Glamorgan were unable to prevent the follow-on at Colwyn Bay despite some brave resistance from their lower order, the last four of whom scored over 40. They were eventually dismissed for 348 in their first innings, some 200 runs short of the necessary score, and the Lancashire captain, Steven Croft, had little hesitation in asking the home side to bat again, when they reached 146 for five.
Despite Glamorgan’s dire situation the morning session provided some real entertainment. Graham Wagg, a clean striker of the ball, hit four sixes into the gardens on Penrhyn Avenue, three of them in the same Aaron Lilley over. He made a destructive 45 off 66 balls before playing one big shot too many and mistiming to midwicket.
The Australian Michael Hogan made a career-best 57 from 58 in brutal style – he chanced his arm and it paid off. Lunch was delayed by half an hour but Lancashire could not shift him until 20 minutes after the postponed interval.
Earlier Mark Wallace had been showing real resistance before he was bowled by Glen Chapple. The 41-year-old came into the match needing 24 wickets to get to his stated target of 1,000 in his first-class career. He knocked four of them off with a vintage performance, making the best possible use of the pitch and getting more swing than any other bowler in this match. He remained wicketless in the second innings but continued to impress; his first nine overs went for only 12 runs with four maidens and not a loose delivery to be seen.
It is easy to see why Kyle Jarvis is Division Two’s leading wicket-taker. He bowled with relentless consistency all day and exploited what little the pitch had to offer. He was unlucky to get only one wicket in the first innings but made the early breakthroughs in the second, removing both Glamorgan openers – Jacques Rudolph getting a thick edge to second slip and then William Bragg feathering into the gloves of Alex Davies. Jarvis has now passed 60 wickets for the season and is a key reason why Lancashire are in such a strong position in the table.
After tea an astonishing catch by the former Glamorgan captain Alviro Petersen, one-handed above his head while back-pedalling towards long-on, removed Colin Ingram for seven. Ingram stood still for a while as if not quite believing that Petersen had managed it. There followed a period of defiance by David Lloyd and Chris Cooke but the pitch is starting to bite for the spinners and it was to get the better of Lloyd, who was hit on the pads playing down the wrong line.
When Wallace was dismissed for the second time in the day Glamorgan still trailed by 230 and the tandem spin of Simon Kerrigan and Lilley, with men around the bat, provided great drama in the last half-hour but Cooke and Andrew Salter survived to take the match into a fourth day.
