Leics left deflated after Allenby ton

Jim Allenby hit an unbeaten 138 against his old county as Glamorgan totally dominated the second day against Leicestershire at Grace Road. Glamorgan declared 442 for 9 and by the close their battery of seam bowlers had routed Leicestershire for 142.

Michael Hogan took 4 for 25 and John Glover 4 for 51 as Leicestershire were rolled over in 44.3 overs. Josh Cobb was top scorer with 29 while Australian Joe Burns managed 21 on his debut. It left the home side 300 runs behind, facing the prospect of being asked to follow-on.

It was all a far cry from Allenby's performance that had him celebrating his first century against Leicestershire since he left them to join Glamorgan four years ago. And it beat his previous best Championship score of 137 against Surrey at the Oval in 2009.

Having been dropped on 20, Allenby began the day needing 11 runs to reach fifty. Three boundaries off Nathan Buck quickly took him there and from that point on Glamorgan piled on the runs in fluent style. In all, they added another 186 runs in 48 overs to their overnight 256 for 5.

Graham Wagg ensured a fourth batting point with a reverse sweep to the boundary off Jigar Naik in the 110th over and went on to reach his half century off 83 balls with seven fours. Allenby's century off 160 balls with a six and nine fours came in the same over with the seventh wicket pair sharing a stand of 117. Glamorgan declared when the ninth wicket fell with Allenby 138 not out off 204 balls and Leicestershire needing 293 to avoid the follow on.

Glamorgan's bowlers then took over, ripping through Leicestershire's top order with the first five wickets falling for 47 runs in 16 overs. It was a hapless batting effort from the hosts, and when Hogan took the final wicket in the penultimate over of the day, Leicestershire were left facing a massive task to avoid defeat inside three days.