Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (day one)
Glamorgan 318-3: Tribe 135* Carlson 107
Essex: Critchley 2-56
Glamorgan 2 points, Essex 1 point
Asa Tribe and captain Kiran Carlson put Glamorgan in a commanding position against Essex on the opening day of their final County Championship match of the season at Sophia Gardens.
After a disciplined start from the visitors, Glamorgan seized the initiative through a partnership of more than 150 between Tribe and Carlson before the skipper eventually fell for 107.
Glamorgan are in pole position to finish the campaign with back-to-back victories, meanwhile Essex’s Division One future could still hinge on the outcome of Leicestershire’s appeal against their points deduction.
However, the Foxes’ struggles against title-chasing Warwickshire boosted Essex’s survival hopes, while a bowling bonus point in Cardiff strengthened their position further.
Glamorgan made two changes, with Colin Ingram returning for his final Championship match in place of the injured Jack Hope-Bell and Dan Douthwaite replacing Mir Hamza.
Essex, who have not won in the County Championship since they beat Leicestershire on 12 June, brought in Simon Harmer and Jack Auld.
The visitors made life hard for Glamorgan from the start. Sam Cook and Auld both opened with maidens and Tribe survived an early scare when a catch was put down off Auld.
Glamorgan took until the third over top get off the mark and had to wait until the 13th for their first boundary – though a further 34 followed in the match.
The Eagles then built on their positive opening with a breakthrough in the 24th over as Zaman Akhter found the edge of Zain Ul Hassan’s bat, creating a catching opportunity for wicket keeper George Bell.
That brought an abrupt end to Glamorgan’s opening stand of 76, though that wicket proved Essex’s single wicket until the 74th over later in the day.
Carlson replaced him and settled quickly after arriving at the crease as Glamorgan moved passed 100 shortly after lunch, while Tribe continued his fine season by reaching a fifth half-century and passing 800 Championship runs for the summer.
Carlson followed with a half-century from 93 balls before the pair accelerated, taking Glamorgan past 200 and to 230-1 by tea.
The Glamorgan captain completed his century in the first over after the interval, nudging two runs off Cook to reach three figures from 142 deliveries.
Tribe later matched him, crashing a boundary to bring up his own hundred from 206 balls.
Essex looked wayward in the middle session but bowled better in the latter stages, as they responded through Matt Critchley. His short ball surprised captain Carlson and brought an end to his impressive innings
Critchley then struck again five overs later dismissing Ben Kellaway for two, securing a third wicket and a valuable bowling bonus point for the visitors.
Ingram then arrived to a guard of honour as he began his final Championship innings of a Glamorgan career that has yielded more than 11,000 runs across all formats since 2015.
As the day drew to a close Ingram managed to find three boundaries on his way to 24 not out, while Tribe progressed to 135 not out as Glamorgan claimed their second bonus point concluding the opening day’s play in cruise control.
