By Edward Hall
April 21 2002

Good batting from Steve James and Mark Wallace will not be enough to save Glamorgan from defeat against Derbyshire. Chasing an unlikely target of 505 to win the game, Glamorgan reached stumps on the third night on 281 for 7. Wickets fell regularly throughout the afternoon in Glamorgan’s innings after Derbyshire had declared their second innings on 462 for 6 just before lunch. The six overs that Cork and Dean had with the ball before the interval were still enough to remove David Hemp, caught a slip off Dean for 8.

Steve James held the innings together though as the middle order collapsed. Dale, Maynard and Croft contributed just 12 runs between them. Michael Powell was the only middle order player to hang around with James, putting on 63 with James for the third wicket when Glamorgan still had a small chance of battling for a draw. Those three quick middle order wickets ruined that idea, and at 114 for 5, Derbyshire could scent victory.

They had not reckoned on Mark Wallace. After failing to score in the first innings and making some mistakes behind the stumps, Derbyshire will not have been overly impressed by Wallace’s performance, but he shared in two very useful contributions and made sure that the match went to its fourth day. He put on 79 with his captain, before James became Lian Wharton’s third victim of the innings, lbw for 78. After Thomas had come and gone, Mike Kasprowicz proved a decent ally, and in batting through to the close of play, gave Glamorgan a slight glimmer of hope again. Wallace’s innings of 84 is his highest first-class score to date, and he could convert it into a maiden first-class hundred tomorrow.

In the morning, Derbyshire added 109 runs before Cork called his players in. Dominic Hewson went on to complete a century in his first game for Derbyshire. Thomas and Croft got the two wickets to fall in the morning, with Kasprowicz finishing his first game for the club wicketless. If he had not made a decent contribution with the bat in the afternoon, this game could already have been over though.