Glamorgan secure draw on flat Bristol wicket
25 September 2015
Members hoping for a firecracker finish to the 2015 season at the Bristol County Ground were left - not surprisingly - disappointed as Glamorgan batted out the final day of the Championship encounter to secure a draw which left Gloucestershire sixth in the Division Two the table.
Starting the day on 88 without loss, still 37 behind, three wickets went down in the morning session but there was no hint of the collapse which might have opened the door to a Gloucestershire win, indeed Ingram and Cooke stayed together from just before lunch until both had completed unbeaten hundreds. With Glamorgan 365-3 in their second innings, it was handshakes all round.
Listen to head coach Richard Dawson reflect on the day - and the Championship season - here :
The morning session was a grind on a wicket offering some gentle turn but little else to the Gloucestershire bowlers, who would still at that point have harboured thoughts of a possible victory.
Tom Smith bowled unchanged for 13 overs from the Pavilion end, but his solitary success was in the fourth over of the day as opener Kettleborough was caught in his crease and trapped lbw for 34.
There were though, other close moments with two big lbw appeals against Ingram - who didn't play a shot - and Donald, sweeping, both of which were turned down. A very difficult chance to Tavare at short leg, also off Smith, didn't go to hand either.
Skipper Tavare rotated his seamers from the Ashley Down Road end and it was Payne who removed Rudolph for 69 before the deficit was erased, the Glamorgan captain also falling lbw as Payne switched between round and over the wicket.
Teenager Donald joined the experienced Ingram as the visitors went into credit overall, and Donald also survived a chance at 13, when substitute wicket keeper James Bracey looked to spill a catch down the leg side off Hampton.
The pair had added 61 and were within sight of lunch when the stand was broken by Donald's poor judgement of a single to Hamish Marshall. Ingram sent him back to the striker's end but Marshall's accurate throw from mid wicket saw Donald out of his ground as Bracey broke the stumps. When the players left the field the Glamorgan lead was 66, not enough at that point to assure safety.
What followed was a circumspect stand between Ingram and Cooke, with both men intent on batting with minimal risk. Ingram had already been in for 23 overs when Cooke joined him, and his patience, from a Glamorgan viewpoint, was just what was required. Ingram's fifty took 110 balls with five boundaries and one six, a straight blow off Tom Smith.
Cooke was similarly watchful early on but soon recognised there were runs to be had, and he also hit a six off Smith, along with seven fours, in a 76 ball half century completed just before the second new ball could be taken.
One final burst from Fuller and Payne produced nothing approaching a chance, and by tea the 100 stand had been posted and the fourth wicket pair had batted together for 31 overs. The only question appeared whether both could complete centuries before the captains, inevitably, shook hands.
In the end, in weather as good as at any point in the season, and on a pitch which fitted the same profile, it was a pull to the square leg boundary by Ingram off Will Tavare that signalled an end to proceedings. It took the South African to three figures, partner Cooke having beaten him to his hundred by 85 deliveries, cutting Dent to the boundary in the previous over.
An honourable draw - the sixth - ended a season which had five Gloucestershire wins in the Championship (two at Cheltenham, and others at Chelmsford, Old Trafford and Swansea) and five defeats, but which will be remembered most of all for the finale in the Royal London Cup at Lord's on Saturday September 19th.
