The openers displayed an exceptional performance, forming a record-breaking partnership that helped secure victory for the home team on the final day, ensuring their safety.
Luis Reece and Harry Came etched their names into the Derbyshire record books and dashed Glamorgan’s prospects of winning the LV=Insurance County Championship match at Derby.
Reece and Came set a new county record with a 360-run opening stand, batting through the fourth day and finishing with career-high scores.
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Reece scored 201 off 338 balls, and Came scored 141 off 336 as Derbyshire solidly sealed the door on Glamorgan to spend 157 runs ahead after starting the day trailing by 125 runs.
Glamorgan used nine bowlers without success on a fruitless day for the promotion candidates, who concluded with 13 points, and Derbyshire with nine.
The visitors began the day with an opportunity to force a victory, and the cloudy weather gave their bowlers some encouragement.
But the pitch offered little, and it quickly became apparent that another high-scoring draw in the Derby was the most likely outcome.
During his opening spell, Timm van der Gugten did locate the outside edge, but Reece and Came played with the same discipline and concentration that characterized their first-innings partnership.
It was only the third time in Derbyshire’s history that there were two hundred opening stands in a single match when the hundred was reached in the sixth over of the morning.
Glamorgan captain David Lloyd, who will play his cricket at Derby in the upcoming season, used five bowlers without success.
Reece completed his second century of the game off 177 balls, becoming only the twentieth player in Derbyshire’s Championship history to do so.
Mitchell Swepson believed he had caught Reece with the last ball of the session, which struck him in front as he played back, but the appeal was denied, summing up the visitors’ demoralizing morning.
Given the nature of Derby pitches, they may have reflected over lunch that bowlers of all faiths will be in line to enter when a prayer room presently being constructed on the grounds opens.
Reece and Came scored 107 runs in the morning to leave their team only 18 runs behind, and in the afternoon, they continued to bat Derbyshire to safety.
Came reached his second Championship century of the season when he smashed Kiran Carlson’s off-spin over mid-on for his 12th four in the 68th over.
Appropriately for the son of a vineyard owner, the 24-year-old exhibited another highly promising application demonstration. He is maturing beautifully.
Derbyshire led by 94 runs at tea, and the only question was whether Reece and Came could break the county record opening stand of 333 set by Reece and Billy Godleman in 2017 against Northants.
Colin Ingram replaced Chris Cooke behind the wickets for the final session, while Sam Northeast opened with the occasional off-spin delivery.
Reece eclipsed the record when he drove Billy Root for a single, and he reached his 200-run mark by hitting Zain-ul-Hassan for his 20th four just before the teams clasped hands at 4.40 p.m.
