Picture by John Heald. Matthew Revis pulls Ryan Hadley for six to reach his fifty this afternoon.
Former England Test leg-spinner Mason Crane continued his impressive opening round performance with 5-55 to swing the Rothesay County Championship clash between Glamorgan and Yorkshire the way of the hosts.
After three days in Cardiff, the newly-promoted Welshmen are sniffing a victory having bowled the White Rose out for 226 on the cusp of tea in reply to a first-innings 302 all out.
Crane, who signed from Hampshire midway through the 2024 summer, also contributed a tail-end 51 yesterday before causing problems during his 16.2 overs.
Matthew Revis top-scored for Yorkshire with 50 off 79 balls, while debutant Sam Whiteman was next best with 48 but was the first of Crane’s wickets not long before lunch on a wicket which is proving slow but helpful for the spinners.
Glamorgan then faced 45 overs in their second innings and closed on 111-3 and lead by 187.
Dom Bess claimed two wickets, including the 300th of his first-class career, while Logan van Beek secured his maiden Yorkshire wicket. Bess finished with figures of 2-41 from 17 overs and has now taken five wickets in the match.
Picture by John Heald. Glamorgan leg-spinner Mason Crane en-route to his 5-55.
Crane actually struck twice in the 25th over of the innings after the visitors had started the day on 1-0 in the second over. He trapped Whiteman lbw playing back before also getting James Wharton lbw as he pushed forward to a googly.
That left Yorkshire at 89-3. Earlier, Fin Bean had feathered behind against the seam of Timm van der Gugten.
Batting at five was Will Luxton, who was brought into the match full-time this morning as an injury substitution for captain Jonny Bairstow, who suffered a small fracture on the top of his right thumb whilst keeping on Friday evening.
Bairstow will now have to sit out the next eight calendar days from the end of this fixture, meaning he misses next week’s Championship clash with Hampshire at Headingley. Anthony McGrath is confident he will be fit to face Sussex later this month, the county’s third match of 2026.
Left-handed Whiteman had looked in excellent order as he closed in on a debut fifty. He was strong on both sides of the wicket and down the ground in hitting nine boundaries.
Luxton was the fourth wicket to fall – and the third to Crane – when he was bowled around his legs sweeping – to leave the score at 113-4 shortly before lunch.
Picture by John Heald. Sam Whiteman sweeps on the way to a debut 48.
Just after, Adam Lyth, on 37, could only fend a short ball from Australian overseas seamer Ryan Hadley to first slip with the score on 127.
When George Hill was bowled by a beauty of a leg-spinner from Crane with a further nine runs added to the total, Yorkshire were 136-6 and still 17 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.
In fairness, they reached that mark with no further alarms, with Revis and stand-in captain Bess in partnership. They added 41 for the seventh wicket before the latter was trapped lbw stuck on the crease (177-7).
After three successive centuries last summer and a winter away with the England Lions, Revis now cuts a really imposing, confident figure at the crease, and there were signs of that as he posted the county’s first half-century of the 2026 summer.
It was just unfortunately that partners came and went in the South Wales sunshine.
Whilst Crane was Glamorgan’s main threat, New South Wales quick Hadley – standing at 6ft, 5’ – played an enforcer role to keep the tail on their toes, literally.
Picture by John Heald. Dom Bess is leading the side in the absence of Jonny Bairstow and contributed 32 with the bat on day two.
He forced van Beek to fend off a short ball to second slip, where Asa Tribe took a looping catch before Revis was caught behind having aborted an attempted pull shot to try and take evasive action.
Ben Coad then edged a drive at Crane to slip to finish the innings and signal tea. Hadley finished with 3-62 from 15 overs.
Revis had actually pulled a six disdainfully over mid-wicket to reach his fifty in 78 balls. But he fell to the next ball.
With the best part of a session-and-a-half to bat, Glamorgan then set about things watchfully against a Yorkshire attack who kept things very tight.
Bess was then the benefactor of a rash whip to leg as he trapped the much-talked about England hopeful Tribe lbw for 19, leaving the score at 31-1 in the 15th over – a lead of 107.
The same man struck again with the score on 43 when Sean Dickson tried to hit him over the top but could only drag a catch into the hands of a back-peddling Revis.
Picture by John Heald. Adam Lyth on the pull this morning at Sophia Gardens.
Avoiding defeat should still be well within Yorkshire’s capabilities tomorrow. Despite the obvious assistance for the spinners, the pitch is by no means a batter’s graveyard. It is just tough to score freely on.
That was indicated further by the third Glamorgan wicket which fell. This one was Eddie Byrom, for 40, top-edging a pull at van Beek down to Revis at long-leg.
That left the score at 77-3 in the 30th.
First-innings centurion Colin Ingram and captain Kiran Carlson then saw their side through to close and will begin tomorrow on 18 and 32.
