County Championship: Mulder ton puts Leics on top against Glamorgan

Wiaan Mulder has played 27 international matches for South Africa including 10 Tests

A dominating innings of 147 not out from Wiaan Mulder steered Leicestershire to 387-5 on a batter-friendly pitch against Glamorgan.

Mulder struck 23 boundaries as he carried on from his unbeaten 235 the previous week against Sussex.

Louis Kimber hit 68 and Lewis Hill 81 as the Foxes carried on the form from their county record score of 756-4.

Mulder and Harry Swindells (52 not out) regained momentum after Glamorgan took four wickets in the second session.

Promotion contenders Glamorgan had to labour hard with no assistance from the conditions, and did not help themselves by spilling two difficult chances offered by Mulder and bowling too many four-balls.

In contrast, winless Leicestershire appear to have hit a consistent vein of form with the bat.

Despite the early loss of Rishi Patel to David Lloyd for 15, Kimber and Hill raced along for the rest of the morning session as Leicestershire reached 128-1 at lunch.

But Michael Hogan struck twice in successive balls as he forced edges to keeper Chris Cooke from both Kimber and Colin Ackermann, who came into the match on the back of an unbeaten 277 against Sussex.

The other double-centurion from Hove, Mulder, was dropped behind the wicket off Hogan on 17 and looked set to take full advantage.

At the other end, Hill slowed down slightly after reaching 50 and was caught behind trying to force Andrew Salter, having added 84 with Mulder.

Meanwhile Notts loanee Joey Evison, playing against Glamorgan for the second week in a row, fell to a sucker punch before tea on 12 as he smashed a Colin Ingram full-toss straight to deep mid-wicket, and Glamorgan had somehow got back into the game at 250-5.

That was the high point for the visitors as Swindells provided the support act Mulder needed to bat Leicestershire into a powerful position in the evening session, with Mulder having another escape off Hogan on 128 as he almost drove to cover.

Their stand is already worth 137 with Leicestershire poised for maximum batting points.

Leicestershire are giving a first-class debut to former Glamorgan seamer Roman Walker, but he was able to sit and watch his new team-mates take control against his former colleagues.

Leicestershire batter Wiaan Mulder told BBC Radio Leicester:

"I had a little bit of luck on my side early on and the ball swung most of the day, there was a bit of spin near the end of the day from Salter so it was tricky out there.

"But we were trying to play positive cricket and that gave us a couple of bad balls, we capitalised on that and hopefully we can carry on.

"I struggled with Hogan who got a lot of bounce but it was a good challenge and I enjoyed it. I'm not thinking about (another career-best), the team needs a good score so we can bowl at something.

"Our bowling, we've leaked a little bit recently but if we bowl in the right area it'll be tricky for them."

Glamorgan assistant coach David Harrison told BBC Sport Wales:

"The pitch is a very good one, you get good value for shots with the outfield very quick, at times we could have controlled the board a bit better but it was difficult to stem the runs with the pitch and outfield as they were.

"Mulder's come off a good score at Hove, there were a couple of half-chances and on another day they stick, but fair play he played very well.

"Hopefully when the guys get to bat they'll have the opportunity to have some big scores. Hopefully the pitch will stick together and we can build our first innings."