Coad bowls Yorkshire to verge of victory over Glamorgan
Ben Coad claimed four wickets to move past 50 in the Championship in 2024
- Published
Vitality County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (day three)
Yorkshire 361 & 273: Bean 57, Lyth 55; Harris 5-73, Van der Gugten 3-62
Glamorgan 239 & 141-7: Tribe 50*, Carlson 41; Coad 4-30
Glamorgan (3 pts) need 255 runs to beat Yorkshire (6 pts) with three second-innings wickets standing
Yorkshire maintained their Division One push as they reduced Glamorgan to 141-7 chasing an improbable target of 396.
Paceman Ben Coad was the main destroyer, claiming 4-30 to move past 50 wickets for the season and close in on 300 in his career.
A first Championship 50 for 20 year old Asa Tribe was a minor consolation as Glamorgan fell apart in the evening session.
Earlier Glamorgan’s James Harris took his 600th first-class wicket in a season’s-best five for 73 as Yorkshire were bowled out for 273.
Yorkshire are set to remain second in Division Two 15 points ahead of third-placed Middlesex going into the final round of the promotion race, with Sussex already up.
Glamorgan are almost certain to suffer a third Championship defeat in four matches, ahead of their One Day Cup final against Somerset at Trent Bridge.
34 year old Harris, in the 18th season of a career split equally between Glamorgan and Middlesex, reached his landmark figure when he trapped Jonny Bairstow lbw during a productive early spell.
The first four victims in the current innings were leg-before as the hosts made the most of overcast conditions early on, with Harris also getting rid of Finlay Bean (57) and James Wharton.
When George Hill chopped on to Timm van der Gugten, Yorkshire were 168-6 but Dom Bess came out aggressively in a stand with Jonny Tattersall of 76 either side of lunch which pushed the lead past 350 and re-established control.
First-class debutant Ben Morris had Tattersall lbw for his maiden wicket before Van der Gugten took two more and Harris claimed his fifth, but it seemed too late to influence the balance of power.
Coad set about proving that as he quickly got rid of the struggling Sam Northeast and the in-form Colin Ingram to reach the half-century mark of wickets for the Championship campaign.
A stand of 64 between Kiran Carlson (41) and Jersey’s Tribe proved only a temporary block to Yorkshire’s progress as Coad returned to bowl Carlson and provoke a collapse after a change of ball.
Tribe, in only his fifth Championship innings and playing in an unfamiliar role as opener, reached a mature and gritty half-century off 138 balls as the shadows lengthened and Yorkshire were forced to wait overnight to wrap up the points.
Glamorgan’s James Harris told BBC Sport Wales:
“From a personal side, it’s very pleasing, it’s a lot of wickets, a lot of fielding, a lot of warm-ups, and always nice to achieve something in the game.
“But it’s also a bit frustrating when we’re in the position we’re in in the game, had I bowled on day one like I bowled today the game might have been slightly different.
“Ben Morris’s first wicket and Asa Tribe’s first 50 are brilliant for the club, Ben making his debut and Asa a couple of games ago, we see them as playing a big part in the future of Glamorgan and I’m really happy for them.”
Yorkshire captain Jonny Tattersall told BBC West Yorkshire Sport:
“Ben Coad’s an absolute class act in whatever he does, no matter what pitch we play on he seems to find some movement.
“A special mention today because he bowled a magnificent nine-over spell in the second innings when the team needed it because Fisher was off.
“But all the bowlers bowled well, everybody’s done a job for the team and that’s what we’ve been about in these last four or five matches, we’re playing some really good team cricket.
“It would have been nice to wrap it up tonight but the (bad) weather’s not meant to arrive until later on, so I’m sure we can get the three wickets wrapped up in the morning session.”
