Ingram and Cooke’s superb rearguard action thwarts Notts
WHEN Nottinghamshire dismissed Glamorgan for 187 in their first innings at the end of the second day – a deficit of 261 – they would have been confident of winning their fourth successive County Championship Division Two game after being relegated at the end of last season.
With Glamorgan 54 for 3 shortly after lunch on the third day there might have been thoughts of a three-day win, but these hopes were thwarted by Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke, who batted throughout the final day.
Ingram, who is regarded as one of the best white ball players in the country and was the leading run scorer in the recent Royal London One Day Cup, was at the crease for seven minutes short of ten hours to play a chanceless innings of 153 not out and earn his team a draw when it appeared certain earlier in the game they would be beaten for the third time in four championship games.
Cooke joined Ingram midway through the third afternoon and, heeding his partner's advice, played everything on merit.
He compiled a patient fifty before reaching his fourth first class century by cutting Jake Libby's occasional off spin to the boundary.
Notts used nine bowlers in their attempt to break the stand, including Stuart Broad, who bowled 34 overs, which included 173 dot balls.
Ingram had earlier reached his century from 294 balls, the slowest century in the county championship this season, but his contribution was invaluable.
The team had been rightly admonished by their coach Robert Croft following the insipid batting performance in the first innings and the players appeared to have taken heed of his words as they applied themselves in the second innings.
During the course of their partnership, the sixth wicket pair set a new record for the that wicket against Notts, exceeding the 131 by Peter Walker and Don Ward at Newport in 1961.
There were 32 overs remaining when Notts took the final new ball, which appeared their last chance of breaking the stand, but after a short burst from Broad and Fletcher, there were no alarms before Michael Lumb became the ninth bowler to be used on a very flat pitch at the SSE Swalec Stadium.
When the players shook hands with Glamorgan ahead by 159, Ingram had faced a mammoth 427 deliveries during his 153 overs at the crease and his partnership with Cooke had put on 226, 14 runs short of the Glamorgan record for the 6th wicket.