SWALEC Stadium (final day of four): Glamorgan (10pts) drew with Leicestershire (6)
This was quite a Leicestershire debut for Mike Thornely. After the disappointment of falling three short of a maiden first-class hundred in the first innings, the 24-year old former Sussex player not only achieved that memorable milestone in the second “dig” but also helped to save the game for his side. Although on trial, he can now look forward to an extended run, and quite possibly a contract.
Ned Eckersley played a no less important part in Leicestershire’s successful extrication. Like Thornely, he got his head down on a painfully slow pitch and blunted the Glamorgan attack as the pair added 245 in 88 overs. By a strange quirk, each reached their respective hundreds off the same number of balls — 236. The 22-year-old Londoner made not just a career-best but also passed fifty in the championship for the first authentic time this summer (a 19-ball half-century against Essex having been gifted by “declaration” bowling ).
Greyish cloud cover hung over the SWALEC Stadium for much of the day, but neither ball that Glamorgan’s attack got to use swung at all. Nor did the pitch deteriorate, which, given its lack of pace, made life hard work for the bowlers. Thornely dug in for the second time in a match in which he batted 11 hours and 38 minutes in total.
For all his powers of concentration and application, Thornely can be a powerful striker of the ball. Driving handsomely through the covers and down the ground at times, he struck 15 fours as well as a straight six off Dean Cosker and a swept one off Marcus North. The neat and compact Eckersley moved his feet well and scored a higher proportion of his runs square of the wicket.
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After being called “gutless” by Matthew Hoggard, their captain, after capitulating against Kent last week, Leicestershire’s batsmen showed some welcome fight. In salvaging a draw, they denied Glamorgan, the bottom club, not just a first win of the campaign but also the opportunity to leapfrog them.
Leicestershire: First Innings 271 (M A Thornely 97; J Allenby 4 for 39)
Second Innings (overnight 84-1)
M A Thornely c Rees b Allenby 131
†E J H Eckersley not out 137
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*R R Sarwan not out 25
Extras (b 9, w 2, nb 2) 13
Total (2 wkts, 117 overs) 316
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-256.
Bowling: Waters 16-2-46-0; Harris 19-5-40-1; Allenby 14-7-15-1; Cosker 28-7-63-0; Glover 16-1-71-0; Bragg 5-1-10-0; North 7-0-26-0; Wright 8-2-17-0; Rees 3-0-13-0; Walters 1-0-6-0.
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Glamorgan: First Innings 558-9 dec (M A Wallace 118; M J North 116; G P Rees 66; J Allenby 61; W A White 4 for 98.)
Umpires: R K Illingworth and G D Lloyd.