GLAMORGAN’S day began late and with a rare sight: the first-ball dismissal of Matthew Elliott. The former Australia batsman lobbed a gentle catch to gully when the ball stopped on him. Things did not get much better for the home side thereafter, until Mark Wallace arrived to make a an excellent, unbeaten 86 in 107 balls. He showed up his team-mates with neat footwork and good judgment and made light of any apparent demons in the pitch.

Wallace is one of England’s forgotten men. The 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman was part of the first England Academy intake in 2001-02 and toured Sri Lanka with them the next winter. He was very much part of the pack jockeying to take over from Alec Stewart and was ahead of Matt Prior, his counterpart at Sussex. His batting did not kick on and he had to watch as the man he was then keeping out of the Abergavenny side in club cricket, Geraint Jones, came up on the outside to take the England berth. When Surrey appeared to run out of ideas and tried to bounce him out, Wallace, unruffled, hooked Rikki Clarke for two sixes in an over.

The start was delayed until 2.30pm and there has been so much rain in the past week that Glamorgan were forced to use the pitch prepared for last Friday’s abandoned day-night match. It was drier than expected and there was uneven bounce but, having chosen to bat, Glamorgan should have done better. They were lucky to reach 96 for two, with David Hemp dropped three times off Clarke; the first reprieve, at cover, saw Scott Newman leave the field with an injured hand. Graham Thorpe then dropped Hemp at first slip, followed by Alistair Brown at second.

Mohammad Akram bowled well for his four wickets, but there were loose shots and minimal foot movement by Hemp, Mike Powell and Jonathan Hughes.