Glamorgan v Essex
LV= Insurance County Championship
Sophia Gardens, Monday 30 August – Thursday 02 September
Team News:
Glamorgan: Hamish Rutherford, David Lloyd, Steven Reingold, Billy Root, Kiran Carlson, Chris Cooke (c & wk), Dan Douthwaite, Andrew Salter, Timm van der Gugten, Lukas Carey, Michael Hogan.
Essex: Nick Browne, Alastair Cook, Tom Westley (c), Dan Lawrence, Michael Pepper, Josh Rymell, Adam Wheater (wk), Simon Harmer, Shane Snater, Sam Cook, Jamie Porter.
Match Details:
Umpires: Robert Robinson & Benjamin Debenham
Toss: Glamorgan won and elected to bat
Result: Essex win by an innings and 74 runs
Day Three Match Reaction: Jamie Porter
Day Three Match Highlights:
Day Three Match Report:
It took Essex just 31 minutes on Day Three to complete victory over Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens with the winning margin of an innings and 74 runs underlining the superior class of the visiting side.
Sam Cook captured three of the remaining overnight wickets to fall to end with figures of 5/37 whilst Jamie Porter got the breakthrough with the 8th ball of the morning when he knocked back the leg stump of Andrew Salter to end a seventh-wicket partnership worth 44.
Seven balls later, Cook had Timm van der Gugten caught by Adam Wheater off a sharply rising delivery and wrapped up the innings and the match with the wickets of Lukas Carey and Michael Hogan off successive deliveries.
It left skipper Chris Cooke 47 not out reflecting on an abject display by his colleagues although Lukas Carey adopted the long handle approach to hit a rapid 29 in 17 balls including a hook that cleared the ropes off Cook before then straight driving the bowler’s next delivery along the ground to the boundary.
But Cook had the last word when persuading Carey to drive into the hand of Josh Rymell at mid-on before uprooting Hogan’s leg stump as the Welsh County were dismissed for 112 in 33.5 overs.
Porter, playing his first match since July 25th having suffered a side strain, claimed figures of 3/35 to show his well-being as he resumed his incisive new-ball role with partner Cook who has now taken 40 Championship wickets in 10 matches this season.
Next on the agenda for Essex are Gloucestershire with the teams commencing a Championship match at The Cloudfm County Ground on Sunday starting at 10:30am.
Day Two Match Reaction: Nick Browne
Day Two Match Highlights:
Day Two Match Report:
Nick Browne posted his first century of the summer before an incisive spell by new ball bowlers Jamie Porter and Sam Cook left Essex on the cusp of victory as Glamorgan ended the second day on 71-6 and still needing a further 115 to make Essex bat again.
Bad light spared the home side from a potential defeat inside two days after Browne had contributed 102 out of an Essex total of 320 all out to give the visitors a first innings lead of 186 runs.
But Porter and Cook wreaked havoc taking two wickets apiece and when Shane Snater’s direct throw from cover saw Steve Reingold run out, the hosts were in compete disarray at 20-5. Then Snater joined the attack and struck with his third delivery to account for Dan Douthwaite, with Glamorgan slumping to 29-6 after 10.3 overs.
Porter started the collapse when Hamish Rutherford walked in front of his stumps to the second ball of the innings and was leg before without score. Then Cook bagged David Lloyd for the second time in the match, this time when striking the pad with the batsman half-forward to send the opener on his way reflecting on a pair.
An injudicious single called by Billy Root accounted for Reingold for 4 and Root himself soon joined his colleague in the dressing room when he played back to Porter and was trapped in his crease. Cook breached the defences of Kiran Carlson who played all round a lifting delivery before Snater joined the action to good effect.
The Essex charge was temporarily halted by bad light and a 42-run stand between Chris Cooke and Andrew Salter but they will surely go on to complete a comprehensive victory on a wicket that is offering consistent bounce and turn.
Browne posted his first century since June 2019 displaying trademark watchfulness, composure and shot-selection as he anchored the innings.
He had completed his half-century just before the close on Day One and continued serenely towards a three-figure contribution that arrived from 219 deliveries and included 14 boundaries.
He had been dropped early in his innings when spilled at slip on 8 but thereafter ensured that the Glamorgan attack would labour as he moved inexorably to the 16th first-class century of his Essex career.
He and Dan Lawrence had started the day in careful manner with Essex resuming on 92-2 and when Lawrence drove a ball from Michael Hogan through mid-wicket, it was the first boundary the du had collected in 16 overs.
Lawrence had advanced to 34 when he drove across the line to spinner Andrew Salter and skied to mid-off but his departure brought Michael Pepper to the crease and an increase in the tempo.
He was soon sweeping the ball to the mid-wicket ropes and gathered a cluster of fours that brought the total onto 150 and a half-century partnership stand in 84 balls. The 23-year-old was adventurous and played fluently on either side of the wicket and arrived at his 50 having faced 75 balls and struck 1 six and 9 fours.
The stand worth 108 in 25 overs came to an end shortly before Lunch when Browne swept to deep mid-wicket having faced 223 balls to end a stay of 4 hours and 45 minutes to leave the visitors 208-4 and a lead of 74 runs.
Championship debutant Josh Rymell suffered a first-ball duck when adjudged lbw looking to turn the ball into the leg side and seven balls after lunch, Pepper gave off-spinner Reingold a return catch.
The visitors had lost three wickets in the space of 10 balls for 9 runs and Simon Harmer soon departed for 2 but then Adam Wheater and Snater added to Essex’s advantage with a partnership of 79 as they exploited flaws in line and length to earn their side a third batting point.
Wheater hit 36 before he lost his off stump to Lukas Carey, Sam Cook departed for a duck, but Snater, enjoying an excellent all-round match and having reached his best score yet for Essex, was within 2 runs of his first half-century for the County when he drove to deep mid-off to end the innings.
Day One Match Highlights:
Day One Match Report:
Shane Snater proved the undoing of Glamorgan who were bowled out for 134 in 44.5 overs before bad light brought a premature close with Essex 92-2 in the Division 2 LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Sophia Gardens.
The right-arm medium-pacer took 6/39 including a spell of 4 wickets for 4 runs in 28 balls with those runs coming from a Kiran Carlson boundary.
Utilising a consistent probing length, the 25-year-old took the starring role for the visitors getting movement to pick up his 5fer of the season as his incisive bowling and some inept batting contributed to Glamorgan’s downfall.
In reply, the visitors lost Alastair Cook for a three-ball duck and Tom Westley for 8, but Nick Browne reached the close on 50 with Dan Lawrence 29 with the pair producing an unbroken half-century partnership before the last 9 overs of the day were lost when the light deteriorated.
Snater, bowling from the River Taff End and playing only his sixth first-class match for the County, has now taken 21 Championship wickets this season.
Sam Cook claimed David Lloyd for a duck with the assistance of Simon Harmer who had a hand on the demise of 6 home batsmen and the South African claimed the second of 3 catches when he caught Steven Reingold at second slip to launch Snater’s fine and effective performance that proved the architect of the Welsh County’s discomfort.
3 balls later, the bowler only needed the agreement of the umpire to remove Billy Root who was leg before for a duck whilst his next 2 wickets also arrived in a sequence of 4 deliveries. He had Kiran Carlson caught at first slip before Glamorgan Captain Chris Cooke was bowled when shouldering arms to leave the hosts in disarray at 55-5.
3 balls and 2 runs later, they lost the wicket of opener Hamish Rutherford. The New Zealander, who played 2 first-class matches for Essex back in 2013, had scored 31 when he turned a ball for Harmer into the hands of Michael Pepper at short leg to leave the hosts 58-6 at lunch and Snater with figures of 4/14.
The 2019 County Champions continued to make inroads after the interval with Harmer accounting for Andrew Salter, who stepped down the pitch and skied to mid-on, whilst Timm van der Gugten was bowled.
But Dan Douthwaite teamed up with Lukas Carey for the highest partnership of the innings as they carved, swiped and drove their way to a 46 run stand in 6.3 overs before Tom Westley turned again to Snater with the desired effect.
He grabbed 2 wickets in 4 balls to bring the innings to a close.
Douthwaite, whose 39 was the top-score of the innings, was well caught by Jamie Porter running from mid-off and then Carey, on 29, sliced to short third man.
Essex handed 20-year-old Josh Rymell his first-class debut and were also able to include Dan Lawrence for the first time in a Championship fixture since 20th May. Lawrence has been named in the England squad for the next Test that commences at The Oval on Thursday and should he be included in the England starting line-up, Essex will be allowed a substitute who is able to bat and bowl if necessary.
Essex lost Cook to the ninth ball of the innings when he was caught behind pushing outside the line whilst Westley nibbled outside off stump to give wicket-keeper Cooke his second catch.
However, Browne and Lawrence, adopting disciplined graft on a pitch always offering interest to the bowlers lifted the total from 41-2 taking their side to within 42 runs of their opponents.
Functional and effective with selective strokeplay, the pair brought up their 50 stand from 153 balls shortly before the enforced close.
Browne particularly relied on a straight bat approach as he dropped anchor and was rewarded for his application with a 125-ball 5- that included 6 boundaries (his fifth half-century of the season) and Lawrence also showed necessary vigilance and patience facing 78 balls and collected 4 boundaries.
