By Edward Hall
May 10 2002

Glamorgan’s batsmen gave them chance of a victory over Worcestershire going into the final day’s play in this County Championship match. Glamorgan’s 2nd innings total of 348 represents their best batting effort to date this season, and in setting Worcestershire 337 to win this game, Glamorgan will be classed as slight favourites. There were several encouraging performances in the innings. Steve James and David Hemp extended their opening stand to 67 in the morning, easily their best effort to date. There were runs all the way down the order, Ian Thomas’s knock of 19 being the lowest individual score from the top 6.

After James had been dismissed for 25, Hemp went onto complete his first first-class 50 of the season. His good work was kept going by Michael Powell, who, like Darren Thomas, after some early troubles this season, has hit some form in this game. Powell’s innings of 59, his third half-century in as many innings, set up a decent total, and with Adrian Dale, put on 84 for the fourth wicket. From 220 for 3, wickets fell steadily, despite a chirpy 26 from Jon Hughes, and at 301 for 9, it looked like Worcestershire were not going to need 300 to win this game.

However, a last wicket stand of 47 between Robert Croft and Simon Jones expanded the total well enough to increase the chance of victory tomorrow. In the final 7 overs of the day, the Worcestershire openers cut their target down by 25 runs.