Derbyshire set to break Championship win drought against Glamorgan
Derbyshire currently sit bottom of the Vitality County Championship Division Two table
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Vitality County Championship Division Two, County Ground, Derby (day three)
Glamorgan 168 & 236-7: Carlson 56, Ingram 53; Morley 3-35
Derbyshire 429: Dal 94, Came 84, Madsen 70; Crane 3-43, Kellaway 3-59
Glamorgan (3 pts) trail Derbyshire (7 pts) by 25 runs with three second-innings wickets standing
Derbyshire are set for their first Championship win in 26 matches as they reduced Glamorgan to 236-7 in their second innings, still 25 runs behind.
On-loan spinner Jack Morley played a crucial role with 3-35 after two early wickets for quickie Pat Brown.
Patient half-centuries from Colin Ingram and Kiran Carlson looked to have brought Glamorgan hope of survival, but three wickets fell without addition in the final hour.
Derbyshire have not won a red-ball match at their headquarters since September 2019.
The morning session was lost to rain but Brown, an England T20 international but a relative rookie in red-ball cricket, made up for lost time with a rapid and accurate opening burst to have Billy Root (13) and Ben Kellaway (35) caught behind.
First innings hero Zak Chappell then uprooted Sam Northeast’s middle stump for 13 to leave Glamorgan reeling at 70-3, but Derbyshire lost their momentum to a rain break and did not help their cause as Carlson and Ingram were both dropped off Brown during his unaccustomed 11-over spell.
The fourth-wicket pair restrained most of their attacking instincts, but took advantage of anything loose to compile a measured century stand by tea.
- Published6 June
Ingram, who had nine boundaries, appeared to be trying to hit Morley out of the attack when he was bowled by the on-loan left-armer to boost home spirits.
Chappell and Brown (2-50) delivered some testing spells but Brown eventually limped off, leaving his side two bowlers down with Anuj Dal absent from the field for the day.
Carlson and Chris Cooke (28) put together a stand of 50 but skipper David Lloyd opened the door as his newly-acquired off-spin accounted for Cooke, bowled by a beautifully flighted ball which turned to spark joyous celebrations.
Morley then tempted Carlson to break his defensive vigil and dance down the wicket to his 139th ball only to be stumped, with Timm van der Gugten pinned leg-before first ball.
Dan Douthwaite and Mason Crane hung on to take the game into a final day but it looks to be only a matter of time before Derbyshire break their drought.
Derbyshire’s on-loan spinner Jack Morley told BBC Radio Derby:
“We thought it could get a bit difficult and then the skipper (Lloyd) came on and bowled one of the best right-arm off-spin deliveries I’ve ever seen, so it changed the game completely.
“It would have been nice to get a hat-trick, with all the lads round the bat, and you think (afterwards) I should have tried something different.
“We had a lot of runs to work with, we were beating the bat and creating chances, sometimes you have to stay patient and we had a nice balance of bowlers.
“Derbyshire haven’t had a win at home in a while, there’s just one over to the new ball and hopefully we can wrap it up quickly, but if not we’ll stay patient.”
Glamorgan assistant coach Toby Bailey told BBC Sport Wales:
“Credit to the Derbyshire bowlers, they bowled well in partnerships, it’s always difficult in those situations but Kiran and Colin put on a good stand.
“We always want to be a positive side we back our batters to make the right decisions but sometimes it doesn’t come off (with Ingram and Carlson’s dismissals).
“We bat all the way down, Mason’s got fifties this year, so we’ll eke out every run and hope to bowl at them.”