England captain Ben Stokes was in the runs again with 82 as Durham made 311
against Glamorgan after being put in.
Stokes’ innings mixed patience with a few big blows as he smashed two sixes off
Ashes rival Marnus Labuschagne, though it was not the all-out assault of the
previous week at Worcester.
South Africa‘s Keegan Petersen made 78, but Durham’s total looked a touch below-
par.
It soon seemed better as Glamorgan slumped to 31 for two.
The visitors owed much to opening bowlers Michael Hogan (4-67) and Michael Neser
(2-26) after Timm van der Gugten went off with a recurring hamstring problem.
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David Lloyd’s decision to bowl first looked the obvious one on a cloudy day with a
green-tinged wicket, and his side got an early reward with the in-form Sean Dickson
edging Michael Neser to slip for just five, following three successive hundreds.
But Alex Lees (44) and Petersen looked untroubled in a stand of 62, with the bowlers
getting no initial assistance from the conditions, before Lees inside-edged a ball from
Lloyd onto his leg-stump.
Durham stuttered slightly as Scott Borthwick (17) drove Michael Hogan to mid-on
and David Bedingham (11) was trapped lbw by Andy Gorvin, bringing Stokes to the
middle at 130-4.
He survived a couple of early leg-before appeals before opening up, top-edging the
seam of Labuschagne for four.
Labuschagne got some sort of revenge when Stokes was floored by a bottom edge into
a painful area, while the classy Petersen looked in no difficulty in moving to 78 off
123 balls before edging Lloyd to slip.
Stokes made sure of a reasonably substantial total as he shared a stand of 54 with
Ned Eckersley (21) and 61 with Ben Raine (31), but he eventually fell to the second
delivery of the new ball as the veteran Hogan claimed the last three wickets to fall.
That left Glamorgan with a tricky nine overs under the lights in the evening gloom,
with Matty Potts making the most of his chance to dismiss struggling opener Andrew
Salter and nightwatchman Andy Gorvin, forcing Labuschagne to see out the session
with Lloyd.
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