Clare leads Derbyshire fightback
Glamorgan paid a high price for a dropped catch as Jon Clare scored the second century of his career to rescue Derbyshire on the opening day of the Championship match at Derby
11-Jul-2011
Glamorgan paid a high price for a dropped catch as Jon Clare scored the second century of his career to rescue Derbyshire on the opening day of the Championship match at Derby.
Clare hammered the bowling to score 130, his highest first-class score, after he had been badly missed on eight at second slip by Ben Wright with Derbyshire on the ropes at 147 for 7.
It proved an expensive lapse as Clare shared an eighth-wicket stand of 125 with Dan Redfern, who was out for 99, and a last-wicket partnership of 104 with Mark Turner - the fourth highest in Derbyshire's history - to carry the home side to 360.
Clare then struck a big blow when he removed Glamorgan captain Alviro Petersen, lbw padding up to the third ball of the innings, and William Bragg fell to Tony Palladino to leave the visitors in trouble on 39 for 2 at the close.
Derbyshire had been struggling to get to 150 when they collapsed on a green, damp pitch after Glamorgan had won the toss but Wright's fumble proved a turning point. Clare could hardly lay bat on ball in the first part of his innings and played and missed countless times, but he was a different player after tea and made his second fifty from only 26 balls.
Redfern looked destined to score a maiden first-class hundred, but the 21-year-old left-hander steered a delivery from Will Owen into the hands of former Derbyshire seamer Graham Wagg at gully. Clare and Turner then plundered two more batting points to put Derbyshire firmly in control of a game that had been in Glamorgan's grasp earlier in the day.
The ball had zoomed around for the seamers with Derbyshire losing openers Martin Guptill and Wayne Madsen in the first two overs of a warm, humid day. Madsen was lbw offering no shot to James Harris before Wagg slanted one across Guptill to have him caught behind for 1.
Harris surprised Wes Durston with some extra bounce but Redfern and Chesney Hughes were starting to repair the damage until three wickets in three overs either side of lunch put the visitors on top.
Hughes played a loose pull to be caught at mid-off for 38 and after Greg Smith played no shot to Dean Cosker's arm ball, Wagg pinned Luke Sutton lbw for a duck. But Redfern was batting beautifully and with Clare riding his luck, the recovery gathered momentum as Glamorgan's frustration mounted.
Redfern hit 14 fours, most of them eased through the covers, before he tried to steer Owen for a single and Clare then tore into a wilting attack to score his first hundred in nearly three years.
The 25-year-old all-rounder, who missed most of last season following shoulder surgery, hit two sixes and 18 fours before he holed out to deep cover. But the momentum was with Derbyshire who will fancy their chances of repeating last month's Championship win in Cardiff.
