stay with him for a longer period of time.

AJ Harris and Harry Gurney steemed the flow, facing almost ten overs worth of deliveries between them.

The left-arm seamer struck a couple of nice fours in making a 30-ball 12, but when he was bowled by Cosker, the game had been lost by an innings and 72 runs.

It was a disappointing last day to follow on from the difficult third day, with Glamorgan deserving great credit for forcing the issue.

At the halfway stage it was anybody’s game, but the home side really turned the screw on the Welsh Coast in Rhos-on-Sea and claimed their first Championship victory of the season.

County had played their part in an entertaining opening couple of days at the charming venue, but were a distinct second best over the second half of the game.

The team will need to pick themselves up quickly, for there is a Pro40 game at Warwickshire Bears tomorrow and another Championship game against Derbyshire which begins at Grace Road on Tuesday.

However, the best way to get over a defeat is to get back on the field immediately, so a hectic schedule could be a blessing in disguise for the team.