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The overseas players for Leicestershire provided the foundation for their team to come back from behind and rescue a draw against Glamorgan. Peter Handscomb of Australia led his team home with a score of 139, ending the day undefeated.
It was his final performance of the English season before he left for Australia on Monday, although Leicestershire, which is 22 points behind Middlesex in second place, has little mathematical prospect of moving up given the draw.
As part of the visitors’ comeback, India batsman Ajinkya Rahane had also amassed a century. Liam Trevaskis and Handscomb built a strong combination to see the game through, with Leicestershire reaching 369 for 6, a lead of 70 runs in their second innings before bad light ended play.
An odd source of optimism flickered for Glamorgan when Kiran Carlson’s part-time off-spin claimed two wickets, including Rahane’s. On a laborious day when the hybrid pitch in Cardiff refused to give up, Dan Douthwaite was the only other player to claim a wicket.
The international duo of Handscomb and Rahane was vital to Leicestershire’s chances of survival, and they delivered in the morning session. Rahane advanced to three digits with ease before falling to Carlson. He got an edge on a wide ball that Chris Cooke caught behind for 102 because it was not nearly short enough to clip.
Legspinner Crane dropped his fourth catch of the innings, this time from a challenging one-handed try to his right, as Louis Kimber kept Glamorgan anxious with a nervous opening over.
One ball from Timm van der Gugten that Kimber left went just over the top of middle stump, edged, and Cooke gave it out when it was caught behind, but after consulting with both umpires, it was determined that it had not quite carried.
Perhaps because to low light, Glamorgan had extended periods of spin from their bowls. They also used some inventive strategies, such placing eight catchers in front of the bat, four on each side of the wicket in an arrowhead shape.
Trevaskis and Handscomb developed a strong working relationship, and the drama subsided before poor light ended everything.