Wallace leads Glamorgan fightback at Cardiff

A forthright 94* from Mark Wallace, supported by a fine 70 by Matthew Maynard, plus a resolute 66 from Adrian Dale, saw Glamorgan finish the second day of their Championship match against Durham at Cardiff on 331/6, just 24 runs behind the visitors, with four wickets in hand.

The day had begun with Glamorgan polishing off the Durham innings inside five overs, as the visitors added just 2 more runs to their overnight score of 353, with Michael Kasprowicz bowling Phillips and Robert Croft having Mark Davies caught behind to finish with 6/98.

Glamorgan then suffered an early setback as they lost Jimmy Maher in the 7th over when the left-hander was caught at backward point driving at Neil Killeen. His opening partner Jonathan Hughes continued to play fluently against the seam bowlers, and had struck 7 boundaries when he was bowled in Bridge`s second over, after Jon Lewis opted for left-arm spin rather than seam at the Cathedral Road End.

The introduction of Phillips` off-spin at the River Taff End put a brake on Glamorgan`s progress, before Dale broke the shackles by hitting Bridge for two successive fours through the off-side. After a circumspect start before lunch, Mike Powell appeared to grow in confidence after the interval, twice driving Phillips to the boundary for four, but Phillips gained his revenge with a classic off-spinners dismissal as Powell popped up a ball to Peng at short-leg after after 47 with Dale.

Dale continued to play patiently, reaching his half century after facing 127 balls and striking 7 fours, but on 66 he drove Phillips to mid wicket where Gary Pratt took a good diving catch to make it 161-3. Glamorgan mighyt have lost a fourth wicket, but Matthew Maynard had a life on 11 as Vince Wells failed to cling onto a top edge from an attempted sweep,

Maynard continued to play patiently up until tea before before unleashing some furious strokes after tea, hitting Phillips for three fours in an over after he switched to the Cathedral Road End, to reach his half century from 82 balls with 7 fours. Four more crisp boundaries saw Maynard to 70, but he was then trapped leg before by Bridge, after adding 84 runs in 37 overs with Mark Wallace.

Wallace continued to play some sweetly timed drives, and he became the third Glamorgan man to the fifty mark with his ninth four that bisected the two gullies that Lewis had placed in an attempt to snaffle the Glamorgan wicket-keeper.

With Croft dropping anchor at the other end, Wallace continued to punish anything offline, and the doughty Glamorgan wicket-keeper played a delightful array of shots all around the wicket. He also used his feet to nullify any threat from the Durham spinners, and together with Croft he had added 86 runs for the sixth wicket when the day`s play ended in identical fashion to the first, as Croft was dismissed leg before by the penultimate delivery of the day.

However, Wallace remains just 6 runs short of his first Championship century of the season, and if he continues to play assertively with the remaining batsmen, he should help Glamorgan build a useful first innings lead.