Glamorgan sink at rate of Notts

Glamorgan's reversion to type suited Nottinghamshire just fine. A first championship win of the season last week has done little for batting confidence and submission here handed the ascendancy to the visitors in their game in hand on their main title rivals Kent.

Robert Croft's decision to bat was correct - Jason Gallian would have done likewise - on a pitch used for a National League match a week ago. It was, though, curiously damp at one end, prompting pre-match use of hairdryers. The groundsman blamed seagulls for pecking holes in his tarpaulin sheets, though there has been little rain in Cardiff recently. But the variable bounce was no excuse for the reckless array of shots displayed by the hosts, who somehow garnered their lowest first-innings championship total of the season.

The Notts bowlers not only swung the ball prodigiously but displayed admirable parsimony too. Greg Smith produced nine maidens off the reel and his four for 28 was his best haul of the season.

Only Mike Powell resisted but on 62 he wantonly slapped a long hop to cover. Mark Wallace and David Hemp wafted fatally, Alex Wharf padded up to an inswinger, Croft played across the line and David Harrison was bowled first ball. The rest received decent if scarcely unplayable deliveries as the four-prong swing attack adhered to a full length.

The lesson was not heeded by the Glamorgan bowlers, who pitched too short. Harrison snared Gallian with a beauty but Darren Bicknell and Russell Warren put on 117 before Ryan Watkins' gentle medium pace claimed Warren as a maiden first-class scalp.