Glamorgan beat Derbyshire by an innings at Swansea

Glamorgan recorded their second successive Championship victory of the season, defeating Derbyshire by an emphatic margin of an innings and 70 runs - their first win over the Peakites at Swansea for 33 years - and the Welsh county have now secured 40 bonus points in their last two Championship games

To take 12 wickets on the final day was a fine achievement by Robert Croft`s team, and all after 145 overs had been lost on the first three days of the match. Croft, who top-scored with 84 in Glamorgan`s first innings, returned match figures of 8/110, and it was the acting Glamorgan captain who finished off the Derbyshire first innings after just six and a half overs on Saturday morning. Dean Cosker made the initial breakthrough, dismissing Kevin Dean leg-before and then Croft had Tom Lungley caught by Cosker as Derbyshire`s first innings ended on 209, with Glamorgan 186 runs ahead.

Croft had no hesitation in enforcing the follow-on, and the Glamorgan team quickly returned to the field, eager to make a breakthrough with the new ball. Even the most optimistic of Glamorgan fans could not have forecast the dramatic events that would follow before lunch, as Derbyshire lurched to 15-5 as Michael Kasprowicz and Alex Wharf demolished their top order with a high-class spell of new ball bowling.

Kasprowicz dismissed Michael Di Venuto and Chris Basssano at a cost of just 14 runs in his opening 7 over spell, whilst Wharf dismissed Andrew Gait, Mohammad Kaif and Dominic Hewson in his new ball salvo which saw the Yorkshireman return with an analysis of 7-3-12-3. None of the first five Derbyshire batsmen had got into double figures, but Luke Sutton and Graeme Welch then began a defiant rearguard action as the spinners came on, and Derbyshire took lunch at 30 for 5.

With Dominic Cork unable to bat owing to an Achilles injury, the afternoon session began with the Derbyshire batsmen surrounded by a posse of close fielders as the Glamorgan spinners went for the kill. Derbyshire`s resistance only lasted for an hour, with Cosker bowling Sutton after a stubborn 53 run stand for the sixth wicket. Croft then winkled out Welch and Dean, and when Cosker bowled Lungley for 29, Derbyshire had been dismissed for 116 with a minimum of 36 overs still remaining and despite the vagaries of the weather earlier in the week, Glamorgan had deservedly secured their second Championship victory of the summer.

Robert Croft was very upbeat after this fine victory - "to excuse the pun, I feel that we`ve turned the tide down here at St.Helen`s, and when we resume our Championship campaign in three weeks time, I`m confident that we can continue our winning run. This game was a fantastic team performance, and today the seam bowlers set it up brilliantly before lunch, allowing Dean Cosker and I to finish things afterwards and to bring back memories of Don Shepherd and Jim Pressdee spinning Glamorgan to victory at Swansea."