Glamorgan favourites despite Wells ton for Lancs
Kiran Carlson played a key part with 185 runs across the two innings at Old Trafford
- Published
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Emirates Old Trafford (day three)
Glamorgan 261: Carlson 77, Tribe 61; Green 6-82 & 348-7 dec: Northeast 132, Carlson 108; Green 3-93
Lancashire 137: Crane 6-19, Fernando 3-26 & 226-5: Wells 102; J Harris 2-40
Lancashire (3 pts) need 247 runs to beat Glamorgan (4 pts) with five first-innings wickets standing
Lancashire go into the final day on 226-5 chasing an improbable 473 to beat Glamorgan and reach their highest ever fourth-innings score on the ground, in a battle of two promotion contenders.
Luke Wells's dashing innings of 102 off 117 balls gave the hosts outside hope of mounting a huge chase, after Glamorgan gave themselves 147 overs to bowl them out.
But Wells drilled a sharp return catch to James Harris late in the evening to change the momentum of the game.
Centuries from Sam Northeast (132) and Kiran Carlson (108) allowed Glamorgan to dictate for the first part of the day as they reached 348 for seven.
Their stand of 215, and Wells' evening onslaught, were in sharp contrast to long periods of bowlers' domination earlier in the game.
Glamorgan started the day at 95-2 with a healthy lead of 219 and strengthened the position in the morning session as they steadily saw off the opening overs of seam and then went on the offensive against the spinners, who had caused so many problems on both sides over the first couple of days.
The more aggressive Carlson dispatched both Chris Green and Tom Hartley over mid-wicket for maximums on his way to reaching three figures off just 120 balls, adding to his first innings top score of 77 and a key innings of 89 not out the previous week against Kent in a purple patch of form.
Northeast survived a sharp chance to short leg off Green on 64 and an easier opportunity to cover off Hartley, but leg-spinner Luke Wells (2-57) made the breakthrough as Carlson fell lbw two deliveries after lunch, having hit 11 fours and three sixes.
Northeast got to his century off 183 balls and opened out in the latter stages of his innings in line with his team's needs, while cameos of 34 from Colin Ingram and 19 from Ben Kellaway pushed the run-rate up nicely.
Lancashire's over rate dropped as they tried to slow the Glamorgan charge, while first-innings bowling hero Chris Green eventually finished with 3-93 with wickets being sacrificed before the declaration at 15:25 BST.
James Harris' first ball got rid of Phil Salt, caught at slip for a single, but Lancashire went for their shots as Wells and Keaton Jennings (33) added 72 before Jennings was caught off bat and pad off Mason Crane, looking to follow up the previous day's career-best.
The fearless Wells led a stand of 82 with Josh Bohannon (29) before Asitha Fernando celebrated his 28th birthday with a wicket as Bohannon edged a catch behind.
With eight overs added to the day's quota, the battle continued late into the evening as the sun emerged to illuminate a brutal blast from Wells, clubbing Harris for his fourth six to reach three figures.
But Harris had his revenge straight afterwards as he sprawled low to gather a fierce straight drive, while Kellaway turned one out of the rough to bowl Matty Hurst for 11 and leave the Welsh side as favourites to complete a hard-fought victory despite the obdurate Australian Marcus Harris remaining unbeaten on 24 overnight.
Lancashire's Luke Wells told BBC Lancashire Sport:
"Pleased to get a hundred, but frustrated at not just my dismissal but where we are in the game after a disappointing first innings where we didn't cope with turning conditions.
"Going into this fourth innings chase, we felt we could do something special, there was really positive chat going out there and I feel you always play better when you're looking at the positive outcome of what could go right.
"I really did feel when I was developing partnerships with Keaton and Josh, that if we got to stumps three or four down, they (Glamorgan) would be a bit worried since we were scoring at a rate.
"I still believe we're capable of winning this game because Chris Green has been superhuman for us and we saw Tommy Hartley get a hundred in turning conditions at Cheltenham. It's not in our favour but we believe we can get it."
Glamorgan's Kiran Carlson told BBC Sport Wales:
"Sammy and me had a nice partnership there to put us in a good position and the bowlers did well to take five wickets, after Luke Wells batted brilliantly and put us on the back foot with some incredible cricket shots.
"It took something really special from James Harris to remove him, so with five wickets and 200-odd needed, there are going to be periods where it gets a bit tight and nerve-racking, but I'm sure there are going to be five good balls for us.
"It's spinning and pretty dry, and there's a ball in there with your name on it at times, but it's still a pretty good wicket with smallish boundaries so it was about taking risks where you can and trying to put them on the back foot.
"It's nice to come up here and put on a good show so far, so hopefully it's a day when we can turn up, take some wickets and leave with a win."