Lloyd and Madsen hit half-centuries on Day Two

David Lloyd and Wayne Madsen each struck half-centuries, before a flurry of late wickets set up a huge Day Three in the Vitality County Championship fixture between Derbyshire and Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens. 

Spin continued to dominate proceedings, as Mason Crane took four wickets on his Glamorgan debut as Derbyshire were bowled out for 198, 39 runs behind on first innings. Madsen top scored for Derbyshire with 63 but his departure brought about a collapse of five wickets for 33 runs.

Alex Thomson was once again the star man with the ball for Derbyshire as he secured his first 10 wicket haul in first class cricket as Glamorgan reached 74 for four at the close, a lead of 113 with six second innings wickets in hand.

With the pitch offering significant assistance to both seam and spin bowlers the destination of this game will depend on how well Glamorgan bat in the first session of day three.

Having resumed on 46 for one Derbyshire while placed to get past Glamorgan’s total and they started the day with captain David Lloyd reaching fifty from 65 balls against his former county. He was the first wicket to fall on day two when he was trapped lbw by Crane for 60.

Harry Came made a patient 25 from 113 balls but he never really found runs easy to come by on a pitch that is slow enough that batters had to take risks to score quickly. He was dismissed by James Harris for the second of his three wickets in Derbyshire’s innings. Harris conceded runs at less than 1.5 an over, conceding just three boundaries, one of which was an edge past the slips as he finished with figures of three for 28.

As was the case in Glamorgan’s first innings, it was the spinner who was the most consistent threat with Crane starring with the ball on his Glamorgan debut. His four for 60 was his best return in first class cricket since his five wicket haul against Lancashire for Hampshire in 2021.

While Crane was a consistent threat, it was the seamers who took the heart out of the Derbyshire batting lineup with Dan Douthwaite and Mir Hamza picking up wickets.

While Wayne Madsen was at the crease it felt as is Derbyshire could claim a first innings lead but when he was well caught in the covers by sub fielder Asa Tribe off Douthwaite it began the collapse that prevented Derbyshire eclipsing Glamorgan’s first innings total.

Crane was brought back into the attack after a short break and claimed the last three Derbyshire wickets as scoring became increasingly difficult against the aging Kookaburra ball.

When the last Derbyshire wicket fell on the stoke of the tea break Glamorgan had secured a 39-run lead.

When their second innings got underway the Glamorgan openers once again found Thomson extremely difficult to face. Having claimed career best figures of seven for 65 in the first innings he opened the bowling and had two wickets in two balls. Both Zain ul Hassan and Sam Northeast were dismissed lbw, the latter for a golden duck.

Thomson claimed his tenth wicket of the match when he bowled Kiran Carlson for 11 before Sam Conners bowled Billy Root for 32 to put this game into the balance heading into the third day.

Wayne Madsen, who scored 63 for Derbyshire, said: “I think it’s going to be a really good game of cricket because there’s enough in this wicket, especially for the spinners. I think it’s really slow which makes it challenging to score and it’s quite a stoppy spin. So it brings everyone round the bat and into the game. So I think it’s going to be an interesting day tomorrow.

“You don’t get too many in April that are this dry. I’ve played there a few times, I’ve not seen it spin like that. It’s been a slower spin. So, it was actually quite a surprise to see it spinning like that. We bowled because we thought there might be a little bit of nip in the wicket first up for our seamers. Not the fact that Thomson was going to take seven for in the first innings

“I think Glamorgan did a really good job of it today. The seamers bowled straight at the stumps, as I say there wasn’t a lot of pace to score and the odd ball was just holding in the wicket a little bit and then Crane obviously wheeled away on the other end. So for us, I think that’s going to be key tomorrow.”