County Championship: Mitch Wagstaff knock boosts Derbyshire against Glamorgan

Derbyshire batter Mitch Wagstaff hit 78 off 84 balls

Mitch Wagstaff smashed a career-best 78 as Derbyshire piled up 450-8 declared against Glamorgan on a weather-hit day in Cardiff.

The Welsh side were 22 for no wicket when bad light ended play.

Wagstaff's runs came off just 84 balls as he attacked strongly despite Glamorgan's bowlers fighting back.

Just 42 overs were bowled in the day because of the light and occasional rain, with the floodlights not being used because of council regulations.

Play surprisingly started on time despite the poor weather forecast, with Derbyshire resuming on 308-2 but losing Leus du Plooy third ball, caught down the leg side by Chris Cooke off Timm van der Gugten without addition to his overnight 22.

Matt Lamb hit two boundaries in his first three balls, but the light soon worsened and play was delayed by 85 minutes.

Luis Reece also failed to add to his overnight score of 139 before edging Jamie McIlroy behind, umpire Sue Redfern signalling the first dismissal given by a female official in Championship cricket.

Lamb and Wagstaff steered Derbyshire to a third batting point before Lamb chopped on to Kiran Carlson for 15.

The afternoon session marked a furious assault led by 20-year-old Wagstaff, who threw the bat with abandon in his third Championship game as he hit 12 fours and a six.

Anuj Dal and Alex Thomson fell cheaply to James Harris but Wagstaff kept up the acceleration before charging at Carlson and edging a fourth catch to Cooke.

Zak Chappell's 26 not out off 29 balls took the visitors to 450 before the declaration came.

Glamorgan's Eddie Byrom and Zain Ul Hassan survived six overs until tea and one afterwards before the clouds descended again for another 90-minute break.

Umpires Redfern and Graham Lloyd summoned the teams out again at 17:35 BST for a slightly farcical spell of 15 minutes in a virtually empty ground, but Derbyshire could not make any inroads as they search for a first four-day win of the season.

Derbyshire's Mitch Wagstaff told BBC Radio Derby:

"It's a special feeling to come back into the team and put a good performance in, it means a lot and it's good for confidence going into next season, I'm looking forward to trying to cement my place in the team.

"The first point of call was to get to 350 after 110 overs to get that (third) batting point, then we had 15 overs (in the afternoon) to try to get to 450 and declare, so that's why you saw me try some extravagant shots.

"The team comes first and it's trying to win the game, that's more important than a personal milestone (of a century).

"The pitch is good and it's going to be difficult to take 20 wickets but we've got to keep believing, bowl in the right areas and chances will come because there's live grass on the pitch."

Glamorgan's James Harris told BBC Sport Wales:

"We had a pretty good day though it was on and off with the weather, we tried to bowl with good discipline and after we did some good work yesterday, we got a bit more reward today.

"Derbyshire wanted to push the game on and came out swinging (after lunch), they got a few away but we had the better of it with a few wickets.

"With Derby getting a big score, the pressure's still on us to bat well and we need to bat all day.

"I'm not sure how we get there (an agreed run-chase) but if we bat well, maybe we can think of those things towards day four."