Boyce makes 50 but Glamorgan establish lead

Glamorgan established a lead of 89 with eight second innings wickets intact on an intriguing second day of the LV=CC match in Cardiff.

Matthew Boyce (50), Andrea Agathangelou (41), Niall O’Brien (39) and Mark Cosgrove (38) all contributed as Leicestershire looked set for a first innings advantage after moving to 222-5 in reply to Glamorgan’s 278.

But the bowlers from both sides then fired as County lost their last five wickets for 31 to be bowled out for 253 and Glamorgan slipped to 1-2 in their second innings.

The impressive Ben Raine (5-3-9-1) and Clint McKay (7-4-10-1) took the wickets before experienced duo Jacques Rudolph and Colin Ingram guided their side to 64-2 at stumps.

There was no sign of the drama to come as Leicestershire made steady progress on the second morning of the game, the batsmen adding 101 for the loss of two wickets in 30 overs to move to 138-3 from 45 overs.

Ned Eckersley was bowled by Craig Meschede for 10 in the second over of the morning but Boyce and Cosgrove - given a rousing reception on his return to his former county - soon settled in.

They shared 64 for the third wicket with Cosgrove finding the fence on six occasions before the skipper was dismissed in an unfortunate manner as a powerful leg-side clip off Andrew Salter somehow got lodged in the body of Ben Wright at short-leg.

The wicket may not have been conventional but it was due reward for Glamorgan’s off-spinner, who had figures of 11-4-10-1 before Agathangelou took 14 off four consecutive balls at the start of his next over, including three fours.

Agathangelou also hit the last ball of the session from Salter to the ropes to move to 20 with Boyce four short of his half-century at that point.

The opening batsman completed a patient 50 from 137 balls with a seventh boundary, which was driven through the covers off Michael Hogan, before the Australian responded by pinning the batsman in front with the score on 148.

It ended a partnership of 44 and Leicestershire continued to chip away at the deficit as O’Brien developed stands of 33 and 41 with Agathangelou and Tom Wells respectively.

Agathangelou and O’Brien were particularly impressive through the off-side as they moved towards half-centuries but the former was clean bowled by Meschede as Glamorgan’s bowlers hit back either side of tea.

O’Brien and Wells (17) were set but both fell with the score on 222 as the left-hander tickled a leg-side delivery from Carter to his counterpart Mark Wallace before the all-rounder was caught by Rudolph at slip off Graham Wagg (10-4-35-1).

County went to tea on 238-7 but added only 15 runs after the interval. Salter, who bowled 30 overs at a cost of just 64 runs, claimed his second wicket when McKay (13) was caught by Cooke at deep mid-wicket.

Salter’s tidy work, mainly from the River End, allowed the seamers to rotate and Hogan was the most successful operator. He bowled Jigar Naik (2) in claiming 3-54 from 16 overs and Raine, who battled extremely hard for 16 off 61 deliveries, was the last man out as Meschede took a catch at mid-on off the economical Carter (15.4-3-29-2).

Leicestershire had a terrific start to the second innings as Raine and McKay struck in the opening three overs. The all-rounder enticed Will Bragg (0) to nick to O’Brien and McKay also found the edge, Wright (0) being snapped up by Robson at first slip.

Rudolph and Ingram had to contend with some quality seam bowling from McKay, Raine and Shreck, who now have 100 LV=CC wickets between them this season, but both remained steadfast until the close in adding an unbroken 63.

Ingram was the more aggressive of the two left-handed South Africa internationals with eight fours in his 38 not out while Rudolph ended on 14.