Leicestershire and Glamorgan drift to draw
Paceman Ben Mike was Leicestershire’s most threatening bowler
- Published
Vitality County Championship Division Two, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester (day four)
Glamorgan 387 & 157-4: Northeast 41*; Mike 2-29
Leicestershire 343-9 dec: Handscomb 103, Hill 92; Van der Gugten 5-65
Leicestershire (13 pts) drew with Glamorgan (13 pts)
Glamorgan batted placidly through the final day between showers at Leicester to reach 157-4, 201 runs ahead, as the match fizzled out into a tame draw.
Only Ben Mike (2-29) looked likely to give Leicestershire a chance of forcing a run chase.
Sam Northeast (41 not out) top-scored for Glamorgan in a match that produced slow run rates after the first day.
Resuming on 14-1, 58 ahead, they could not make quick enough progress to force a positive result.
Leicestershire end the first half of the Championship campaign with seven draws, while previous draw kings Glamorgan have one win and one loss to go with five draws.
Rain interruptions again dogged proceedings, as Glamorgan lost Eddie Byrom leg-before to Scott Currie for 30 and Marnus Labuschagne, who was bowled for 30 with Mike’s second delivery nipping back.
Despite a general lack of bounce, the fiery Mike generated enough pace to discomfort Kiran Carlson after lunch, hitting him painfully then hitting his stumps.
Northeast and Chris Cooke (37 not out) saw the visitors safely through until rain returned early in the final session, midway through Australia batter Marcus Harris’s first over for the county.
Both sides were a pace bowler down in the match because of hamstring injuries, with Mir Hamza playing his last match for Glamorgan while Tom Scriven will miss the start of the T20 Blast.
The two teams now turn to the T20 Blast with Leicestershire hosting Yorkshire on Friday, while Glamorgan entertain Surrey.
Leicestershire coach Alfonso Thomas told BBC Radio Leicester:
“We’ve tried to get some sort of (positive) result, we could have bowled better on the first day but it was an improvement on the previous game.
“If we had bundled them out for under 300 it could have been a good game. Credit to the groundsman because the pitch was perfect in terms of four-day cricket. If you applied yourself you could get runs, then it went up and down on day four.
“We’re one of only two counties who haven’t lost, but it’s not where we want to be because we want to win games as soon as we can.”
Glamorgan captain Sam Northeast told BBC Sport Wales:
“We just wanted to get through the day and get the draw. It didn’t seem like there was a win for us possible, the pitch was good, the outfield quick and it felt like it was going to be a tough ask without Mir Hamza.
“It’s been a strange pitch with a lot of grass to start with that assisted the bowlers to start, then the heavy rollers have had such a big impact on the game all season.
“(The use of) four heavy rollers has killed the pitch so it’s been slow and low, it’s killing (the contest) slightly and we probably need to have a look at that.
“We’ve played well so far in periods (this season) but the last game (against Middlesex), not being able to get over the line was disappointing and there’s still a lot of games to go.”
