County Championship: Cooke and Neser take Glamorgan ahead of Foxes

A record Glamorgan eighth-wicket stand of 211 between Chris Cooke and Michael Neser put Glamorgan into an unlikely first-innings lead at Leicester.

Neser’s 90 was his best county score, while Cooke was unbeaten on 121 when bad light intervened.

It was the second year running Cooke had helped set a Glamorgan record at Leicester.

The Cooke-Neser stand beat a record dating back to 1928, when Dai Davies and Joe Hills put on 202 against Sussex at Eastbourne.

It follows Cooke’s innings of 191 not out in a record sixth-wicket stand of 461 at Grace Road nine months previously, when Sam Northeast’s 410 not out took the headlines.

Resuming on 164-5, Glamorgan took until just after lunch to pass the follow-on figure of 258 after being made to work hard by the Leicestershire seam attack.

The home side were without Ed Barnes with an ankle injury suffered delivering his first ball of the match, although he somehow completed nine overs on the second evening.

Mike Finan achieved some prodigious early swing, but it was one of his less threatening deliveries which saw Northeast caught behind for a gritty 40 as he sought to recapture his record-breaking form of the previous visit.

There were none of the fireworks of that occasion, but he and Neser earned Glamorgan two batting points with a painstaking partnership which saw them reach 318-7 by the 110 overs mark.

They were content to punish the odd bad ball and take singles to keep the scoreboard ticking, while both men nearly played on to Chris Wright (3-89), the pick of the home attack on day three.

But Cooke reached his 100 including only five boundaries off 220 balls, and shortly afterwards his cut shot just reached the boundary to set the new record.

Suitably it was Wright who eventually bowled Neser for his highest score in the UK.

But Glamorgan only added another 10 runs before bad light intervened with 13 overs remaining, making it difficult for Glamorgan to turn the pressure on the Foxes on the final day.

Glamorgan’s Chris Cooke told BBC Sport Wales:

“You do rock up at grounds and get good vibes, other grounds you think ‘how am I going to score a run’, so I’m just glad I could put the team in a good position.

“I often get a good feeling coming here. but it was a tough day, Leicestershire bowled really well especially Chris Wright. It was about trying to get to the follow-on total and then just chipping away, Nes and I seemed to find a nice rhythm there.

“There weren’t too many bad balls, it was about trying to dig in and grind, and get parity with them in the end.

“It could be a bore draw, but we could put some pressure on them- we’ll try and bat positively in the morning and see what happens.”

Glamorgan’s Michael Neser added:

“From the position we were in, it’s a great result for us to be able to put the pressure back on them so it was a tough but rewarding day.

“We took it step by step, they were going really strong with the ball, and we just tried to bat time.

“It’s brilliant to be part of a record, I’ve played two games here and records seem to be broken each time so it’s special.

“Last year wickets seemed to fall on the last day so hopefully that happens again.”

Leicestershire’s Chris Wright told BBC Radio Leicester:

“It was a good hard-fought day, but the wicket did flatten out a little bit with just the odd one keeping low. They batted well, but we bowled well to go at under three runs an over for 150 overs or whatever, we’re pleased with that and it’s a step in the right direction.

“No (memories of last year) at all, because we got wickets (earlier) but we didn’t imagine their lower-middle order playing quite that well.

“We’ve got to get two wickets, then we’ve got to establish a score. It looks like a lot for either team to get a win on this one but you never know.”