Reece and Came put on record partnership as Derbyshire draw

Luis Reece and Harry Came wrote themselves into the Derbyshire record books and ended Glamorgan’s victory hopes as the LV=Insurance County Championship match at Derby ended in a draw.

Reece and Came set a new county record opening stand of 360 with the pair batting through the fourth day to finish on career-best scores.

Reece made 201 from 338 balls and Came 141 off 336 as Derbyshire firmly shut the door on Glamorgan to close 157 runs ahead having begun the day 125 behind.

Glamorgan used nine bowlers without success on a day of fruitless toil for the promotion hopefuls who took 13 points while Derbyshire finished with nine.

The visitors started the day still in with a chance of forcing victory and overcast conditions at least gave their bowlers some encouragement.

But the pitch was certainly offering little and it soon became clear that another high scoring Derby draw was the most likely outcome.

Timm van der Gugten did find  the outside edge in his opening spell but few balls beat the bat as Reece and Came played with the same discipline and concentration that had been a feature of their first innings partnership.

The hundred came up in the sixth over of the morning and represented a significant milestone as it was only the third time in Derbyshire’s history that there had been two century opening stands in a match.

Glamorgan skipper David Llloyd, who will be playing his cricket at Derby next season, used five bowlers to try and breakthrough but to no avail.

Reece completed his second hundred of the game from 177 balls and became only the 20th player to achieve the feat for Derbyshire in the Championship.

Mitchell Swepson thought he had got Reece with the last ball of the session which struck him in front as he played back but the appeal was turned down which summed up a thoroughly dispiriting morning for the visitors.

They may have reflected over lunch that when a prayer room which is currently being built on the ground is open, bowlers of all faiths will be queuing to get in given the nature of Derby pitches.

Reece and Came scored 107 runs in the morning to leave their side only 18 behind and they continued to bat Derbyshire towards safety in the afternoon.

The 200 stand came up in the 68th over and Came went to his second Championship century of the season when he hit Kiran Carlson’s off-spin over mid on for his 12th four.

It was another highly promising demonstration of application from the 24-year-old who,, appropriately for the son of a vineyard owner, is maturing nicely.

By tea, Derbyshire were 94 ahead and the only question was if Reece and Came could break the county’s record opening stand of 333 set by Reece and Billy Godleman against Northants in 2017.

Glamorgan came out for the final session with Colin Ingram replacing Chris Cooke behind the stumps and Sam Northeast opening with his occasional off-spin.

The milestone was broken when Reece drove Billy Root for a single and he reached his double hundred by cutting ul Hassan for his 20th four just before the teams shook hands at 16.40.

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