Rudolph edges day for Glamorgan

Glamorgan have yet to win a Championship game this season, while Essex have won once, but there is likely to be a result to this game as Jacques Rudolph, with 81 not out used all his skill and experience to hold the Glamorgan innings together. The captain batted for 69 overs as wickets fell at the other end, and no one else batted with such assurance against a predominantly seam attack on a lively pitch.

Despite the absence of three front line seamers, James Foster had no hesitation in bowling first on a pitch with far more pace than the strips prepared for the first two games. There was enough grass left on it to encourage the quicker bowlers and plenty of carry for Foster to have four slips and a gully at the start of the innings.

There was nothing on offer from the metronomic David Masters and 22-year-old Jamie Porter, playing in only his seventh Championship game, and with the fourth ball of the sixth over Porter trapped James Kettleborough leg before. Porter was rested after his first spell with figures of 5-3-7-1, with only 17 runs scored in the first 10 overs.

He was replaced by Graham Napier who had immediate success when he had Will Bragg also leg before in his third over. Colin Ingram, who scored 91 from 47 balls in the T20 Blast game last Friday, announced himself with two boundaries from his first three deliveries and looked in prime form until he flicked at one from Ryan ten Doeschate that was taken by Foster. Rudolph meanwhile, played watchfully, accumulating mostly in singles and struck only two boundaries in his first 40 runs, and one other in his fifty which came from 147 balls.

On a cold day, with a strong wind blowing across the ground, the Essex bowlers did well to contain the batsmen to under three runs an over, and they were further rewarded when Chris Cooke became the third lbw victim of the innings when he was trapped by ten Doeschate. Mark Wallace then came to the crease needing fourteen runs to reach 10,000 first-class runs, and duly reached the target by turning a ball off his legs for two.

After scoring another single, Wallace was caught at first slip attempting to drive one from Napier that slanted across him. Graham Wagg stayed with Rudolph until the close and with Glamorgan batting down to No. 10 in this game they will be confident of reaching a first innings total in excess of 300.

"I reckon 300 will be a good score on that pitch." Rudolph said. "It was a far more difficult that the previous pitches we have played here this season, and the odd ball really went through. I played and missed far more times than I have this season, and the ball that dismissed Mark Wallace bounced a lot."