Cooke ton rescues Glamorgan after Atkinson blast

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (day one)

Glamorgan 244-6 (80 overs): Cooke 101*, Crane 59*; Clark 2-32, Atkinson 2-33

Surrey: Yet to bat

Glamorgan 0 pts, Surrey 2 pts

match scorecard

Chris Cooke rescued Glamorgan with a mature century as they recovered to 244-6 after Gus Atkinson and his fellow Surrey pace bowlers reduced the hosts to 79-6.

Atkinson, dropped by England on disciplinary grounds, took it out on Glamorgan with some hostile early spells, taking two cheap wickets and forcing Colin Ingram to retire after a blow on the hand.

Sean Abbott and Jordan Clark also took two apiece after Glamorgan had chosen to bat.

But Cooke, 40, reached his first 100 in two years as he dominated a stand of 165 with Mason Crane (59 not out) before bad light curtailed play.

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A ceremony before play began saw the National Cricket Centre renamed in honour of Hugh Morris, the late Glamorgan chief executive and captain, while Surrey’s players sported Graham Thorpe headbands to mark the mental health campaigns in memory of the late Surrey and England batter.

Glamorgan restored Billy Root to their line-up in place of the injured Zain Ul Hassan, while Surrey’s five changes included returns for fast bowler Atkinson and Indian spinner Rahul Chahar.

Root made a cautious start before driving Sean Abbott to gully for six, while the Aussie paceman followed up with an inswinger that dipped past Asa Tribe’s defensive push on 21.

With Surrey keeping things tight thanks to an accurate seam attack, the three rotating in short bursts, Atkinson struck in his second spell.

First Kiran Carlson was tempted into a flick which saw him edge behind, and then Ben Kellaway was beaten for pace to be bowled through the gate as the hosts slumped to 39-4.

Ingram and Sean Dickson resisted until lunch, but Jordan Clark became the third bowler to take two wickets in quick succession as he sent back Dickson and Timm van der Gugten.

In between the dismissals, Ingram had to depart the stage as he was struck on the hand by Atkinson to leave Glamorgan in further disarray, especially after being shot out for 155 on the first day by Sussex a week before.

But Cooke and Mason Crane halted the slide with Cooke dispatching the odd bad delivery firmly as he rattled along at a run a ball.

Batting conditions eased against the older ball in the afternoon sunshine with the spin of Chahar and Dan Lawrence proving mostly economical, but not posing the same threat as the quick men.

Cooke, whose previous Championship best in the first seven games was just 39, raced to 50 off 56 balls and had the experience to ride quiet spells after that.

Crane played a solid support role with his third half-century of the season, a patient affair off 120 balls, although he was dropped off a caught-and-bowled chance by Ryan Patel on 53.

Surrey held off using their three quick bowlers until the new ball was due and Cooke reached three figures off 143 balls in a priceless knock for his team.

But the visitors’ decision to hold their pacemen in reserve backfired when the light dipped badly, despite the floodlights being on, and the umpires took the players off as they reached for the new cherry.