Handscomb leads Leicestershire to draw at Glamorgan
Peter Handscomb hit his third century of the season before heading home to Australia
- Published
Vitality County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens (day four)
Leicestershire 251 & 369-6: Handscomb 139*, Rahane 102; Carlson 2-17, Douthwaite 2-74
Glamorgan 550-9 dec (147 overs): Ingram 257*, Carlson 85; Holland 4-96, Ahmed 3-153
Glamorgan (14 pts) drew with Leicestershire (11 pts)
Australian Test batter Peter Handscomb led Leicestershire to safety against Glamorgan as he batted through the final day to make a gritty 139 not out.
India’s Ainkya Rehane made 102 while Glamorgan could only manage three wickets on the final day with the Foxes reaching 369-6 in the gloom.
Off-spinner Kiran Carlson (2-17) claimed wickets either side of lunch to give the hosts brief hope.
The result is a blow to Leicestershire’s chances of challenging for promotion and virtually ends any Glamorgan hopes.
The use of a Kookaburra ball and a hybrid pitch did nothing to alter the familiar sight of a Cardiff surface providing little assistance for a toiling Glamorgan attack on the final day.
Leicestershire started the day 155 runs in arrears but there were no early alarms as Rahane and Handscomb knuckled down to business in a stand of 183, Handscomb in no hurry to head for his flight home.
Rahane hit Carlson for successive boundaries to reach three figures off 179 balls but then stretched for a wide delivery and edged to Chris Cooke to give Glamorgan a sliver of hope heading into lunch.
Carlson struck again just after lunch as Rehan Ahmed cut to point for four with Mason Crane taking the catch, but Crane put down another catch off his own bowling as Louis Kimber chipped one low back to him.
Kimber led a charmed life before driving Dan Douthwaite to cover for 26, but the implacable Handscomb, on his final day of Foxes duty before heading home to Victoria, looked to have brought his broadest bat.
The game petered out after tea with a further 30 minutes play before bad light and rain confirmed Leicestershire’s survival with a lead of 70 runs.
Both teams now have a seven day break until Glamorgan travel to table topping Sussex while Leicestershire host another contender in Yorkshire on Monday 9 September.
Meanwhile Glamorgan all-rounder Ben Kellaway and seam bowler James Harris are expected to return from quad injuries in a second-team game against Hampshire to test their fitness for the trip to Hove.
Glamorgan’s Kiran Carlson told BBC Sport Wales:
“We were in a really good position when we declared, we had every faith in our bowling attack and fielding group to get us over the line. But we struggled with the light yesterday and Leicestershire played really nicely today and halted our progress.
“It was nice to chip in with a couple of wickets but Pete Handscomb glued up an end and the pitch died down quite a bit.
“The (Kookaburra) ball goes soft quicker than the Dukes and there’s less seam movement, so with two heavy rollers (on the wicket) in a row the pitch lost bounce and zip.
“With two home games left we need to learn how to win more games here, and there’s still plenty of red-ball cricket before the One Day Cup final.”
Leicestershire captain Lewis Hill told BBC Radio Leicester:
“We did well to come away with a draw against Gloucestershire (the previous week) and the same here, Colin (Ingram) played really well and they dominated the first two or three but we’ve come back really well to secure that draw.
“I’ve run out of words for Peter Handscomb, this year averaging close to 70 (in Championship and One Day Cup), and he led the T20 side really well, he’s been fantastic.
“He and Ajinkya were fantastic to watch, unbelievable, it’s great to have them in the dressing room and the guys are always learning from them.
”We’ve got three games left and we’ll give it (promotion) a crack, if we come up short it won’t be for lack of effort.”