Dragons restricted at Grace Road

A miserly bowling performance by Leicestershire Foxes, backed up by athletic fielding, restricted Glamorgan Dragons to 194 for six off their 45 overs in their Norwich Union League second division match at Grace Road. Although the Dragons' skipper Steve James ensured a measure of respectability with an innings of 85, the Foxes ensured that the Dragons were never allowed to breathe fire into their innings as they would have wished.

James must have hoped for better when he won the toss this afternoon, and there were no contributions of real weight from his team-mates. Darren Thomas was the next-highest scorer, with a useful unbeaten 28 at the end of the innings. There were just twelve boundaries, four of which were scored by Robert Croft, who made 24 off 42 balls at the top of the order before he was caught by Darren Maddy off Matthew Whiley. The same bowler had already had David Hemp caught behind by Neil Burns for just four.

James played watchfully but not without aggression, once launching into an off-side delivery from Phil DeFreitas that carried over the extra cover boundary. After losing Jonathan Hughes for nine, caught by Darren Stevens off DeFreitas, James found a useful partner in Adrian Dale, who helped him add 53 for the fourth wicket.

It was Leicestershire's spin attack of Grant Flower and Carl Crowe, which put the brakes on Glamorgan two thirds of the way through their innings, just when they were looking to accelerate. After Crowe had bowled Dale for 16, Michael Powell also succumbed to the pressure. Coming down the wicket and attempting to drive Flower through long-on, he saw the ball fly off the outside edge to give Iain Sutcliffe the most straightforward of catches at third man.

Vince Wells kept his spinners on almost to the death, as James and Darren Thomas provided a mixture of clouts to mid-wicket and reverse sweeps to keep the scoreboard ticking. Boundaries were in short supply though, and James was trying to hit Crowe over long-off when he was caught there by Trevor Ward. England Academy wicket-keeper Mark Wallace joined Thomas, who at last managed a pulled six off Flower over mid-wicket - the first boundary for 16 overs. Nevertheless, Flower's one for 43 off nine consecutive overs late in the innings was an impressive return. Vince Wells returned to bowl the final over, and must have been optimistic about the home team's chances of overhauling Glamorgan's eventual total.