Glamorgan 353 (Salter 75, Cooke 69, Donald 51, Coughlin 4-87) and 266 for 7 (Selman 116*, Harding 4-111) beat Durham 342 (Collingwood 127, Steel 59, Hogan 5-49) and 276 for 7 dec (Collingwood 92*, Clark 72) by three wickets runs
Scorecard
Nick Selman’s unbeaten century led Glamorgan to victory © Getty Images
Glamorgan won their first Championship game of the season with three balls remaining in an exciting finish at Swansea. They were indebted to opener Nick Selman, who batted throughout the innings for his 116 from 129 balls, with twelve fours and three sixes – the last two coming from the first two balls of the final over scheduled in the day.
Durham added 118 runs in the morning session, although Paul Collingwood would have probably batted on after lunch had 16 overs not been lost to rain. The Durham captain was undefeated on 92 when he declared the innings to set Glamorgan 266 in 51 overs – another eight runs would have seen him become the first Durham player to have scored two centuries in the same game.
Glamorgan needed to score at 5.2 runs an over but made a cautious start and the openers had reached 37 when Jacques Rudolph, in the final over before tea, was caught at leg slip attempting to reverse sweep George Harding’s left-arm spin.
They required a further 227 from the final 36 overs of the game, and made their intentions clear by promoting Andrew Salter, who top-scored with 75 in the first innings with three sixes. Salter faced 15 balls before scoring his first run, before twice driving Paul Coughlin to the extra cover boundary, but was out shortly afterwards – leg before to Ryan Pringle’s third ball.
Aneurin Donald and David Lloyd were also promoted ahead of Colin Ingram, who had scored five centuries in all competitions this season, with Donald striking 28 from 17 balls with six fours, before he was caught off Harding. The left-arm spinner, making his Championship debut, struck again in the following over, when Lloyd gave him a return catch.
With 20 overs remaining Glamorgan, needed 157 to win, and much depended on Ingram if Glamorgan were to reach their target. He quickly attacked Harding, who was struck out of the ground over midwicket, while Selman reached his fifty from 89 balls.
They put on 73 in 10 overs, before Ingram, who made 42 from 31 balls with two sixes and five fours, was caught behind off Harding, but Chris Cooke kept Glamorgan interested by striking the spinners for six in three successive overs – the second disappearing in the direction of Swansea Bay. But, with 44 required from 30 balls, Coughlin returned and with his fourth ball had Cooke caught at midwicket.
Will Bragg came and went, and with two overs left, Glamorgan had much to do to score 24 runs from 12 balls, with eight fielders posted on the boundary. Selman reached his second century of the season, from 124 balls, and then, with 14 needed from the last over, drove Coughlin into the sightscreen, and again over the square leg boundary, before pushing two to win the game.
Durham had resumed in the morning on 158 for 3, and Collingwood shared a 102-run partnership for the fourth wicket Graham Clark, who struck a career-best 75 before he feathered one from Michael Hogan to the wicketkeeper. Pringle then helped add a further 81, before three wickets fell for 26 runs. Pringle hooked Hogan to fine leg, Coughlin skied Salter to mid-on, then Stuart Poynter, attempting to sweep Salter’s offspin, was well caught by wicketkeeper Cooke from a bottom edge.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo