Joseph haul leaves Glamorgan facing uphill battle

Robbie Joseph left Glamorgan's batsmen shell-shocked on his Leicestershire debut, claiming 6 for 47 to put his side into a match-winning position at Grace Road.

The Welsh side were routed for 124, giving Leicestershire a first-innings lead of 125, and though Glamorgan struck back to bowl out the hosts for 110 in their second innings they closed the day at 21 for 1 as they chased a challenging victory target of 236. Once again Joseph was the wicket taker, bowling Gareth Rees for 4.

Joseph, 30, who was released by Kent at the end of last season, has joined Leicestershire on a short-term contract. He could hardly have made a more impressive start and Leicestershire head coach Phil Whitticase said: "He is enjoying it here and gives our attack that bit of extra pace."

Glamorgan began the second day at a perilous 25 for 5 with the possibility of being asked to follow on staring them in the face.

Some steely batting by the tailenders helped them avoid that ignominy - but not before two early alarms. Jim Allenby and Mark Wallace both fell to the impressive Joseph in his first three overs of the day, leaving Glamorgan at 34 for 7 with another 66 runs needed to prevent the follow-on.

But nightwatchman Dean Cosker, along with Graham Wagg, Robert Croft and Huw Waters, added 90 more runs for the last three wickets. Wagg led the way with a belligerent 42 off 60 balls, hitting seven fours before edging to wicketkeeper Ned Eckersley to give Joseph his sixth wicket and bring Glamorgan's innings to an end.

Leicestershire's second-innings batting performance showed just how much they needed their three-figure advantage. With the ball continuing to seam and swing around, the hosts were dismissed for 110 in 42.4 overs as the Glamorgan seamers revelled in the helpful conditions. Only two batsmen made it to double figures, Jacques du Toit top-scoring with 40 and opener Matt Boyce making 11, while the extras column contributed 18.

Wagg - who bagged the big wicket of Ramnaresh Sarwan, bowling him with a well disguised slower ball - took 3 for 29, while Moises Henriques claimed 3 for 25.

It was Henriques who brought Du Toit's 67-ball innings to an end, finding some extra bounce to have him caught at gully. Unlike the first innings, there was little resistance by Leicestershire's middle- and late-order batsmen this time, with the last four wickets falling for 25 runs in 11 overs.

But Glamorgan were still set a challenging victory target of 236 and the early loss of opener Rees, bowled by Joseph in the fourth over, made the task look even more difficult.