Cricket: Rollins' sunny side

Derbyshire 392 & 372-8 dec Glamorgan 248 & 156-1

KIM BARNETT has a mean streak. In setting a target of more than 500, the Derbyshire captain turned the screw until Glamorgan almost wept for mercy. Last night, however, he will have been worried that they were crocodile tears.

Bowling was a thankless task on a hard and true wicket, tailor-made to break the hearts of the honest medium-pacer. With precious little turn for the off-spin of Robert Croft, making hay in the hot sun was no great test of batsmanship.

The prime beneficiary was Derbyshire's Adrian Rollins, who posted his first century for the county. After an edgy start, probably realising the extent of his opportunity, he blossomed into some dominant stroke play. Rollins's second fifty came off just 60 balls, anything loose producing boundaries.

The Antiguan pace bowler Hamesh Anthony, seemingly an unwilling workhorse in the conditions, has obviously picked up a few tips from his West Indian colleagues, adopting the bouncer as an almost exclusive plan of attack. Both Tim Tweats and Rollins accepted the hooking challenge. Anthony ended with four wickets.

With Phil DeFreitas departing the ball following Rollins's dismissal, Derbyshire were stung into more concentrated attack in the form of a quick half-century from Colin Wells.

Both Wells and Rollins had been at ease on the front foot, an indication that Glamorgan might not face an impossible task, providing the wicket remains consistent.

The nine-hour-plus survival goal might have been even more daunting had it not been for the tidy yet imaginative toil of Glamorgan's Croft and Steve Watkin, who extracted rare movement from the track.

The Glamorgan batsmen dropped anchor with considerable comfort and were able to bite a sizeable chunk out of the 517 target. Only the teasing variation from Colin Wells caused mild concern, the captain Hugh Morris the only casualty, trapped leg-before playing across the line.