County Championship: Patel stars as Leicestershire draw at Glamorgan

Rishi Patel has 882 first class runs in the season

Leicestershire's batters, led by Rishi Patel, dominated the final day of a rain-ruined encounter in Cardiff as they reached 451-6 against Glamorgan.

Patel hit a stylish career-best 179, his fourth century of the season, while Lewis Hill made 78.

Louis Kimber belted 61 off 35 balls to earn the Foxes maximum bonus points in the County Championship second tier.

The teams could not agree terms for declarations and a run-chase on a placid pitch.

That meant that with 185 overs lost to the weather, there was no chance of a positive result.

Leicestershire stay second in Division Two, while Glamorgan move up one place to fourth.

The combination of the Kookaburra ball, going soft more quickly than the Duke, and a rain-affected surface meant it was a thankless task for the bowlers for most of the limited playing time.

Even the presence of Australian Test bowlers Michael Neser and Mitch Swepson could not pose serious problems for the Foxes as they picked up the five batting points.

Opening bat Zain Ul Hassan (2-61) claimed his maiden first-class wickets with his medium-pace bowling.

Leicestershire, resuming at 28-0, quickly lost Sol Budinger for five as he gloved a hostile short ball from batting hero Neser to Chris Cooke.

The prolific Patel played some stylish back-foot punches through the off-side and Glamorgan quickly turned to leg-spinner Swepson, who was smashed for a couple of sixes over wide long-on by Hill.

Patel was missed at slip off Swepson on 46 and left Glamorgan ruing the error as he cruised to three figures.

Despite a nervy few minutes on 49, Hill looked likely to add his own 100 as he seemed in control before swatting James Harris to Kiran Carlson on the square-leg boundary after a stand of 168.

Colin Ackermann (17) looked strangely out of touch before being stumped charging at Swepson, but Peter Handscomb (33) helped in the drive for bonus points until he was caught on the boundary by Carlson to spark celebrations for Hassan in a useful spell with the old ball.

Patel, 24, looked set for 200, but played down the wrong line in Hassan's next over, having struck 16 fours and five sixes in a mature and accomplished knock.

Some spectacular hitting from Kimber got Leicestershire on track for 450, and with Glamorgan strangely declining to take the new ball, Wiaan Mulder and Tom Scriven got them there with no real pressure.

Leicestershire next host Worcestershire at Oakham School on Wednesday 19 July and Glamorgan face Gloucestershire at Cheltenham the following day.

Glamorgan are unlikely to have Eddie Byrom (hip injury) and Dan Douthwaite (side strain) fit for the next two Championship games, with the pair in line to return for the One Day Cup and Hundred respectively.

Glamorgan coach Matthew Maynard told BBC Sport Wales:

"We thought a forfeit and forfeit (of innings) on the overnight score was a very reasonable offer, they obviously thought not and that was that really, a bit of a shame.

"Batting (for Leicestershire) in their first innings today was a lot easier than it would have been in the fourth innings (of the match) to try to win it, but full credit to the Leicestershire batsmen and Rishi Patel was superb, a really class knock.

"(The table) was life a lot clearer, if we had little hope of getting promotion it would be a different story, but we're still in the mix with two big games before the One Day Cup and the Hundred."

Leicestershire interim coach Alfonso Thomas told BBC Radio Leicester:

"There was a conversation about potentially forfeiting our first innings and Glamorgan forfeiting, but I don't think the carrot dangled was big enough in terms of targets.

"Our boys were adamant last night that they were not going to go for anything that wasn't appealing to them, Hilly (Lewis Hill) had a conversation with the senior players and the vote came back that we would take what we can get, 400 plus, and the lads have batted superbly well.

"We're in a fantastic position at the moment, and let's see what the next five games hold.

"Rishi has been fantastic, how he paces his innings, he's very quick to put the pressure on the bowlers and you feel that if you miss your mark he's going to punish you."