The Vitality County Championship match between Glamorgan and Derbyshire finished as a draw as a superb stand between Luis Reece and Brooke Guest guided Derbyshire to safety.
Derbyshire had an improbable target of 401 to chase on the final day with a Glamorgan victory more likely when play resumed in Cardiff with the visitors 40 for 1.
The early wickets of David Lloyd and Wayne Madsen gave Glamorgan some early hope but those were the last wickets to fall in the match as batting became increasingly straightforward on this pitch.
Reece finished on 91 not out with Guest also undefeated on 72 with Derbyshire finishing their second innings on 225 for 3.
Play began 15 mins late thanks to overnight rain with Glamorgan needing nine wickets and Derbyshire requiring another 361 runs to claim victory. Early wickets would be important for Glamorgan given that this pitch has been hard to start on and then got easier as you adjusted to its slow nature.
Derbyshire lost the first wicket of the day having added just three runs to their overnight total when former Glamorgan player David Lloyd was run out by a sharp throw from Mason Crane for 24.
A 34-run stand between Luis Reece and Wayne Madsen settled some of those nerves that may have been caused in the Derbyshire ranks before James Harris bowled Madsen for 25. That left Derbyshire at 79 for 3 and in danger.
From there an excellent and assured partnership of 146 between Reece and Guest took the visitors to the lunch break and then to the close of play. Both players took a while to get started but batted with increasing confidence as the day progressed.
A heavy shower during the interval kept the players from the field and took more overs out of a game that already looked to be heading towards a draw after promising an entertaining finish on the first two days of this match.
Crane had enjoyed the turning pitch in the first innings of this match but as the ball began to behave less erratically in the second innings he struggled for wickets and control. His final figures of none for 91 saw him going a 5.35 runs an over.
Another brief shower took the players off the field on the stroke to tea and when they resumed we were left with the unlikely equation for victory of either 212 runs from 34 overs or seven wickets on a pitch that was flattening out as the match progressed.
The pick of the Glamorgan bowlers was Harris who finished with figures of 2 for 21, and while he struggled to generate chances he was once again very difficult to score off.
During the evening session, both Reece and Guest looked untroubled by the Glamorgan bowling attack as it became apparent that the game was heading towards a draw. Both teams claim 11 points from this match with Derbyshire hosting Leicestershire on Friday.
David Lloyd, Derbyshire captain, said: “I was obviously delighted to make my debut. Personally, I thought I’d started well at first and then just disappointed I didn’t go on and get a big score, which I think is what we needed to get a result on the wicket which was quite tricky the first couple of days.
“The lads have been spot on, their work ethic and commitment they put in was superb really and the way that Guest and Reece played today was outstanding.
“We were umming and ahhing at the toss what to do at the toss to get the best out of the conditions of that first morning. I think we did well to limit them to what they got. Obviously, the difficulty is getting a decent enough lead to put real pressure on them.”
