Northeast epic knock and weather foil Yorkshire

Vitality County Championship, Division Two, Headingley (day four)

Glamorgan 221 & 372-7: Northeast 142*, Ingram 113; Lyth 2-21, J Root 2-52

Yorkshire 519-7 dec: Bean 173, J Root 156; Crane 5-152

Yorkshire (10 pts) drew with Glamorgan (8 pts)

Match scorecard

A marathon innings from Glamorgan captain Sam Northeast frustrated Yorkshire’s victory bid on the final day with a little help from the weather.

Glamorgan were precariously placed on 372-7, 74 runs ahead with three wickets remaining when lightning interrupted play in the last session.

Northeast batted more than six and a half hours for his unbeaten 142 while Colin Ingram hit 113.

Yorkshire spinners Joe Root and Adam Lyth took two wickets each.

But their use of a used pitch to try to ensure a positive result was not quite enough as Northeast’s broad bat defied them in a chanceless innings, striking 15 fours but importantly soaking up 336 deliveries.

With seamer Matthew Fisher absent because of an ankle injury, the four home spinners bowled 120 overs between them to keep Yorkshire hopes alive into the last session, which was cut short after just 18 minutes.

Glamorgan, resuming on 171 for three, added 106 runs without loss on the final morning as Ingram dominated the scoring, with only a couple of streaky boundaries in the nineties giving Yorkshire hope as the new ball came and went.

The South African left-hander was keen to take any scoring opportunities as Glamorgan pushed into the lead just after lunch, but eventually fell caught at long-off off the bowling of Joe Root while trying to add to his 20 boundaries.

Root struck again as Chris Cooke mistimed a drive and bottom-edged onto his stumps for eight, and Tom Bevan almost played on first ball.

Yorkshire kept switching their bowlers and kept their hopes alive as Bevan fell lbw for 12 to occasional spinner Lyth on the last ball before tea.

Lyth struck again after the interval when James Harris was given out leg-before despite appearing to be struck outside off-stump, but at 16:18 BST a flash of lightning obliged the umpires to take the players off.

With thunder in the area and dark clouds overhead, the match was finally abandoned at 16:59 BST moments before the rain arrived.

Glamorgan next face Sussex on Friday 10 May while Yorkshire have a bye week before travelling to Hove to face the same opponents.

Fisher, who did not field on the final day, is expected to miss Yorkshire’s game at Sussex with ankle damage.

Glamorgan captain Sam Northeast told BBC Sport Wales:

“It’s been a tough four days, they’re a good side and we needed everything to pull through today. We got a bit of luck with the darkness and some rain.

“It’s about getting yourself in and trying to be as positive as you can be. Colin is playing unbelievably well, it’s the best form I’ve seen him in for sure and it took a big effort but we managed to get there.

“We tried to take it half an hour at a time, so it was nice to be there at the end and try to guide the guys for a draw.

“Yorkshire have a really good batting line-up, but we need to improve in certain areas for sure and to post bigger totals in their first innings.”

Yorkshire coach Ottis Gibson said:

“We’ve spoken about trying to take 20 wickets at Headingley, and away from home, so it’s frustrating on that front but you can’t fault the effort and some good skill from our guys, using every option possible.

“I thought the frontline spinners bowled well, but we’ve got back-up guys who can also take wickets and today it was Adam Lyth, perhaps a little too late. But you have to give Ingram and Northeast a lot of credit.

“Glamorgan had (the use of) two heavy rollers which in England takes the life out of the pitch, maybe we need to get rid of them from county cricket!

“We were driving the game from the first day, so not to get a result is frustrating but we got ourselves in a position to win, we’re playing well enough to win and if we keep doing those things, we’ll eventually find a way to win.”