Wickets go tumbling as the bowlers hold sway on opening day
NINETEEN wickets fell in two sessions at the renamed Sophia Gardens Cardiff on the first day of Glamorgan’s opening home championship game, with the seamers relishing the overcast conditions that prevailed throughout the day.
Glamorgan suffered an astonishing collapse after lunch, losing all ten wickets for 37 in only 75 minutes, as Darren Stevens and Matt Henry exploited the conditions to share the wickets.
When bad light ended play with three overs remaining, Kent were 163 for nine, with a potential match-winning lead of 69, especially if the pitch continues to offer the same assistance in the second innings.
Nick Selman and Jack Murphy had put on 57 before lunch, before Stevens dismissed Selman with the second ball after the interval.
Henry then had Shaun Marsh caught by the wicketkeeper and thereafter the new-ball pair demolished the Glamorgan middle order, with Stevens producing a spell of 4-7 in 31 balls.
The 42-year-old all-rounder ended with 6-26, while Henry took 4-31, taking his season’s tally to 23 in only his third championship game.
Murphy carried his bat for 39, the lowest score for a Glamorgan batsman to bat through the innings since Tom Morgan scored 13 not out against Lancashire in 1922.
Timm Van Gugten then achieved career-best figures for Glamorgan of 6-40, although Glamorgan were frustrated by a last-wicket unbroken stand of 22 between Harry Podmore and Ivan Thomas.
The Glamorgan batsmen were undone by swing and seam, with four of Stevens’ six victims trapped leg before, as the home team’s last four wickets fell for three runs.
Their bowlers then responded by reducing Kent to 29-3, as Van Der Gugten gained two leg-before decisions, and Michael Hogan dismissed Heino Kuhn with his second ball.
Joe Denly and Zac Crawley then restored Kent’s position with a partnership of 78 for the fourth wicket, with Crawley using his long reach to nullify movement from the pitch.
After Kent had established a lead, the fourth-wicket pair were out in quick succession, with Denly top scoring with 43, and Crawley becoming the ninth LBW victim of the game.
When Will Gidman fell to David Lloyd, Kent had lost four wickets for 11 runs, and Van Der Gugten claimed his fifth wicket when Henry, attacking at every opportunity, skied to Hogan at mid-off.
There is fine weather forecast for the second day, which will please the batsmen and perhaps take the game into a third day.