Byrom and Carlson boost Glamorgan at Leicester
Vitality County Championship Division Two, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester (day one)
Glamorgan 352-8 (96 overs): Byrom 86, Carlson 80, Northeast 61*; Currie 4-53
Leicestershire: Yet to bat
Leicestershire 2 pts, Glamorgan 3 pts
Glamorgan reached an impressive 352-8 on the opening day against Leicestershire thanks to Eddie Byrom’s 86 and a sparking 80 from Kiran Carlson.
They were put in to bat on a very green wicket which looked set to benefit the seam bowlers.
Scott Currie (4-53) was the pick of the home attack as Glamorgan fell away before tea, following Carlson’s attacking blast.
But Sam Northeast’s composed 61 not out helped revive their fortunes in the final session.
Glamorgan rested top scorer Colin Ingram to field Pakistan paceman Mir Hamza for his final game alongside Marnus Labuschagne, with fit-again Timm van der Gugten playing his first match of the season, while Leicestershire gave a debut to on-loan Hampshire all-rounder Ian Holland in place of the rested Rehan Ahmed.
Byrom and Billy Root had to battle for survival under cloudy skies on the heavily-grassed wicket, which seemed designed to produce a positive result after six draws for the Foxes.
Despite surviving a few edges and lbw appeals, they put away the odd bad ball and were not put under consistent pressure in the early stages as they added 90 before Root (40) smashed Ben Mike to point.
Labuschagne was bowled for eight leaving one from Currie which took his off-stump, but Carlson got his score moving at better than a run a ball while Byrom also found his touch, driving fluently in his best innings of the season.
After hitting 13 fours and two sixes and being dropped on 49, Byrom dragged a wide ball from Matt Salisbury onto his stumps.
But Carlson continued his assault and Glamorgan looked in control- especially since seamer Tom Scriven went off injured after his first four over spell.
That changed rapidly just before tea as Carlson holed out on the mid-wicket boundary off spinner Louis Kimber, Currie removed Chris Cooke’s middle stump for two and Zain Ul Hassan was bowled in freak fashion for one by Mike, the ball eventually spinning back onto his stumps after an lbw appeal had been turned down.
Currie continued his threat by trapping Mason Crane lbw for 14, the batter so plumb he virtually walked, but Northeast was still there on the ground where he scored a club record-breaking 410 not out two years previously.
He added a serene 62 with van der Gugten (32) to stop the home momentum before Currie returned to dismiss the Netherlands international leg-before.
James Harris’s boundary in the final over of the day took Glamorgan to a third batting point, with Leicestershire not making best use of the green wicket.
