By David Williams
James Harris admitted Glamorgan were disappointed they were unable to press home a promising position against Derbyshire and had to settle for a draw in their first home County Championship game of the season.
The match finished with spoils shared after a superb stand between Luis Reece and Brooke Guest guided the visitors to safety.
Derbyshire had an improbable target of 401 to chase on the final day with a Glamorgan victory more likely when play resumed in Cardiff with the visitors 40 for 1.
The early wickets of David Lloyd and Wayne Madsen gave Glamorgan some early hope but those were the last wickets to fall in the match as batting became increasingly straightforward on this pitch.
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Reece finished on 91 not out with Guest also undefeated on 72 with Derbyshire finishing their second innings on 225 for 3.
Fast bowler Harris – who took two wickets for Glamorgan – said: “It’s been a really interesting game, it spun quite sharply in the first day and a half but it got more placid and easier to bat on.
“The game was in the balance yesterday morning. We played really well with the bat to swing it in our favour, but we couldn’t manage to get the wickets today in some tough conditions with the wind and the rain. We’ll take positives, but disappointed not to get closer to winning.
“I haven’t seen a [spinning championship] pitch like that on day one – it could make it quite exciting for the rest of the year if we can play on some pitches like that. We need to win more often here.
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Play began 15 mins late thanks to overnight rain with Glamorgan needing nine wickets and Derbyshire requiring another 361 runs to claim victory.
Derbyshire lost the first wicket of the day having added just three runs to their overnight total when former Glamorgan player David Lloyd was run out by a sharp throw from Mason Crane for 24.
A 34-run stand between Luis Reece and Wayne Madsen settled some of those nerves that may have been caused in the Derbyshire ranks before James Harris bowled Madsen for 25. That left Derbyshire at 79 for 3 and in danger.
From there an excellent and assured partnership of 146 between Reece and Guest took the visitors to the lunch break and then to the close of play. Both players took a while to get started but batted with increasing confidence as the day progressed.
A heavy shower during the interval kept the players from the field and took more overs out of a game that already looked to be heading towards a draw after promising an entertaining finish on the first two days of this match.
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Crane had enjoyed the turning pitch in the first innings of this match but as the ball began to behave less erratically in the second innings he struggled for wickets and control. His final figures of none for 91 saw him going a 5.35 runs an over.
Another brief shower took the players off the field on the stroke to tea and when they resumed we were left with the unlikely equation for victory of either 212 runs from 34 overs or seven wickets on a pitch that was flattening out as the match progressed.
The pick of the Glamorgan bowlers was Harris who finished with figures of 2 for 21, and while he struggled to generate chances he was once again very difficult to score off.
During the evening session, both Reece and Guest looked untroubled by the Glamorgan bowling attack as it became apparent that the game was heading towards a draw.
Both teams claim 11 points from this match with Glamorgan set to travel to Northamptonshire next week and Derbyshire hosting Leicestershire.