John Ward reports on the third day of the Championship match between Worcestershire and Glamorgan at New Road
John Ward at Worcester19-Jul-2008Glamorgan 279 (Rees 68, Wallace 51, Imran 5-50) and 189 for 7 (Ali 4-32) lead Worcestershire 457 for 8 by 11 runs
ScorecardImran Arif continued his dream debut with another four wickets for Worcestershire, as Glamorgan followed on and now face almost inevitable defeat, given a favourable weather forecast, on the fourth day. Glamorgan just managed to survive to the close, but they should have done better, as all their first six batsmen reached double figures, yet none made 40.Glamorgan began the day at 136 for 4 in their first innings, having lost early wickets, mainly to Imran, but on the back of an unbroken stand of 80 between Gavin Rees and Mark Wallace. Both continued confidently where they had left off, but ill fortune soon stepped in. A ball from Simon Jones struck Rees on the upper thigh, dropped to the ground and then rolled on to the wicket, dislodging a bail, before he could react. Sickened, he walked off with a worthy 68 to his name.Alex Wharf (5) did not last long, pulling a catch to long leg, but Wallace, whose cover-driving was a treat to watch, continued untroubled to his 50, which came off 72 balls. Jones was bowling with fire and determination, but so well was Wallace batting that it came as a shock when he suddenly played down the wrong line and found his leg stump cartwheeling backwards. He had made 51, and at 165 for 7 Glamorgan were now in real trouble.Despite the effectiveness of Kabir Ali and Jones, it was a surprise that Imran, after his earlier successes, was not brought on for almost an hour. After a few rather innoucuous deliveries, he suddenly breached Jason Gillespie’s defence and knocked out his leg stump for 17.He then had his first experience of outraged frustration at county level, as the new batsman David Harrison hit his next three balls each for four – two thick edges to third man and one bottom edge to fine leg off an attempted pull. He restrained his feelings well.Harrison was bowled by Matt Mason for 23 off 12 balls, and it was an interesting curiosity that, after two days without a batsmen being bowled out, four should fall that way before lunch on the third day – and more were to come. The last two wickets actually did a superb job for Glamorgan, though not quite managing to save the follow-on: the dogged James Harris (28 not out) added 33 with Harrison and finally 59 with the last man, Dean Cosker (42). Finally Vikram Solanki turned almost as a last resort to Imran, who had Cosker caught at the wicket sparring at his second ball, to end the innings at 279.Imran finished with 5 for 50, a more remarkable debut achievement in that he was mysteriously given only 10.2 overs to do it in. Jones bowled with hostility at times to take 3 for 96 in 21 overs; both these attacking bowlers leaked runs rapidly but received their just reward in terms of wickets. Glamorgan’s innings was at least entertaining, with runs coming throughout at almost four an over.Glamorgan, 178 behind, had to follow on for the fourth time in their last five matches. Openers Rees and Richard Grant struggled for survival at first, beaten at times, but refusing to surrender. This time Imran came on to bowl the sixth over, but this time the magic failed him. The scoring rate was scarcely two an over, but the openers had their job to do.Inevitably, though, it was Imran who finally broke through, in his second spell, removing both openers. Grant was trapped lbw for 22, and then Rees was comprehensively bowled for 38, the ball ripping through his hapless defences to hit the bails.Imran’s spells remained short but were now much more frequent, but he could not split David Hemp and Michael Powell, who put on 58 together before the former shouldered arms and was bowled by Kabir for 30. This was the apex, if it can be so described, of Glamorgan’s second innings to date, as minor partnerships never became major ones. Jamie Dalrymple will want to forget the shot that had him caught at the wicket off Mason for 14, while Kabir took two in an over by removing Michael Powell, caught at slip for 35, and Wharf, clean bowled.Then, in what would have been the penultimate over, their last realistic hope of losing with dignity, Wallace, was caught at the wicket off Kabir, and Glamorgan were down to 165 for 7. Worcestershire claimed the extra half-hour, with Glamorgan still 13 runs in arrears, but unfortunately for them Gillespie and Harris were not tempted by the prospect of a Sunday off. They wiped off the deficit, saving the innings defeat, but have surely only postponed the inevitable.