County Championship: Derbyshire start well after Glamorgan record

Chris Cooke has added two consecutive half-centuries to his two Championship hundreds this season

Derbyshire made a strong start to their innings against Glamorgan, reaching 95-0 after their visitors piled up 521-8 declared.

Luis Reece (52 not out) and Harry Came (37 not out) survived 40 overs before rain wiped out the last session.

Their caution contrasted with the visitors' earlier adventure.

Glamorgan racked up their highest ever score at Derby as Chris Cooke's belligerent 70 made sure of maximum batting points.

Cooke tucked into anything off-line as he lashed 11 fours and two sixes, facing just 51 balls before being caught at slip off Anuj Dal, who was thankfully restored to health after limping off with an ankle injury just before the close on day one.

Derbyshire had to settle for two bowling points before Andy Gorvin (20) fell to Sam Conners.

But the frustration continued for the home attack as the ninth-wicket pair of Timm van der Gugten and Mitch Swepson pushed them past 500, playing with freedom and increasing the potential scoreboard pressure on Derbyshire.

Bat continued to dominate ball as Came and Reece set off at a sedate pace, initially threatened by their own eccentric running as much as the Glamorgan bowlers.

The seamers beat the bat occasionally without creating clear-cut chances, and Reece, playing against the land of his father, reached a measured half-century off 118 balls just before tea.

But the rain spread in just before play was due to resume after tea, leaving question marks over how a positive result will be achieved after just eight wickets in five sessions.

Glamorgan's Chris Cooke told BBC Sport Wales:

"The way Colin (Ingram) and Zain (Ul Hassan) played set the foundation for Billy (Root), Kiran (Carlson) and myself to come in and be a bit more positive, so it was great to get that last batting point.

"It's a great position to come in batting seven (in the last two matches) when the other guys have done the hard work and you can have some fun.

"The bowlers bowled really well but they played nicely and the heavy roller took a bit of sting out of the wicket. We stuck to our areas really well but didn't quite get the breakthrough.

"Declarations (to set up a contest) aren't up to me, if we get to that point I'm sure we'll entertain that, but we're still in a really good position."

Derbyshire's Luis Reece told BBC Radio Derby:

"It;'s been pleasing to put in a couple of innings but there's a long way to go in this game and hopefully a lot more runs to be scored than just a 50.

"It feels like the pace has gone out of the wicket, (on day one) we saw it nip inconsistently, with a bit more bounce. But the pace has gone, the wicket seemed a bit slow, up and down a bit so it was tough and they bowled in better areas than we did.

"Harry and I did open last year at various stages and we get on really well, we've got that sort of chemistry which helps, and he's done well since he's come in.

"We're behind the eight-ball, but wickets have got turgid and hard to take 20 wickets here so we've got to bat extremely well and put them under pressure."