Glamorgan’s Van der Gugten grabs comeback five
Vitality County Championship Division Two, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester (day three)
Glamorgan 387: Byrom 86, Carlson 80, Northeast 61; Currie 5-64, Mike 3-105
Leicestershire 343-9 dec (119 overs): Handscomb 103, Hill 92; Van der Gugten 5-65, Harris 3-87
Glamorgan (5 pts) lead Leicestershire (5 pts) by 58 runs with nine second-innings wickets standing
Glamorgan go into the final day at Leicester on 14 for one in their second innings, leading the home side by 58 runs.
Timm van der Gugten claimed 5-65 on his comeback from injury as Leicestershire crawled to 343-9 before declaring.
The afternoon session produced just 48 runs from 33 overs.
Both sides are a bowler light, with Tom Scriven and Mir Hamza both missing because of hamstring issues, and a draw looks the likely outcome.
In a rain-shortened first session of just eight overs, seamer Van der Gugten claimed the key early wicket of Peter Handscomb for 103.
The afternoon was a strange and soporific affair as the two teams produced just 48 runs between them in 33 overs, not fully explained by accurate bowling and the pitch producing some low bounce.
Scott Currie (45) and Ben Cox (24) proceeded with extreme caution, making no attempt to chase the third batting point that looked comfortably within reach, before Van der Gugten removed Cox and Ben Mike in the same over.
Shortly after Harris won an lbw shout against Currie, Leicestershire declared 44 behind and claimed an early strike when Matt Salisbury bowled Billy Root for one.
Glamorgan found scoring equally difficult as they crawled to 14 for one in nine overs, before a heavy downpour just after tea brought a merciful early end to proceedings.
Leicestershire captain Lewis Hill told BBC Radio Leicester:
“We wanted to look at the longer game (rather than chase bonus points) and to try to get in front, we didn’t want to risk that process with the guys (Currie and Cox) playing well, though it’s not worked out as we expected.
“We took a nice wicket (Root) at the end. Hopefully a few balls will stay low for us and we’ll be in the game.
“You don’t necessarily win promotion at the start of the year, but if the pitch goes up and down here, you never know.”
Glamorgan assistant coach David Harrison told BBC Sport Wales:
“Timm was disappointed to miss the first couple of games. He’s been great for us since we lost Michael Hogan, he’s really stepped up and to see him back in full flow, he really deserved his five wickets.
“I can’t explain Leicestershire’s tactics, but as a bowling group we were really good and kept the pressure on, we were surprised they declared.
“It’s a shame we lost that last session to a heavy thunderstorm, we’ll have a chat as a group and see how we can push this game forward.”
