County Championship: Rain foils Northamptonshire win bid against Glamorgan

Umpires Graham Lloyd and Sue Redfern called play off without a ball being bowled on the final day

Persistent rain cost Northamptonshire the chance to push for victory on the final day against Glamorgan.

Umpires Graham Lloyd and Sue Redfern called play off at 16:00 BST on Monday after a series of inspections.

Glamorgan were 104-3 in their second innings, 230 runs behind, after Northants dominated most of the game.

The match will be remembered for fine innings by Karun Nair, Ricardo Vasconcelos and Saif Zaib - and the freezing temperatures at Wantage Road.

Both counties have drawn their opening three games of the season in County Championship Division Two.

Northants visit Leicestershire on Friday, while Glamorgan have a bye week before travelling to Yorkshire in the following round.

Glamorgan opening bat Eddie Byrom and seamer Jamie McIlroy could be fit to return to the squad at Headingley after shoulder injuries.

Northants coach John Sadler told BBC Radio Northampton:

"If we'd got two sessions in today, I think we'd have won the game but the weather's been against us. We can't get too down about it because it probably saved us in Sussex, so we're level par.

"We've played some brilliant cricket. If we apply ourselves consistently like that through the year we'll be in positions to win games as we were today. Over three days we've controlled the game.

"Ben Sanderson's a magician. Even if we'd got a session and a half we would have put them under some pressure. He can make things happen."

Glamorgan captain Sam Northeast told BBC Sport Wales:

"We've battled hard but we can definitely improve our skills and our performance levels. Northamptonshire were probably in the ascendancy for most of it.

"The first day was tough to bat on and we never quite recovered from that early position. Any time, a team puts 600 on you, you can do things a lot better, so we need to improve in that area [bowling] and in the field.

"The big thing was the change in the pitch, we didn't expect it to go as flat and slow at times, but we didn't execute with the new ball as we would have liked.

"We know there's going to be a good contest at Yorkshire. They've got their England players [Joe Root and Harry Brook] around, so it'll be a good test and we'll have to go up a few levels if we want to go up there and win."

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