Lancs batters take control v Glamorgan

Timm van der Gugten claimed his first five-wicket haul of the season and the 14th of his Glamorgan career

Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (day two)

Glamorgan 265: Van der Gugten 53; Bailey 5-51, Balderson 3-38 & 41-2

Lancashire 374 (96.4 overs): Wells 78, Jones 62, Balderson 51; Van der Gugten 5-85

Glamorgan 4 pts, Lancashire 6 pts

Match scorecard

Lancashire turned up the pressure on Glamorgan as they rattled up 374 in their first innings, a lead of 109, with the hosts reduced to 41-2 in their second innings.

A patient 78 from Luke Wells set up the platform for Lancashire, before Michael Jones caned 62 off 51 balls to up the tempo and George Balderson weighed in with 51.

Those knocks added to 40 plus scores from Keaton Jennings, George Bell and Matty Hurst with the visitors' top order almost all contributing decent scores.

Hard-working seamer Timm van der Gugten (5-85) was the key man in Glamorgan's attack.

Glamorgan lost Asa Tribe (25) and night-watchman James Harris in the closing 17 overs, meaning they will have to bat well on day three to survive, with possible rain interruptions on the final day.

Welsh supporters were left feeling thankful their side had already clinched promotion with a match to spare, after their collapse on the first morning left them stuck on the back foot.

Resuming on 55 for no wicket, Lancashire openers Wells and Jennings both moved past 1,000 first-class runs for the season in the opening overs.

Jennings came down the wicket frequently, striking 11 boundaries in his 49 off 75 balls before Van der Gugten had him lbw and followed up with a peach that hit Josh Bohannon's off-stump for nine.

Birthday boy Bell, 23, started rapidly to reach 45 and took Lancashire to 168-2 at lunch, but fell two balls afterwards as he edged Mason Crane to slip.

Wells started to accelerate after a patient first session before Crane won an lbw shout.

That only served to unleash the aggression of Scotland and former Durham batter Jones, who hit two early sixes off Crane as he upped the run-rate and got the visitors into the lead in the company of Hurst.

A third maximum followed to drive the leg-spinner out of the attack, while seamer Ned Leonard limped off to cut Glamorgan's options, after just two balls of his third spell.

Zain Ul Hassan (2-38) returned with a better spell, having Jones lbw after he had struck six fours and three sixes, before bowling Hurst for 47 as he aimed a blow over the top to try to reach a half-century.

Glamorgan delayed taking the new ball for eight overs but Balderson was settled by the time it arrived and added a further 65 with Tom Hartley, who edged van der Gugten to slip for 17 just before Balderson reached his fourth 50 of the season.

The end came in a flurry with four wickets falling for nine as Van der Gugten and James Harris ran through the tail, van der Gugten completing a five-for to add his 50 in his 100th first-class match, but it was too late to change the balance of the match.

Tribe began in his usual confident manner while Ul Hassan nearly played on to Jack Blatherwick and survived a caught-behind appeal, but it was the Jerseyman who was bowled by a delivery from Balderson which kept low.

Night-watchman Harris was lbw to Blatherwick without scoring as Lancashire sighted their third win of the campaign.

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

"The wicket's got a bit different as the game's gone on, I felt I bowled quite well in the morning then probably not as well as the game went on, but it was nice to get a personal milestone, and to limit them to the 100-run lead.

"Hopefully we can bat well, get ahead and set them a tricky chase.

"We'll get as many runs as we can and the fourth innings could be interesting on that wicket if we've got beyond 200 runs.

"I'm pleased to get to 100 (first-class) games, coming from Australia and not playing too many games before I was 25 I didn't think that was a possibility."

Lancashire's Michael Jones told BBC Lancashire Sport:

"It was a counter-attacking innings, runs were the most important thing rather than time out of the game, so I knew if we could get ahead, that was the most crucial thing.

"Crane was spinning the ball quite a lot so I felt it was going to be a challenge and my best course of action was going to be to put some pressure back onto him.

"We're in a really strong position, even better if we get some early wickets tomorrow.

"It's been an interesting year (personally), when you move counties you draw up a picture of how you envisage it. It hasn't gone quite to plan but overall a positive year and something to build on."