Croft leads from the front as Glamorgan post 395 against Derbyshire

Robert Croft set a captain`s example as he put Glamorgan into a strong position against Derbyshire at Swansea. The acting leader struck a season`s best 84 as Glamorgan amassed 395 on a St.Helen`s wicket that is likely to give assistance to the spinner`s as the game progresses.

After the loss of the opening day`s play due to rain, Croft won an important toss and had little hesistation in opting to bat first. The Glamorgan openers, Adrian Dale and Jonathan Hughes then shared the county`s best opening stand in Championship cricket so far this season, adding 82 before Dale was out for 43. Hughes went on to make a fluent 69, and the rookie opener struck twelve crisp boundaries in another attractive innings.

As in the victory over Northamptonshire last weekend, most of the other batsmen got into the 20`s and 30`s, before another spirited lower order rally, with Croft and last man Dean Cosker adding 81 priceless runs for the tenth wicket - a new record for games between the two counties, surpassing the 62 added by Wilf Wooller and Norman Hever at Derby in 1948.

Croft and Cosker`s efforts saw Glamorgan to within a whisker of an extra batting point, and with the St.Helen`s ground traditionally favouring the slower bowlers, both are likely to play major roles with the ball over the next few days.

You have to go back to the 1970 season to find the last time that Glamorgan recorded a victory over Derbyshire at Swansea, so the Welsh county`s fans will be hoping that the heavy showers forecasted by the weathermen will miss the historic Swansea ground, allowing Glamorgan to make further progress up the Division Two table.