Glamorgan in the ascendancy with a day to play

The leg-spinner took 5 for 55 to break the spine of Yorkshire’s innings from 87 for 1 to 226 all out and restore value in frontline spin in the Rothesay County Championship, at odds with the England set-up in the recent Ashes series.

Crane’s two wickets in an over, dismissing debutant Sam Whiteman for a fluent 48, helped overseas Ryan Hadley return a three-fer after Matthew Revis kept the visitors alive with a half-century.

Glamorgan finished the day on 111 for 3, leading by 187 runs heading into day four. Before play, Jonny Bairstow became the second injury-sub after being off the field for all of day two due to a thumb injury sustained while keeping, confirmed to be a small fracture. Will Luxton came in for him while Dom Bess led Yorkshire on the field.

Ryan Hadley got the day underway with Yorkshire at 1 for no loss with 104.2 overs scheduled for the days play. Yorkshire’s intent was evident from ball one, as it needed to be in attempt to avoid a petering draw, Adam Lyth dismissing a Hadley full toss to the fence.

Timm van der Gugten opened Glamorgan’s account for Division One wickets before Whiteman and Lyth played positively against Andy Gorvin and Ben Kellaway, who both struggled to replicate the tightness shown by Yorkshire’s attack on the previous two days.

Crane’s introduction brought instant action. Even his loose balls showed signs of spin and once he had Whiteman and Wharton in the same over every ball seemed a threat.

The leg-spinner’s ball to remove George Hill was near-perfect and unimaginable for day three on the season opener. A 14-over spell, straddled by lunch, put control in Glamorgan’s favour.

From 136 for 6, Bess and Revis continued to keep a positive approach, latching onto loose deliveries from seamers until Bess was adjudged lbw after a needed 41-run stand.

Revis, now batting with the tail, was forced to attack, bringing up his half-century by swinging a six from a Hadley short ball into the stands. Another short ball followed and he was strangled down the leg-side, his form from last season continued nonetheless.

Coad and Jack White managed to cagily find the fence against the six-foot-five-inch Australian seamer to reduce the deficit before Crane wrapped up his fifth five-wicket haul since joining Glamorgan in 2024.

With 45 overs still left to bat, and a 76-run lead, Glamorgan came out conservatively. The pitch’s pace still offered little as it had done in the two previous days and Yorkshire still showed their control.

With Crane as inspiration and three wickets of his own in the first innings, Bess came on for an unchanged 17 over spell in the 13th. His control continued to tie down the hosts. Once Tribe had gone attempting to pull a length ball, the standing-in captain, Bess, struck again with Dickson losing patience, caught at mid-on.

Eddie Byrom scored a well-made 40 before departing at fine-leg then it was up to the stability of the first innings centurion, Colin Ingram, and the business at the crease from Kiran Carlson to remain unscathed any further.

Glamorgan overseas Ryan Hadley said: "It was really good to keep them to a 200-odd score on a pretty good wicket.

"It was handy to have Mason [Crane] and nice to be driving the game the first hour tomorrow to really dictate the game.

"For the most part of my bowling it didn't seem like there was much life in it until I dug a few halfway down. If things weren't right it just sat up and I got dispatched a couple times so it'll be spin-friendly tomorrow but hopefully that sets up our batting and it only gets better for spin as we go on.

"We need to set it up early and give ourselves options [of a result]. Those options only come if we get through a tricky piece. Things tend to happy early in the game but we've done well to deserve to dictate the game."

Yorkshire debutant Sam Whiteman said: "It didn’t go to plan, but that happens in cricket sometimes.

“Credit to them, they bowled well. They put us under a bit of pressure. The wicket’s pretty slow, and it’s tough work for the seamers. The spinners feel like they’re in the game, so we’re going to have to play spin better in the second innings but all three results are possible heading into tomorrow.

“I felt I played well. It’s frustrating because you always want more as a batter. I would have loved to have gone on with it. But it was nice to get a little bit of time in the middle. [Revis] played a really mature knock for a youngster.

“If you bowl straight and set straight fields, it’s quite tough to keep the scoreboard moving. I’m hesitant to set a number, but you’d like it to be in the 200s I would have thought. The ball’s in their court a little bit in terms of how much they want to risk to win the game. It will be interesting. All we can control is take a couple of quick ones, build pressure and you never know.”