County Championship: Reece stars again for Derbyshire against Glamorgan

Luis Reece continued his domination of Glamorgan as Derbyshire reached 308 for two in Cardiff despite being put in to bat.

Reece hit 139 not out, sharing a stand of 180 with Brooke Guest, who made 96 runs.

The oddly-coloured, patchwork-shaded pitch played placidly as Reece took his tally to 471 in three Championship innings against Glamorgan.

It was a familiar tale of struggle for the home bowlers.

Umpire Sue Redfern became the first female to officiate in a Championship match and enjoyed the luxury of a day without contentious decisions.

It was a frustrating day for home coach Matthew Maynard, in his final match in charge, as the decision to bowl first back-fired on his side.

Reece and Harry Came put on 165 and an unbeaten 360 in the earlier Championship match in Derby, plus 134 in the One Day Cup, and they looked untroubled despite the strangely-hued surface.

Came was dropped by Colin Ingram at slip in Dan Douthwaite's first Championship over since April, but with the score on 80 he was neatly caught behind low down for 32, driving at Zain Ul Hassan's first ball.

Reece equalled a Derbyshire record of six successive first-class scores of 50 or more with scarcely a false shot in a stand of 180 with Guest, and Glamorgan were bowling without a slip by mid-afternoon.

A series of funky fields saw rings of close fielders posted on the drive without success and Guest even straight-drove successfully despite the slow pitch, hitting 12 fours and a six before James Harris trapped him lbw for 96 just before the new ball.

Reece, the left-hander with the father from Llanelli, played strongly square of the wicket as he led the way to two batting points despite Glamorgan putting the brakes on at times, mainly through the accurate Jamie McIlroy.

Middlesex-bound Leus du Plooy, with 1,176 runs for the season coming into the match, reached 22 not out in a stand of 48 as the visitors saw off the second new ball to give themselves hopes of a first four-day win of the season.

Derbyshire's Luis Reece told BBC Radio Derby:

"I thought it was going to be a tough day and I didn't expect us to be in the position we are, fair play to all the batters today, they've got stuck in and been very disciplined because they bowled reasonably well at us.

"If you score a hundred on day one it helps set up the game, too many times we've been on the back foot this season. It's mine and Camey's job to start off as well as we can and we put in a good partnership.

"(Scoring hundreds against Glamorgan) is one of those freak things in cricket, I've had my fair share of luck along the way and it's nice to cash in when you do get that luck.

"It's nice to be consistent, though in my breakthrough season at Lancashire I had seven (scores of 50 or move) on the bounce. It's about trying to set up games for Derbyshire to win which there haven't been enough of this season."

Glamorgan's Zain Ul Hassan told BBC Sport Wales:

"It's been a tough day for the boys but hopefully we can get wickets in the morning and get back in the game.

"It's turned out to be a good wicket to bat on, the boys have bowled pretty well and hopefully we'll get some rewards. We got a few nicks that didn't carry.

"I'm very grateful to play this much cricket this (first) season and hopefully I can finish on a high in this last game, to put me in the best place for next year."