Handscomb and Hill boost Foxes against Glamorgan

Peter Handscomb has 547 runs in eight Championship innings

Vitality County Championship Division Two, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester (day two)

Glamorgan 387: Byrom 86, Carlson 80, Northeast 61; Currie 5-64, Mike 3-105

Leicestershire 280-5 (85 overs): Hanscomb 102*, Hill 92; van der Gugten 2-56, Harris 2-73

Leicestershire (4 pts) trail Glamorgan (4 pts) by 107 runs with five first-innings wickets standing

Match scorecard

Consistent Australia batter Peter Handscomb hit his second hundred of the season as Leicestershire reached 280-5 in reply to Glamorgan’s 387 all out.

Captain Lewis Hill weighed in with 92 in a stand of 141 as the centrepiece of the home innings.

Timm van der Gugten claimed two wickets in his comeback from injury as Glamorgan bowled tightly.

But the game has progressed slowly, given that rain interruptions are possible over the rest of the match.

With Glamorgan resuming on 352-8, Scott Currie did not take long to complete his maiden five-for as Sam Northeast was given out for 61, caught down leg-side from the first ball of the day.

Mir Hamza then provided an erratic but entertaining cameo at number 11, hitting consecutive sixes for an unbeaten 24 before James Harris (18) was adjudged caught behind off Ben Mike’s short ball.

With ball in hand, Hamza then won the battle of two players making their final county appearances when Marcus Harris fell lbw for 14, and Timm van der Gugten’s first spell of the season removed Louis Kimber caught behind for one.

Rishi Patel started well but fell to the Cooke/ van der Gugten combination after lunch to leave the Foxes struggling at 65-3, only for Hill and Handscomb to revive their fortunes in steady and unhurried fashion.

Hill had to boot a Harris delivery away from his stumps on 48 as he nearly played on, but the pair accumulated steadily against some accurate seam and took their stand past the century mark just after tea.

Hill had struck seven fours and faced 188 balls in his best effort of the season as the partnership reached 141, before Harris’ barrage of short-pitched bowling saw Hill upper-cut to a diving Billy Root at third man.

Losing his partner did not disturb Handscomb’s equilibrium as he remained in control, despite the occasional low bounce, some gentle turn for Mason Crane, and a two-over burst of short-pitched seam from Marnus Labuschagne.

Debutant Ian Holland (16) fell to Harris with the third delivery of the new ball, but night-watchman Scott Currie resisted alongside Handscomb who reached his composed century off 160 balls to give the Foxes continuing hope of a first innings lead.

Leicestershire’s Peter Handscomb told BBC Radio Leicester:

“The pitch is just a good cricket wicket, there’s enough there with the ball, but there are still opportunities with the bat to score and the outfield is fast. A lot of credit goes to Hilly there steadying the ship in the middle and he’s backed that up from last week, it’s awesome to see what he’s doing.

“You’ve got to give credit to the opposition, they were relentless with the ball but I think our position’s good.

“Cricket (form) ebbs and flows and at some stage I’m going to go through a lull again but hopefully people will remember this and I’m going to try to make the most of this and enjoy it.”

Glamorgan’s Timm van der Gugten told BBC Sport Wales:

“It’s been a long build-up (to the comeback), I’ve had quite a bit of bowling prior to this game but there’s not much that emulate a whole day in the field and bowling 18 overs so I’ll probably be a bit sore.

“I’m quite happy with how it went personally but there’s still a bit of rust there, as a team we bowled really well after the heavy roller took a toll on the wicket, so an even day.

“It’s just nice to be back in the group and doing what I love doing.”