Northeast, Ingram thwart Leicestershire's push with record stand

Centuries from Sam Northeast and Colin Ingram saw Glamorgan save the draw in batting-friendly conditions in their Rothesay County Championship second division match against Leicestershire at the UptonSteel County Ground.

The experienced pair put together a partnership of 225, a fourth-wicket record for Glamorgan against the Foxes. Northeast, who made 410 not out on this ground three years ago, now holds three different wicket record partnerships for Glamorgan against Leicestershire.

Leicestershire remain well clear at the top of the second division after taking 16 points from the game, with Glamorgan taking 13 points and remaining third in the table, the result of the match between Gloucestershire and Derbyshire at Bristol notwithstanding.

Resuming with the score on 131 for 3, Northeast and Ingram continued to bat in exactly the same manner which had seen them bat through the final session on day three, which is to say with the calm assurance that comes when from facing a softish ball on an benign pitch baked into submission by three days of hot sun and warm wind.

Leicestershire's bowlers stuck at their task, bowling straight and making the batsmen play, but struggled to flog any sort of response from the pitch, with the bat being beaten perhaps three times over the two hour period. Ingram, 37 not out overnight, went to his half-century off 121 deliveries, Northeast reaching his century off 186 deliveries, 11 of which he hit to the boundary.

The new ball, eagerly - perhaps desperately - anticipated by the Leicestershire faithful - made little difference, initially at any rate, but Northeast, on 139, finally lost patience and tried to loft the left-arm spin of Trevaskis to the long-on boundary. He didn't get all of it and Sam Wood, at 20 making his first first-class appearance of the season, sprinted back from mid-on and took an outstanding catch as the ball dropped over his shoulder.

Ingram was unmoved, proceeding serenely to his century - also a second of the season - off 246 deliveries, but had a remarkable escape on 103 when he pulled a Ben Green delivery hard and high to the square leg boundary. A leaping Logan van Beek made the catch as he fell backwards over the rope, lobbing the ball back into play as he did so, but over-balanced as he tried to step back over the rope, had to knock the ball up again, and diving forward, could not hold the ball at the third attempt.

Glamorgan did lose Ben Kellaway, top-edging an attempted pull at Green to give Wood a more straightward catch on the leg-side, and Ingram, then on 121, may have had another escape in the over before tea, when Leicestershire were convinced he had been caught at short leg off Trevaskis. Umpire Rob White disagreed.

One more wicket was to fall, Rishi Patel seeing Chris Cooke push his leg-side delivery firmly but straight at Sol Budinger at short leg, who held on at the second attempt. It was Patel's maiden first class wicket. At the close Ingram remained unbeaten on 133, having faced 308 deliveries, an impressive effort on the part of the 39-year-old South African. Like Northeast, he seems to enjoy batting against Leicestershire, having made his career-best 257 not out against the Foxes at Cardiff last year.