County Championship: Vasconcelos gives Northants control v Glamorgan

Ricardo Vasconcelos is making his first Championship appearance since July 2023

Ricardo Vasconcelos returned to Northants' first team with a bang as his 166 not out helped put them in the driving seat against Glamorgan.

He and Luke Procter (65) added 191 while Karun Nair hit 55 not out to take Northants to 314-2, 43 runs ahead.

Vasconcelos' century was his first since May 2022 after injury problems.

Colin Ingram's 82 and Mason Crane's career-best 61 steered Glamorgan to 271 despite Ben Sanderson's five-wicket haul.

The value of Sanderson's performance was shown as Glamorgan's bowlers struggled to make an impact on a lengthy day finishing at 19:17 BST.

After their first division toils, Northants are well placed for a decent haul of batting points as well as taking a grip on the game.

Glamorgan resumed on 203 for seven on a bright but still chilly morning, with Ingram and Crane taking their stand to 65 before Ingram edged Sanderson low to a diving Karun Nair at slip.

Sanderson soon disposed of Brad Wheal to complete his five-for, but Crane smashed a six off Chris Tremain and then led a stand of 35 with last man Mir Hamza to earn a batting point.

A tally of 271 looked respectable from the early depths of 27 for four and James Harris won an lbw shout against the in-form Emilio Gay on 15.

But Northants dominated the afternoon session as Vasconcelos and Procter developed a century stand without being put under particular pressure, as Glamorgan's seamers were unable to get much life out of the Dukes ball on a true pitch.

Pakistan's Hamza was economical, but Procter moved serenely to an uncomplicated half century off 121 balls before Vasconcelos opened his shoulders against leggie Crane with a series of big blows over mid-wicket and a streaky edge between wicket-keeper and slip.

Back-to-back boundaries from Vasconcelos off debutant loanee Wheal brought up an aggressive century, including 18 fours for the diminutive left-hander.

Northants upped the run-rate comfortably in the final session but just when the batters looked completely in control, Procter eventually swept Crane to square-leg.

Indian Test batter Nair proved a steady partner for Vasconcelos, who was rarely troubled apart from one edge off Crane and successive nicks for four through slip off Hamza.

The new ball was taken after 19:00 BST with four overs left, but the century stand came up as Vasconcelos moved within sight of his career-best of 185, scored in the teams' last meeting on the ground in 2021.

Northants batter Ricardo Vasconcelos told BBC Radio Northampton:

"It's been a tough couple of weeks for me personally, but it's great to be back and to be back in the runs, enjoying cricket again which I haven't done in a while.

"When I'm in and going well, I think back to the times when I haven't known where the next run is coming from, so that's where the hunger comes from.

"There was no looking too far ahead, we knew we had to set a foundation and get (bowlers) coming into their third or fourth spells so we could control the game.

"I've not batted with Karun before, but both he and Luke are very calming figures and bring me back down when I get a bit ahead of myself at times."

Glamorgan's Mason Crane told BBC Sport Wales:

"I'm very pleased with the way I batted, it feels like it (a half-century) has been a long time coming and I've worked really hard on my batting so to get some reward was great. Hopefully towards the end of the game we can recognise it as an important knock.

"It looked like a decent score had the pitch remained what it was, but they put the heavy roller on it and it seemed to change the whole complexion of the game, so we'll do the same before we bat.

"It was tough work at five or six degrees for most of the day, not easy for the guys to keep running in and bowling, but we stuck at it really well.

"Hopefully we can still get something out of the game and our batters will dig in when the time comes."