Nottinghamshire frustrate Glamorgan in Cardiff draw

Nottinghamshire showed why they are leading the way in County Championship Division Two by batting through the day to record a draw in Cardiff after frustrating a Glamorgan side who needed nine wickets for victory.

Glamorgan were left to rue a couple of decisions which could have exposed the Notts tailenders to the second new ball, but the Cardiff wicket remained true and in the end the pursuit was called off with just over nine overs to go as both sides agreed a draw.

The Welsh County were only able to take three wickets on the final day, two of those to the occasional spin of Colin Ingram and Kiran Carlson, and they were unable to claim the win that would have moved them up to second in the table.

Clarke came to the wicket early as Glamorgan got the perfect start, James Harris trapping Matt Montgomery LBW in the second over of the morning. Getting rid of the first innings top scorer seemed a crucial breakthrough for the Welsh County.

However they had to wait until six minutes before lunch for another wicket to fall as Clarke and Ben Slater successfully blunted the bowling attack.

Leg spinner

Glamorgan captain David Lloyd ran through his options and brought on occasional leg spinner Ingram who lured Slater into giving a caught and bowled chance with the batsman departing for 48.

That put Notts three down at lunch, probably the minimum Glamorgan required to continue their push for victory.

The afternoon session was one of frustration for the bowlers with even half chances few and far between as James joined Clarke and the pair took the score to 184 for three at tea.

Clarke seemed odds on to move onto his century, especially when Glamorgan brought on part-time spinner Carlson for the first over after tea.

An innocuous ball outside off stump flicked Clarke’s edge, Chris Cooke took the catch and suddenly the game was thrown open.

Glamorgan took the second new ball as soon as it was available with 25 overs to go and the mood of the game changed as Notts captain Mullaney joined James at the crease.

Australian Michael Neser charged in with the new ball and had a strong LBW shout against Mullaney turned down second ball, while the fifth ball was edged past first slip.

A couple of overs later he had a huge appeal for caught behind, again off Mullaney. The Glamorgan players sank to the ground when umpire Hassan Adnan kept his hand down, knowing a win was slipping away.