County Championship: Glamorgan keep Lancashire waiting

Jacques Rudolph has passed 50 seven times this season, but only gone on to a hundred once

Lancashire must wait until next month to clinch promotion after Glamorgan held out for a draw at Old Trafford.

Victory would have meant that third-placed Glamorgan could not have caught them in the Division Two table.

Simon Kerrigan took 4-60 as the visitors were all out for 213 before Steven Croft enforced the follow-on.

Glamorgan soon lost Will Bragg, but Jacques Rudolph (63) and Chris Cooke (41 not out) shared a stand of 91 to help their side reach 159-3.

Despite being unable to force a victory, Lancashire only need five points from their game against Kent at Canterbury, starting on 1 September, to be certain of a return to Division One next summer.

Glamorgan were a man short, with Kieran Bull unable to bat because of a bad back, and it only took Lancashire 11 overs to finish off the first innings after they resumed on 182-6, with all three wickets going to Kerrigan.

Mark Wallace (22) was bowled attempting to sweep, Graham Wagg (20) was stumped after advancing down the pitch and Michael Hogan gave a catch to mid-wicket.

The visitors soon lost a wicket when they batted again as Karl Brown took a brilliant one-handed catch off Kyle Jarvis to send Bragg on his way.

Colin Ingram followed for 18, caught behind from a good ball by James Faulkner, but Rudolph and Cooke kept Lancashire at bay for 46 overs after the latter was dropped by Alviro Petersen early in his innings.

And, despite Rudolph eventually falling lbw to Croft after batting for over four hours and facing 206 balls, a halt was called soon after.

Lancashire director of cricket and head coach Ashley Giles:

"It was a great effort by the guys to take those wickets in the morning session. It gave us a real sniff of winning the game. Jimmy Faulkner bowled a great spell and got the ball reversing. But the wicket just got the better of us. It turned into a real slab for the seamers.

"Surrey will be happy we haven't got too much of a lead but it's pretty much as we were. We maintain our 10-point lead at the top.

"We have three matches left. In two games' time we have Surrey here and we are going to have to play some very good cricket. We have 13 days of cricket left and they are all at the sharp end.

"Karl Brown gave us a real worry but he's going to be okay for T20 Finals Day. We gave him some stick for going off for an X-ray when he only had a bruise but it was a big worry with the way he's playing, which is as good as I've seen. For him to miss Finals Day after coming this far would have been terrible for him and for the team as well."

Glamorgan skipper Jacques Rudolph told BBC Radio Wales Sport:

"It was nice to spend some time in the middle, on a wicket that provided the spinners with quite a bit of turn. Chris Cooke played unbelievably well.

"It's a pity we got bowled out quite quickly this morning and Kieran Bull couldn't bat but, in hindsight, we've done the best we could have done in a bad situation and it's good to walk away with a draw.

"We've got three games left, one at home, but unfortunately I'm going to miss two of them since my wife is expecting our first-born, so I'm going to fly back (to South Africa) at the beginning of September."