da bwin： The final day of Glamorgan`s Championship match with Kent at Swanseaeventually began at 3.50pm after another morning of continuous rain and apersistant sea fret
Andrew Hignell28-May-2001The final day of Glamorgan`s Championship match with Kent at Swanseaeventually began at 3.50pm after another morning of continuous rain and apersistant sea fret. Both teams had patiently waited in the Swanseapavilion, hoping that the mizzle would lift in mid-afternoon, and with bonuspoints at a premium, both captains were eager for the chance to secure afurther point.As on the previous three days, the shroud of mist slowly lifted as the tidewent out in Swansea Bay, and in the 16 overs that were possible, both teamswere duly rewarded for their patience, each picking up a further batting andbowling point.Glamorgan resumed on 177-8, with Darren Thomas and Dean Cosker initiallythwarting Kent`s hopes of a third bowling point. Their partnership hadreached 36 as Darren Thomas guided Ben Trott to the third man boundary toput the Welsh county in sight of their first batting point. But in the nextover, Cosker was bowled off his thigh pad as he tried to fend off a shortball from Saggers.Eight balls later, Darren Thomas saw the Welsh county to their first battingpoint with a pull for two off Trott, and then with the doughty support oflast man Steve Watkin, Thomas then set about seeing the Welshmen to what hadseemed at first the unlikely prospect of a second batting point.Thomas duly became the top scorer in the Glamorgan innings when he straightdrove Trott to the sightscreen, before Watkin guided the ball to theunguarded third man boundary. Watkin repeated the stroke on two otheroccasions to take their partnership to 40, but then Thomas chipped Flemingto backward square leg where Robert Key took a chest high catch.There were 13 overs remaining as the players took to the field again, butbefore another ball could be bowled, the rain and mist descended again, andthe game ended in a soggy draw.In all, over 200 overs were lost in this, the first of three games whichform this year`s Swansea Festival. The loss of so much play was a hugedisappointment for the cricketing folk of south-west Wales, and inparticular the St.Helen’s Balconiers who have worked so hard over thewinter months to organise the Festival.After three days of thick low cloud, steady drizzle and a dank sea fret,there was hardly anything festive about the conditions at the historicSt.Helen`s ground. However, the weather forecasters are more optimistic aboutconditions for the rest of the week, so hopefully the loyal supporters willbe rewarded for their hard work with a prompt start to the Championshipmatch against Yorkshire at this ground on Wednesday.After so many blank days, they will be eager to get back out into themiddle, none more so than captain Steve James, who missed the openingfortnight of the season after a knee operation. So far in 2001, theGlamorgan opener has had just one Championship innings, in which he scored asingle, and he will be hoping to take his seasonal aggregate into threefigures with a more lengthy stay at the crease against Yorkshire.It was not that long ago that county batsmen at the start of each seasonaimed to join the small and illustrious group of players who had scored1 000 runs in first-class cricket by the start of June. Graeme Hick was thelast batsman to reach this landmark, back in 1988, but if the weatherpatterns of the past fortnight are repeated in the years to come, there is achance that no other county batsman will ever reach this milestone again.