Glamorgan 353 (Ingram 56, Green 3-55) and 131 for 3 (Northeast 72*, Ingram 37*) trail Leicestershire 576 for 7 dec (Budinger 118, Rehan 106, Patel 70, Hill 70, van Beek 67* Green 58*) by 92 runs runs
Captain Sam Northeast led stubborn late resistance with an unbeaten 72 as Glamorgan battled to stop Leicestershire registering a fifth successive victory on the third day of the Rothesay County Championship division two match at the UptonSteel County Ground, Grace Road.
Northeast, who hit a record 410 not out on this ground three years ago, put together an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 95 with Colin Ingram after the visitors had been reduced to 36 for 3 in their second innings.
Had a sharp chance given to second slip when Northeast was on only 20 been taken, Leicestershire might well have hoped to enforce a win with a day to spare.
An impressive unbroken partnership between allrounders Logan van Beek and Ben Green had helped Leicestershire register their highest score of the season, enabling Northeast's opposite number Peter Handscomb to declare in mid-afternoon with an imposing first-innings lead of 223.
As had happened the previous day, when Green picked up two wickets in the first over of the day, the morning session saw wickets fall early. Nightwatcher Chris Wright had added only three singles to his overnight 16 when he edged a James Harris delivery to first slip, and Lewis Hill only four to his overnight 66 when he too edged to slip, Timm van der Gugten finding a little extra bounce, with Ingam the catcher in both cases.
Handscomb and all-rounder Liam Trevaskis played patiently in building a partnership of 42 for the sixth wicket, but Glamorgan enjoyed a moment of good fortune when Hanscomb flicked at a legside delivery from young fast bowler Ned Leonard, got a faint but audible edge, and was comfortably held by Chris Cooke behind the stumps. When Trevaskis, having played solidly, edged a rising delivery from Leonard on to his middle stump, Glamorgan had taken four wickets for 57 runs and must have had hopes of restricting Leicestershire's lead to not much more than a hundred.
If so, Green and van Beek steadily extinguished them. The latter was particularly severe on the leg-spin of Mason Crane, stretching forward and delicately paddle-sweeping a series of deliveries to the fine leg boundary, and with the Glamorgan bowlers tiring as the ball got softer, hitting several fine lofted straight drives, one of which, off Zain ul Hassan, took him to his 50 from 70 deliveries. Green was not far behind, and the partnership was well past 100 when Handscomb called his batters in.
Whether, as some Leicestershire supporters in the ground speculated, it was because Handscomb did not want two of the pillars of his bowling attack to get too tired was perhaps debatable, but van Beek's opening burst certainly showed no signs of weariness, accounting for ul Hassan, bowled middle stump by a fast in-swinging delivery from around the wicket, and stand-in opener Crane, throwing his bat at a wider delivery and inside edging the ball on to his stumps.
Kiran Carlson, yet to score, drove wildly at a Tom Scriven delivery and edged to Handscomb behind the stumps, and the odds on a three-day victory would have shortened dramatically had Trevaskis, diving to his right at second slip, been able to hold a Northeast edge off Wright in only the second over after tea.
Having had that escape, however, Northeast batted with characteristic calmness, hitting eight fours in reaching his 50 off 86 deliveries. Ingram was similarly unflustered, closing on 37 not out off 92 balls, and giving the visitors real hope of saving the game.
