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Sport

Durham on top after opening day against Glamorgan

20 Apr 2023 3 minute read
Glamorgan CC

Michael Jones, Scott Borthwick, Ollie Robinson and Brydon Carse hit fifties to put Durham in a strong position after the opening day of their LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two clash with Glamorgan at Cardiff.

The visitors reached 382 for six having been put into bat.

Despite having picked a seam heavy attack there was two wickets for Marnus Labuschagne bowling off spin as Glamorgan chipped away at the Durham batting line-up on a surface where pace and movement were hard to come by.

The pick of the Glamorgan seamers was Timm van der Gugten who finished the day with two for 60.

Having scored at just under four runs an over, Durham will be the happier of the teams, especially considering Glamorgan’s decision to bowl first.

Won the toss

The decision to insert Durham having won the toss did not draw dividends in the first session despite Van der Gugten claiming a wicket from his fifth delivery when he trapped Alex Lees lbw.

The pitch was slow and offered little swing or seam but Van der Gugten came close to another early breakthrough.

Kiran Carlson, a replacement slip fielder for Glamorgan with Sam Northeast out of the cordon due to a finger injury, put down Borthwick when he was on two. That was the last clear-cut chance in the morning session as Durham reached the interval at 104 for one.

Jones and Borthwick put on a stand of 117 before the latter was dismissed when he clipped a ball into the hands of Labuschagne at mid-wicket for 59.

When Jones also fell, given lbw when attempting to reverse sweep Labuschagne’s off-spin for 69, it felt as if Durham were in danger of failing to capitalise on a good start.

Platform

Those fears of not making the most of a solid platform were further realised for Durham when David Bedingham also hit a ball in the air towards mid-wicket with Labuschagne taking a very good diving catch.

When Graham Clark was dismissed 22 runs later, edging one through to Chris Cooke off Van der Gugten it left Durham 239 for five with four wickets falling for just 82 runs.

An excellent innings of 73 from Robinson was the steadying hand that Durham needed as he and Liam Trevaskis shared a stand worth 62 to take their team past 300. Robinson was the second wicket to fall to Labuschagne’s bowling when he was given out caught behind.

Glamorgan took the new ball with Durham on 321 for six and they would have been hopeful of making further inroads, but Trevaskis and Carse stood firm in an unbroken partnership worth 81. Trevaskis finished on 41 not out while Carse was undefeated on 53.


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